6. Roxy

Chapter 6

Roxy

E ven though I don’t want to talk to Gage, I’m glad he’s stuck around since the mix in the crowd of customers is bound to stir up a few fights.

I can barely do my job right because I can feel his gaze on me since he planted himself at the bar. I know he’s upset. He thinks of me like a child instead of the twenty-three-year-old woman I am. I pull my shoulders back. To heck with him, he’s going to have to get over it. I haven’t even really begun to process everything, but I know I want this baby. I rub my hand across my stomach as I pour a drink with the other one. When I set the bottle down, I look at Gage and he’s staring at my hand. I drop it and his eyes snap up to mine. His eyes are almost hooded as he looks at me, so I can’t read his expression, but I know I’ll melt under his gaze. Just one look from him has my insides twitching. I jerk my gaze from his and get back to work.

Ranger brought in a few girls to help serve drinks for the week and two of them quit before their third hour on the clock was finished. Whitney, one of the new hires, is serving drinks to the tables and pool tables and is having a rough go of it, but I admire her tenacity for sticking with it.

I go out on the floor and let Cat and Stella make the drinks behind the bar. I know I’m going to get felt up, but that’s part of waitressing in a biker bar. Of course, I’ve got more grit than most women and the guys who get out of hand will get put in their place.

The first table I go to is a bunch of rowdy men that look like they just got a hall pass for the weekend. Wannabe bikers. We get them from time to time, but when there is a motorcycle show or rally in town, they seem to come out of the woodwork. Usually, they’re fine and don’t cause too many problems. These guys may be different, though. I can already tell they are verging on too much to drink. “So can I get you anything to eat?” I ask them instead of offering them a drink. I glance over toward the door where Bulldog is usually standing, but I see him across the room dealing with another commotion. Man, what a night.

The man closest to me stands up and moves toward me until he’s pressed against my front. I stiffen my back, knowing that I can’t let him or anyone else know that they get to me. He leers at me. “I know exactly what I want to eat.”

Normally I would have a quick retort and put the man in his place, but his breath reeks and I cover my face with my hand, unable to keep myself from gagging. I barely have time to pull myself together before I feel myself lifted and moved to the side. “Stay here,” Gage demands.

I want to argue with him, to tell him exactly what I think of his demands, but the look in his eye right now tells me to leave it alone. Plus, my stomach is a little queasy so I decide that right now is not my time to argue with anyone, let alone Gage. When I finally nod my head at him, he turns back to the men.

I should just get back to work, but instead I stand there and watch him. He always handles these situations really well. Sometimes he talks them down. Sometimes he’s been known to break up a fight by buying a round of drinks. So when I see his arm come backwards and he punches the man right in the face, I know that Gage is under a lot of pressure. And I don’t think it’s just all the issues with the Outlaws. No, there’s more to it than that. He’s throwing punches left and right and even when the guy’s buddies jump in and try to help, they don’t even have a chance. He takes them out too. I’m standing there with my mouth wide open when Bulldog shows up and helps Gage take them outside.

Gage no sooner walks out the front door of the bar than he’s back again, standing in front of me. “It’s already out of hand here. I think you need to take the rest of the night off.”

Stunned, I answer him quickly. “No,” I tell him and turn away.

I don’t get far before he grabs on to my arm and stops me. He doesn’t let go of me, even when I turn back to him. “Please, Roxy. I’m asking you.”

First, I’m shocked. Gage doesn’t ask anything. He just tells people what to do. Second, the look on his face tells me how important this is to him. But I’m not going to give in. This is just him looking out for me like he always does. I’m going to have to show him that I can handle this, all of this, on my own. “No. Ranger’s already short-handed. He only has one of the three waitresses left. I’m not leaving.”

I untangle my hand from his and he corners me against the wall, a hand on each side of the wall beside me, caging me in. My heart is beating double-time. I try to ignore it, but just being this close to him is too much. And when the clean musky scent of him hits my nose, I fight the urge to bury my nose in his neck. It brings back that night in full force and I try to hide the effect he has on me by dropping my chin and looking anywhere I can but at him.

He tips his hand under my chin and lifts my head up. “Behind the bar. I want you behind the bar the rest of the night.”

For one brief second, I think he’s going to kiss me. He’s staring at my lips, his nostrils are flared, and he’s taking quick little breaths. I almost lean in. I want his lips on mine so bad, I can already taste him. But the look on his face disappears almost as quickly as it showed up. He steps back from me, dropping his hands.

I put my hand on his chest. I tell myself it’s to push him away, but I think it’s more to hold myself back. If he had kissed me, I would have promised him anything. I wouldn’t have been able to refuse him a thing. But that’s not the case. I straighten myself up away from the wall. “I’m working, Gage. You can’t tell me what to do,” I tell him right before I walk away. I don’t look at him when I say it, because I wonder what strength I really have. It wouldn’t take much from him to sway me, and that scares me more than anything.