“Do you want to talk about it?” Jayne asked, running her hand over Raven’s black ponytail.
She shook her head. “No. There’s nothing I want to say.”
“I’m here whenever you need me sweetheart.” Jayne kissed Raven’s head affectionately.
“I know. Thanks, Mom.”
Her mother never pressed for information, and Raven was grateful. The last thing she wanted was to be nagged.
Talking to her mother about Beck showing up would only infuriate herself again, and it would be worse if her dad got involved.
When she’d arrived home, and they’d gotten the cliff-notes version, he wanted to hunt him down and arrest him. Raven snorted as she thought about her dad locking Beck up and trying his hardest to make charges stick against him. Breaking her heart wasn’t a crime in the justice system but, to her dad, that carried the death penalty.
“What did he do?” Georgio, her dad, asked with a thunderous expression Raven hadn’t seen since high school when she split from her boyfriend.
Raven had spoken to her parents and had told them how happy she was that she and Beck had been seeing each other, and that she couldn’t wait for them to meet him. Now she’d gone home and had to tell them that the man she loved had left her with no explanation.
“He’s gone, dad. He left.”
“Tell me what happened, Raven.”
“Please don’t call me that, dad. He always called me that,” she said holding back tears.
“That’s your name…ow!” he said when her mom hit him on the arm.
“Georgio, be sympathetic,” Jayne scolded him. “Just Ray, like you asked,” she said to Raven. “Ava told me what happened, honey. You don’t need to explain again.” Jayne glared at Georgio.
“I’m going to hunt that boy down and lock him away for hurting my daughter,” her dad snapped, pulling her into him and holding her tight. “I’ll charge him with something, anything, until I can find something that’ll stick to keep him behind bars for a while.”
“Just leave it, dad. His own dad will just throw money at them to let him out anyway.”
Raven pulled back from him and turned to her mom when she spoke.
“Mike said he has an opening at his bar. It’s not ideal…” Jayne said, raising her eyebrow, and Raven felt guilty about what she’d done, “…but it’s something until you feel like yourself again.”
“Thanks mom. I’ll call him later.”
Mike owned the bar across the city. It was quieter than the usual bars, but with the same amount of customers, because Mike didn’t want a ‘nightspot’ kind of place, but somewhere people could have a good time and still hear each other talk over the music.
“Yeah, he also said that he’ll gladly help me get rid of the body. All I have to do is pick up the phone,” Georgio said as if it was just a regular favor between guys.
“I don’t think that’s necessary, but…um… thanks. I think.”
After another hug from her parents, Raven grabbed her case and went up the stairs to her childhood bedroom with light pink walls, matching white curtains, and bedcovers with blue flowers on the bottom edges, and a light blue carpet.
Kicking off her tennis flats, she curled up in her bed, fully clothed, and stayed there for the rest of the day.
“Ray, there’s some guy out front asking for you,” Ali, the receptionist, said as she popped her head through the door.
Raven’s stomach lurched, and her pulse sped. There were a lot of sharp implements about and she didn’t want to go to prison.
“What does he want?” she asked, her voice shaky.
“I’m not sure, hang on.” Ali disappeared and came back not a minute later. “He said he’s here to pick up the ointment for his cat’s wound.”
Thank God is isn’t him, but why couldn’t the patients’ owner just ask Ali for that?
“Ok, I’ll be right out,” she sighed in relief.
Raven went to the cabinet and took out the prescription bag for Jewels’ medication. She’d been spayed and had managed to get out of her cone, and chewed through her stitches. Her mom had had to re-close the wound, but it was raw where the cat had bitten, and the ointment was needed to fight any infection.
“Here it is,” Raven said, handing the tall blonde guy the prescription bag. “Apply it twice a day. It’s advisable to wear gloves but if you don’t, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after use.” Raven had repeated those instructions many times over the years.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice low.
Raven looked up into his brown eyes, and he was smiling at her. He was really good looking.
A strong jaw with a hint of stubble, lips that were proportionate to his face and he looked like he was into his fitness.
She looked to Ali, then back to him. He was still looking.
