Amara quickly looked back towards the walking trail for Liam, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. Why did she think he would still be at the park? Once he walked off in one of his fits, Liam could be gone for days and he usually ended up being the one who found his way back to her.
Since her day was already ruined, Amara decided to visit one of her favorite haunting spots where she generally ended up making a couple of bucks. Hopefully, she would at least get enough money to buy something to eat from one of the vendors near the beach. None of them cared if she came around as long as she had money in her pocket to buy some food.
Getting off the park bench, Amara walked back across the grass. She knew of a short cut to get to her destination so she wouldn’t be unlucky enough again to run into Griffin. If she never saw him or Dante again it wouldn’t bother her in the least. They were trouble waiting to happen for her.
****
“How did you let her get away from you?” Dante asked, watching Griffin as he fixed himself a drink. “I mean she isn’t that big. All you had to do was get her back here and I could have done the rest.”
“I can’t help it if she’s fast. I mean she was fine until I brought up your name. You really scare the hell out of that kid and, honestly, I can’t blame her.” Griffin took a sip of his drink and relaxed his back against the bar. “I mean you were going to toss her into jail. Homeless kids fear the mere idea of being locked up by the cops.”
Dante hated the fact Griffin was telling him the truth. “I bet if I talked to her she would see I didn’t mean her any harm.” His stubborn streak was kicking in, and the thought of throwing in the towel hadn’t even crossed his mind.
“You shouldn’t try to bother her anymore. I think it would be for the best if you left her alone.” Griffin tossed back the drink and then placed the empty glass on the counter. “Look, what you are trying to do is really nice but you need to let it go. Focus your attention back on the bar. I can’t keep working the extra hours here for you. She doesn’t want any help from either one of us. Just forget about it.”
He knew he had been putting more work on Griffin and Caleb than usual, but he wasn’t aware of how bad it had gotten for his buddy. As troubled as he was about the young girl living on the streets, Dante wasn’t about to let his business suffer from lack of attention.
If it was meant for him to help her than everything he tried would have worked out better. So, as of now the search for the homeless kid was over. His total focus would be back entirely on his first love which was his bar.
“You’re right. I’m done trying to make amends for how I acted that night. I can’t force anyone to accept my help who clearly doesn’t want or need it.”
Resting his elbows on the bar counter, Griffin leaned forward looking him directly in the eye. “I’m not sure if she would even listen to you.”
“I can’t disagree with you on that,” Dante admitted. “I wasn’t the nicest guy to her. This is why I’m not going to focus my time on the past but the upcoming pool tournament because I want it to be a huge success.”
“Damn, now that’s what I’m talking about,” Griffin shouted, slapping his hand on the top of the bar. “I was hoping you would snap out of this save the girl attitude of yours. You might have been too harsh on her, but you shouldn’t spend all this time trying to fix it.”
“I know and I’m done with it. I won’t spend any more time thinking about her,” Dante said, sitting down on a bar stool. “Have you heard back yet from the last two teams wanting to sign up?”
Griffin shook his head. “No, they’re supposed to get back with me later on in the week. One team is coming from Florida and the other one is from New York. I’ve heard both of them are highly competitive. If they actually show up, we should make a shitload of money.”
At first, Dante wasn’t too excited about holding this competition when Caleb and Griffin suggested it to him a few weeks ago. Instead of agreeing on the spot, he spent some time looking into it and saw the interest was still pretty hot. So, he decided to go with it as a promotional idea to draw more new customers.
He had already done quite well for himself, but getting more people through the front door was a sign of a good business man. Making this place the hottest bar in Los Angeles was his top priority and he wouldn’t stop until it happened for him.
“I’m more interested in getting everything perfect. This is the first huge event the bar has ever hosted. Nothing can go wrong or it will tarnish what I’ve worked so hard to achieve in such a short period of time,” Dante said.
