A Bit of Me (36 page)

Authors: Bailey Bradford

Tags: #Romance

It worked like a charm on Les and Adam, who both looked contrite for laughing at

him. Adam sighed and Les glanced down at the floor. Billy felt a small sense of satisfaction until he remembered both of these men had nearly died. Then he just felt like an ass for being a manipulative little shit.

Gnawing on his lip, he looked at each man. Should he ask? Like he wasn’t going to.

Why even pretend? “So what happened? Everyone’s saying Les killed a man with his bare www.total-e-bound.com

hands and some other guy shot a bad cop in the balls and you,” he pointed to Adam, “beat the bad cop so bad he’s in a coma and—”

“Whoa!” Adam snapped, thrusting up a hand. “What are you talking about? Les

didn’t kill anyone, and no one got shot in the balls, and Lukowski’s not in a coma! He’s already out of the hospital and in jail awaiting trial!” He then proceeded to tell Billy what happened. “Mitch Rollins Sr sent thugs here looking for me and for this other guy, Chase Murphy. Rollins wasn’t happy with just running me and my mom out of Billings after we helped put his son in prison for rape. He bribed the cop who worked with Les—former

officer Lukowski. That dick kidnapped Les and left him for some psycho to murder.” Adam paled at that and Billy figured he did too as he looked at Les.

The man was big, huge, and he’d have scared Billy with that stoic look if Billy hadn’t seen the man go all soft and gooey around Adam. How anyone could have kidnapped him

was beyond Billy. Maybe they used an elephant tranq dart or something. He wasn’t going to ask, even if he had to bite his tongue in half to keep from doing so.

“I’m really glad you’re okay, Les,” Billy said, and he meant it. He wanted everyone

else to have a happy ending even if it didn’t seem like he’d ever get one.

“Thanks,” Les grunted, his cheeks turning ruddy. Adam gave him an adoring look

that made Billy feel all sappy even though he didn’t think of either man like
that.

“Suffice it to say the bad guys didn’t win. Lukowski is going to be in prison for a long time, and Rollins Sr is dead—killed himself rather than be arrested. Now we just need to find James…”

Billy frowned before he thought about how that could eventually lead to ugly

wrinkles. As soon as it occurred to him, he smoothed his brow with his hand. He started to ask who James was but Xavier opened the break room door and gave a little wave at Adam and Les. “Adam, you wanted to talk to me?”

Adam gave Billy an apologetic look.
Uh oh, I know where
that
conversation is going!
Even though Xavier paid his employees well, there was still a pretty high turnover. Billy and Troy, the bartender, were the only two employees who’d been with Xavier since the beginning.

Most of the other staff had been here less than six months.

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Billy finished getting ready for work and patted Adam and Les both on the ass as he

walked by them. Adam winked but Les turned a delightful shade of burgundy.

Xavier grunted and ran a finger through his black hair. “Fine. Let’s have this

discussion in my—well, we’ll have it here since my office is a wreck.” He gave Billy a pointed look.

“I’m not the one who went all He-man on Randy last night,” Billy said, “that was all you.
I
had everything under control.”
Except for the whole choking on Randy’s dick thing.
Billy wasn’t going to mention that though. Instead he slapped on his happiest grin and skipped around the other three men and was out the door before Xavier could stop him.

Billy shut the door on the rest of Xav’s sentence. He didn’t want to think about last night, at all. Instead he thought about the adventure—no, that was a stupid thing to call it when so many people could have been hurt or killed. Still, Billy thought about what had happened to Adam and Les and the way it differed from the gossip.

He suspected Adam wasn’t giving all the details, but then again, who’d want to?

Maybe that’s why people were making stuff up. Even if no one had killed, castrated, or coma’d anyone else, the whole thing had to have been pretty scary. It just wasn’t as gory as rumor had it, but that was a good thing. Maybe. Well, if the gore had been from the bad guys’ getting eviscerated or something, that would have been kind of cool.

Castration, however, was
never
cool. For some reason his thoughts pinged right to Randy.
No, not even he should be castrated.

