I arrange the plates on my tray and turn around just in time to see Alice giggle at something Xavier said while resting her fingers on his forearm. The overwhelming desire to snatch her hand off him hits me, but I beat it away, remembering quickly that he’s not mine. He made that very clear.
Xavier takes a long pull from his beer, and his eyes flit over to mine, halting me for a beat before I straighten by back and march past him.
Alice doesn’t miss Xavier’s attention on me either. Her icy glare would freeze me in place if I wasn’t already so heated.
For the next hour or so things continue the same way—Xavier sitting at the bar drinking, while Alice does her best to entice him. All evening his eyes never leave me. Every time I glance in his direction, he’s openly watching me.
On my way to enter a food order, Xavier reaches out and snags my wrist as I walk by. “You ready to stop ignoring me yet?”
I tilt my head to the side. “Why? Don’t have enough company already?”
Out of the corner of my eye I see Alice cross her arms over her chest. She makes no attempt to pretend like she’s not watching our little exchange intensely, which irks me. What’s going on between me and Xavier is none of her business.
He doesn’t take his eyes away from mine. “You mean the bitchy bartender? That’s nothing. I’m sitting here killing time—waiting for you to get over yourself and talk to me.”
Get over myself? Is he serious right now? I did nothing to him. He needs to remember the reason I’m not speaking to him.
“Just like Deena was nothing?” I fire back.
“Exactly,” he says, his voice agitated. “Don’t you get it? Other women don’t mean a thing to me. You matter.”
I furrow my brow, confused by how he can make such a statement about me when it became quite clear last night that we barely know each other.
“Why?”
He sighs. “You’re sincere.”
I shake my head. “You can’t possibly know that about me. Not after a week.”
“Sometimes time is irrelevant in understanding the beauty of another person’s soul.” He pulls closer until my hip touches his outstretched knee. “Can you get off early? I would really like to spend some time with you before I have to leave. I don’t want us parting on bad terms. Your friendship means a lot to me. I don’t want to ruin it.”
Although I still don’t forgive him for lying to me about Deena, it would be nice to salvage our friendship. He was my first real friend in Detroit, after all. “I wish I could, but we’re still open for another two hours.”
Xavier’s lips push down into a frown, and he releases my wrist. “I understand.”
He closes his eyes and grimaces just for a moment like he’s in pain. The expression on his face almost makes me change my mind. I don’t want to hurt him, but I have to protect myself. We need a clean break.
He stands and fishes his wallet out of his back pocket before laying down a hundred dollar bill on the bar. He wraps his arms around me without permission and kisses the top of my head. “Goodbye, beautiful. I’ll miss you.”
I can’t bring myself to say the words. Telling him goodbye makes him leaving real…final. I’ll never see him again, but even as hurt as I was about him sleeping with Deena, I’m just not ready to fully shut him out.
My heart squeezes as I stare after Xavier. The urge to stop him surges through me, but I know allowing him to walk away without a fight is what’s best for both of us. I don’t think I have it in me to ever trust him again, and no relationship can ever work without trust.
The last two hours of work drag on. I know it’s stupid, and we’ve said our goodbyes, but I still miss Xavier. Deep down under all those playboy ways, I know there’s a good guy. I saw him peeking through during the little bit of time I spent with him and that makes it suck even more that he’s leaving because maybe, given time, we could have fixed what is broken between us.
Quinn stacks her tray on top of mine. “I’m beat. Let’s count out our drawers and be done. I want to go home and sleep.”
Brock leans against the counter and pulls Quinn into his arms. “Sleep? I thought we had plans.”
The intimate way he yanks her hips against his causes her to giggle. “I suppose we can go out for a little while.” She reaches in her apron pocket and hands me her car keys. “You’ll be all right driving home?”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” I take the keys and stuff them into my pocket before removing my apron and tossing it on the counter next to them. “Watch this while I go to the bathroom, will you?”
Quinn giggles as Brock nuzzles her neck and then whispers in her ear.
“Sure,” she says as I head to take a short break before cashing out for the night.
Once I’ve used the bathroom, I move to the sink to wash my hands. I stare in the mirror at my green eyes, and even I can note the sadness that lies within them. It’s going to take me a while to get over Xavier. Even in a week, he’s left a lasting impression on me.
I readjust my dark ponytail and head back out to count my money from the shift with Andy so I can get out of here and be depressed at Aunt Dee’s.
Andy’s sitting at the bar with his logbook, ready to do final counts with the wait staff. I grab my apron off the counter and take a seat next to him.
I glance around as I toss my apron on the bar. Only Alice and I are left in the place. “Did Quinn count out already?”