Grabbing the liquor bottle in front of him, Griffin placed it back on the middle shelf of the counter behind him. “I know you have a lot invested into your business. I was taken back at first when you left the tattoo shop to do this full time; however, I invested my money with you because I knew you could make this place a success and you have.”
Turning back around his buddy looked at him. “Don’t worry so much. Caleb is right. You need to get out more and away from this place. Are you still seeing Bambi off and on?”
Dante wished he had never gotten involved with her. She thought a couple of dates together meant they should be making wedding plans. He was trying his best to put her in the far corner of his mind. Bambi was bad news and he was just happy he found out about her before it was too late. He didn’t want or need her riding his back every second of the day.
“Like I told Caleb, things with Bambi didn’t work out much to her disappointment. I can’t have someone like her in my life. We’re over and it’s going to stay that way. She isn’t the kind of woman I need.”
Doubt showed on Griffin’s face. “Are you really sure about this? I’ve heard you say this before about women and you ended up giving them another chance.”
He couldn’t disagree but those days were over. He was tired of being with a woman who thought her good looks were going to matter to him more than her character. “I’m done dating money chasers,” Dante confessed. “I want to find a woman who wants to work with me. Hayward and Clinton are married to the kind of women who we need to be looking for and not the Bambi’s of the world.”
Griffin grinned at him. “True and Jenisha are both pretty hot. If I was thinking about ever getting tied down to one woman for the rest of my life, I would pick one of them in a heartbeat. It’s a shame they’re married because I wouldn’t mind dating either one of them.”
Pointing his finger at Griffin, Dante gave his friend a warning. “Don’t ever let their husbands hear you talking about them like that. Hayward comes off as laid back but he’s very protective of True. He told me everything they went through before they finally ended up together and he’s planning a surprise seven year wedding anniversary party for her.”
“Come on. You know I was only kidding. I wouldn’t come between a husband and his wife. I’m not wired like that,” Griffin said.
Dante knew his buddy was only talking, but he only wanted to warn him about keeping his mouth shut. There were a few occasions that sometimes Griffin had a way of speaking before he thought. He wasn’t as bad a Caleb, but he was pretty damn close.
“I know you wouldn’t,” he admitted. “But, I only thought you should know how in love Hayward and Clinton are with their wives. Dave and Jim are right behind them. I swear those guys make marriage not seem like a life sentence.”
“Sorry, I can’t agree with you on that one.” Griffin move away from the counter and came around the bar. “Marriage isn’t in my future. I’m having too much of a hard time juggling working here and the tattoo shop. I swear I need a vacation, but I don’t have enough time to take one.”
“Do you want to take some time off from here?” He wasn’t aware of how overwhelmed Griffin was until now. He could move a couple of people around on the schedule to give his friend some well-deserved time off.
“Thanks but no thanks. Going on a vacation alone isn’t as fun as going with someone. In addition, I still need to do interviews for a front desk person at t
he shop. I still can’t believe Katie left to open her own shop with her boyfriend.”
“I told you not to trust her. She was just a little too interested in the clients. I should have fired her before I left Inked. I knew she was bad news and I left her there with you and Caleb.”
Getting up from the bar stool, Dante walked down the aisle until he joined Griffin at the end of the bar. “Do you need my help with the interviews?” It was the least he could do after everything that happened at the tattoo shop.
“No, Caleb and I can handle things,” Griffin said, picking up his motorcycle helmet. “You have enough going on here getting ready for the tournament. I can handle Inked. I’ll probably be back here this weekend. I have several tattoos scheduled this week.”
Dante understood the pressure Griffin was under. Finding the perfect floor manager at a tattoo shop was essential to the business running smoothly.
“Don’t worry about anything going on here. Take care of everything back at the shop. If anything really important comes up, I’ll let you know. Now, stop worrying about me so much and leave. I can’t waste any more time talking to you today,” Dante joked.
