Her Dirty Bartenders (Men at Work #5) - Mika Lane Page 0,26
to dress. “Stell, I came all the way here from Philly to see you.”
“Well, you just wasted your time because I have no interest in seeing you. So you can just get in your car and head back home.”
He sat on the edge of the bed while he pulled on his shoes and socks. “I wanted to apologize to you, Stell. I made a mistake. A big one. Please don’t make me regret it for the rest of my life.”
“You should have thought of that before you fucked Suza. Now get out.”
He sighed and began putting his things back in his duffle bag.
“You have a lot of nerve helping yourself to a bath in Marni’s apartment. In my bathroom.”
“Yours was the only bathroom with a tub. And that bubble bath smelled so good.” He smiled, thinking he could wear me down.
But I knew him, and I knew his tricks.
He kept trying. “Hey, you look good. You drop a couple pounds? And your hair looks much better now that it’s getting longer.”
Wow. Really?
Of course he was going to bring my weight and hair up. He’d always been borderline obsessed with both, trying to get me to shed some pounds and add some length.
“You have two minutes to get out before I call the cops.”
He actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. “Go ahead. Marni let me in. I’m not trespassing.”
“Vaughn, I left you because I didn’t want to be with you. That means I don’t want to see you either, and nothing you can say will change that. So get out.”
He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. “You know, Stell. I’m not going to wait for you forever to realize what a mistake you made. You humiliated me, your parents, and most of all, yourself.”
I marched across the apartment and opened the front door. “Here you go, Vaughn. Goodbye. And do not return.”
He pressed his lips together. “Fine. I’ll go stay in a hotel. But I’m not leaving Denver without you.”
“That’s fine, Vaughn. Because I will be leaving Denver without you when I continue to LA.” I gave him a shove, and closed the door in his face.
Shit, shit, shit.
I knew there’d be trouble once my mom had told him where I was. And I'm sure she couldn't give a shit that he’d stalked me more than halfway across the country. She wanted me to get back together with his sorry ass so badly she’d probably paid his damn way out here.
“Why did you let Vaughn in?” I demanded when Marni answered her phone.
She exhaled a long sigh. “Oh, Stell. He just showed up and he looked so sad. I mean, can’t we all be friends? You know, handle this like mature adults?”
Oh. My. God.
She was rapidly working her way toward becoming my ex-best friend.
“No, Marn. Letting him in was not cool. Shit, my mother blabbing where I was hiding out wasn’t cool either. Are you on my side or his?”
That would get her.
She sighed. “Okay. I get it. I'm sorry. I didn’t see any harm.”
“If he comes around again, we’re calling the police.”
She gasped. “Isn’t that a bit… heavy handed?”
“Marni…” I warned.
“Okay. Okay,” she said.
I sat down on one of the kitchen barstools, exhausted from fighting with both my ex-fiancé and best friend. I considered calling in sick to Tableau, that’s how drained I was, but I didn’t want to be another flaky employee. Besides, I wanted the money.
And the bartenders were pretty nice to look at.
Sadly, that was about the only thing working in my favor. I’d planned on life getting better when I left Philly. But apparently your shit follows you wherever you go.
18
Robbie
“Hey, do you have a sec?”
Stell looked over from scrubbing something behind the bar that had probably never been scrubbed in the whole history of Tableau. “What?” she asked, glaring at me.
Talk about holding a grudge.
She stood on one foot, hip jutting out, arms crossed, still holding her dirty rag.
I surveyed everything within her reach to make sure there were no sharp objects I needed to move.
“Stell, I wanted to say I’m sorry about the whole mess with your car.”
Her eyebrows skeptically shot up.
“What are you saying, Robbie the Wrecker?” she asked, rolling her eyes.
“I got bad advice from my insurance company. I never should have let them run with the claim. They’re major dicks.”
“Takes one to know one.”
She had a point there.
I stepped toward her, and she actually took a big step back. What the hell? Did she think I was dangerous?
“Stell, I