“Can I help you with something else?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.
“I think you can,” he said, pulling a card from his pocket. “Here’s my number. Give me a call some time. I’d love to take you to dinner.”
He handed Raven a card with his name and number on it, and then left with his kitty cream.
“Holy shit!” Ali laughed. “That’s why he asked for you specifically. He wants to take you out!”
“Not happening,” Raven said shaking her head. She threw the card in the trash. “He’s too sure of himself.”
That was a lie.
It wasn’t because of his overconfidence, or even that he was older.
He wasn’t Beck.
That notion hurt because it made her worry that she’d never get over him. Especially now that she’d seen him again.
Raven went back into the surgery where her mom was operating on the hamster, accompanied by the surgical assistant, and headed through to the recovery room. She took her gloves off with a snap and threw them away.
“Hammy the hamster is A-ok,” Jayne chirped as she brought him through from surgery. “I’ve just removed four pieces of plastic from his stomach.”
She took the little creature and placed him in one of the recovery cages in the rodents section. It wouldn’t be long until he woke up, so Raven watched her mom expertly place the hamster in one of the cages.
Raven took a drink bottle and filled it with fresh water for when he came around.
Raven’s phone beeped with a text. Finishing setting up the bottle and food, Raven retrieved her phone from her pocket.
A: Are you ok honey?
R: Yes. Just sorting out a cage for a hamster. He’s just had surgery.
A: Aww, poor fluffball!
R: He is. X
A: We’ll swing by Mike’s bar again later. Are you still working tonight?
R: Of course.
Raven was still working regardless. Mike would be there too, and if anything happened -not that it would because a certain person had been warned- he’d be there to protect her as always. Protecting her from unwanted attention, and unwanted assholes.
A: Great! We’ll see you soon. Luv ya lots. x
R: Like jelly tots. x
Raven checked the time and saw that she had only a couple of minutes before she needed to leave to get ready for the bar.
She’d gotten to know some of the regulars since working there, and Mike was more than happy to let them know that she was off limits. Not that that mattered. Raven wasn’t interested.
*****
“Hi Mikey,” Raven greeted him as she walked through the door to the bar. “Busy?”
“Hi there beautiful,” he replied, with a warm smile. “It’s been steady.” Mike uncapped a couple of beers for two men sitting in front of him.
“Good. I need to keep my head busy.”
Raven put on her short apron that protected her black pants from alcohol spills. With her black uniform and black hair, she blended nicely into the background.
She picked up a washcloth and wiped down the area of the bar she was working that night, ready to serve.
“What can I get you?” she asked a couple who’d sat in front of her. She recognized them instantly; Cole and Cathryn.
The same Cole she’d dated briefly. He’d gotten engaged a few weeks earlier, and it never bothered Raven in the slightest. He’d looked sheepish at first, before the proposal, when they’d turned up, and she’d been working. That soon stopped when he saw that she was genuinely happy that he was dating.
He wasn’t right for
her
, but for Cathryn he seemed to be perfect. If the huge smile on the woman’s face was anything to go by.
“Sex on the beach for me,” Cathryn winked.
“Just a Bud for me please, Ray.”
“Coming right up,” she smiled.
Raven turned to grab the Vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice to make Cathryn’s drink.
“I’ll have one of those too.”
Raven looked over her shoulder to see her best friend sitting down with Donnie.
“No problem,” Raven replied, grabbing another glass, and another Bud for Donnie.
As she placed the glasses on the counter, Raven noticed Donnie looked uncomfortable.
“You ok?” she asked, already knowing why he looked like that; why they
both
looked like that.
Donnie had been upset too and missed his friend. Even though he had Ava, and the other guys, it wasn’t the same for him. He and Beck had been friends since the first day on campus. He’d felt deserted too.
“Yeah,” he shrugged, his eyebrows pinching as though it was ridiculous to suggest otherwise, but Raven had known him long enough to know that he wasn’t ok at all. “You?”
Raven replied with a simple nod, then there was no more talking about it.
“Back in a sec.”