At least Billy wouldn’t have to blow Randy, though. He’d finally been banned for

good. That was one less worry to dwell on, though if he had told anyone he was worried about anything at all, no one would have believed him. Billy had the carefree happy ding-aling act down so pat even he bought it most of the time. It came in handy, though, and Billy wasn’t sure how to change other people’s perception of him now anyways.

Maybe I should start with myself.
It was an insightful revelation, an epiphany, he thought it was called. Were epiphanies possible to turn into reality? Billy mused on that for a while as he served drinks and tried to avoid being groped.

It occurred to him after a while that he’d forgot to clock in. He shrugged it off. It wasn’t the first time he’d forgotten and wouldn’t be the last. That probably wasn’t the best www.total-e-bound.com

way to get people to view him differently, and he was aware that his own attitude could have been better about it. Billy tried to lecture himself but the fact was his mind liked to bounce around as much as his body did.

He wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been working when he got that creepy feeling of being watched. It wasn’t uncommon; Billy knew he was cute. Lots of men looked at him.

Most of the time it didn’t bother him, but somehow it just felt off this time.

Maybe he was just extra paranoid tonight, he thought as he set the mixed drinks on

the small table. The three men there had giggled like school girls when they’d ordered the Sex on the Beaches. If they thought that was a raunchy name for a drink, they were in for a surprise. There were much dirtier ones. Billy toyed with filling them in on that fact but the feeling of being watched intensified and suddenly all he wanted was to escape for a few minutes.

“Enjoy your drinks,” he murmured, knowing his voice was drowned out by the loud

music thumping through the speakers. He didn’t care, he wasn’t up to yelling. Billy ignored the pinch to his ass and hurried back towards the bar. “Ernie,” he said when he spotted another server, “will you keep an eye on my tables? I need a break.”

Ernie rolled his eyes but nodded. That was good enough for Billy. Most of the time

Billy took his breaks in Xavier’s office, but considering the state of that room and what had happened there last night, and in the fact that Xav was working out of the break room, where anyone could come and go, and Billy decided to take his break alone. It was bad enough that a lot of the other employees snarked about him being Xav’s favorite—
duh
—but he didn’t want to rub it in their faces by being all chummy in the break room. That sure wouldn’t help him with his tentative plans for a new image.

He skirted around the bar with a wave at Troy then ducked into the back room where

the liquor and supplies were stored. He closed the door behind him then leaned back against it, his head thumping the wood hard enough to make his ears ring. His eyes drifted shut and he tried to shake off his funky mood.

It was no use. Frustrated, he popped his eyes back open and pushed away from the

door. Maybe a little fresh air would do the trick. Billy sprinted across the room and unlocked the door used for unloading deliveries. He opened it and stepped into the alley.

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The night air was cool, the humidity from earlier in the day having evaporated with

the lower temperature. The large dumpster a dozen feet away made the small alley stink, but it wasn’t much worse than the bathrooms Billy had to clean when Xavier was really pissed at him.

Billy took a deep breath then nearly jumped out of his boots when something moved

in the shadows a few feet away. Hand to his chest, Billy peered into the darkness. Was something moving over there? He squinted as the weak light from the back door glinted off something but before he could process it, a battered man stepped out and leered at him.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Billy. You owe me a blowjob.”

For the first time in years, Billy was too scared to speak. He couldn’t do anything but stare at the big knife in Randy’s hand.

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About the Author

A native Texan, Bailey spends her days spinning stories around in her head, which

has contributed to more than one incident of tripping over her own feet. Evenings are resounds for pounding away at the keyboard, as are the early morning hours. Sleep?

Doesn’t happen much. Writing is too much fun, and there are too many characters

bouncing about, tapping on Bailey’s brain, demanding to be let out.

Caffeine and chocolate are permanent fixtures in Bailey’s office and are never far from hand at any given time. Removing either of those necessities from Bailey’s presence

can result in what is known as A Very, Very Scary Bailey and is not advised under any circumstances.

Email: [email protected]

Bailey loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.total-e-bound.com
.

Also by Bailey Bradford

Southwestern Shifters: Rescued

Southwestern Shifters: Relentless

Southwestern Shifters: Reckless

Southern Spirits: A Subtle Breeze

Southern Spirits: When the Dead Speak

Southern Spirits: All of the Voices

Southern Spirits: Wait Until Dawn

Southern Spirits: Aftermath