Raven moved down the bar and began to serve a group of girls who’d approached the bar, and began to pour their orders of red wine. She spotted Leila, Kerry, and Wynn as she rang up the bill.
“Hey guys,” she greeted them with as much cheer as she could scrape together, and poured their drinks.
Raven saw their sympathetic looks and needed to say something.
“Guys, please don’t look at me like that,” she asked in a pleading tone, remaining calm. “I’ve had enough of that to last me a fucking lifetime. Just because of what happened yesterday, it doesn’t mean you need to treat me differently.”
That was the last thing she wanted. She needed other things to stop her from thinking about it because she could still feel the ache in her stomach from the day before.
“Sorry,” they chorused.
“Ooh but I’m not sorry about that. Oof!” said Leila as she leant over the bar, clearing the bad air, and giving Raven the much needed distraction.
Raven followed her eyes and they landed on Mike’s ass as he bent to get beers from the end fridge.
“Leila!” Raven whined with a shudder. “God, you could’ve warned me.”
“What?” Leila held her hands up. “I can’t help looking at it when he bends like that.” Leila glanced over again, but Mike was standing. “Even like that, I don’t mind
at
all,” she sighed.
A male laugh caught their attention. Mike had found Leila staring when he turned round.
He turned his back to them and placed his palms on his ass cheeks that were encased in black jeans,
then wiggled his hips.
“Please Mike, don’t do that; it’s gross.” Raven held her hand out to block the scene, and closed her eyes. “You’re going to mentally scar me. It’s bad enough my friend checked you out, but I saw exactly what she was looking at.”
Mike laughed and continued tending.
“I’m sorry, Ray, but Mike is damn fine,” Leila whisper shouted, and Raven raised her eyebrow. “I know he’s older than me but come one… he’s seriously gorgeous!”
Raven shook her head at Leila as she stared at Mike with lust in her eyes. Just like a lot of women in there.
“Hi Raven.”
Raven stopped breathing and the room started spinning. She never expected to hear that voice again so soon, if at all.
The silence that fell between her friends was eerie. All she could hear was the rapid hammering of her pulse. She turned her head to the source of the deep timbre.
Beck.
“Seriously?” Ava snapped. “Didn’t you take the fucking hint yesterday? You’re not welcome here, asshole.”
Adrenaline coursed through Raven’s veins where she stood rooted the spot. Her fists clenched even as Beck looked at her with sorrowful eyes.
“I need to speak to you,” he said, walking towards the bar, ignoring Ava.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said…”
“Babe…” Donnie cut her off, pulling her towards him and whispering into her ear.
“No,” Ava shook her head. “I don’t care what you told me, she doesn’t want to see him.”
“Please Raven,” Beck begged, standing in front of the bar she was behind. “I need to talk to you,”
Raven clenched her jaw. The last time he’d said that, he’d confessed his feelings for her, and they’d kissed, ending up in her bed making love. That wasn’t happening again. It couldn’t. She wouldn’t let it.
It didn’t matter that he wore an outfit she loved on him: Blue jeans that hugged his thighs, and a v-neck tee with buttons adorning the neckline on one side. His muscular frame filled out the material to perfection.
She felt the familiar sting in the corners of her eyes the longer he stared at her.
Mike’s arm rested across her shoulders, the heat from his large frame next to her, and she saw Beck take in what Mike had done. His reaction to that wasn’t the same as before. He’d obviously realized their connection.
“Do you want to talk to him, Ray?” he asked, his tone icy cold. Raven shook her head ‘no’ because she didn’t know what would come out of her mouth if she opened it. “My niece doesn’t want to speak to you, so go back the way you came.”
“No.” Beck straightened up, defiantly.
“Excuse me?” Mike asked as though he’d never heard the word before. His arm slipped from Raven’s shoulder, and he seemed to grow in size as he pressed his hands down on top of the bar. “I think you misheard me, you little shit. I wasn’t asking.”
“Look, you can do whatever the fuck you want, but I’m not going anywhere until Raven gives me some time -a few minutes- so I can explain,” Beck said, his fists clenching by his sides.