His friend smiled at him and then shook his head. “I don’t think you even know how to waste any time. You stay too busy for that.” Spinning around on his heel, Griffin walked away from him and headed out of the front door.
A few minutes later Dante heard Griffin’s motorcycle roar to life before he pulled away. Heading back behind the bar; he picked up Griffin’s dirty glass placing it underneath the counter into the plastic bin with the rest of the dirty dishes.
He shouldn’t take Griffin’s comment so personally, but he hated when his buddies pointed out the obvious to him. But he didn’t have anything else going on his life at the moment. Rekindling his past with Bambi wasn’t in the picture at all. Hell, he should have never hooked back up with her last year, but loneliness can make a man do crazy things.
Anyway, after attending Jim’s wedding to Keira and witnessing how amazingly happy all of his friends looked, something triggered inside of him and during a momentary lapse in judgment, he thought maybe Bambi could give him what he had witnessed that day.
Shit, he had never been more wrong in his life. She was still self-centered and unreliable as she was when he first met her. Hell, if she wasn’t one of his best waitress/bartenders he would have cut her out of his life a while ago.
Nevertheless, she was still here with him. He wasn’t dumb. He still noticed the hungry look in her eyes every time she came to ask him a meaningless question she already knew the answer to, but pretended she didn’t. His bed might be cold and very empty at night, but he wasn’t crazy or stupid enough to give her another free pass back into it. He had a difficult enough time getting her out of it the last time they were ‘a couple’.
“Hey Dante, are you busy?” a voice hollered out to him.
Spinning around, he spotted his cook Kent standing behind him with a worried expression plastered across his tanned face. Kent never bothered him unless it was something extremely important concerning the kitchen or food.
“No, I’m not busy,” he answered, walking over to his head chef. “What’s going on?”
“I was starting to get the food ready for the lunch crowd and I can’t find any more wings in the walk-in freezer. Do we not have any more? I have enough ready for about two maybe three orders at the most.”
Fuck! He had gotten so busy looking for the homeless girl that he had forgotten to fax the extra chicken order yesterday for today.
“Man, I’m sorry. It’s my mistake. Something came up and I forgot to place the order for the extra six boxes,” he admitted. “I’ll have to make a trip to the grocery store and buy up what they have. Do you know if Bambi is here yet or not?”
“Yeah, she was walking through the back door when I was coming out here to find you,” Kent answered.
Dante hated leaving anyone else in charge, but he wouldn’t have customers without their famous, best-selling wings. He only hoped that he got back in time before Kent got swamped with too many orders.
“Tell Bambi she’s in charge until I get back from the store. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour to get all of the chicken wings that I can for you.”
“Okay, I’ll let her know,” Kent answered. “You know this is going to go to her head, don’t you?”
“I know,” he sighed, “but she’s the only other person who knows how to get the bar ready for the lunch crowd. I swear I won’t leave you with her too long.”
Hurrying past Kent, Dante rushed back towards his office so he could grab his car keys off his desk. Thank God, this morning he changed his mind at the last minute and decided to drive his truck. He prayed this would be the only huge problem that he ran into today. His schedule was already packed tight and he couldn’t afford any more surprises today.
Chapter Nine
Walking up the meat aisle in the grocery store, Dante stopped his cart in front of the chicken wings. He didn’t even bother checking the prices before he tossed all of the packages into the bottom of his basket. This was the fourth store he’d made a trip to in the past forty-five minutes. Hopefully, the four bags he already had in his truck along with these would be enough to get the bar through the lunch and dinner crowd tonight.
After the bar was closed, he would make a decision how to handle tomorrow’s chicken problem since the bar would still be out of chicken wings. He couldn’t afford not to serve his most popular item. He would lose hundreds of dollars and that wasn’t even an option.
“I’m scared to ask what you’re going to do with all of that chicken,” a female voice teased behind him.
Turning around, Dante smiled as his eyes landed on the gorgeous woman standing there with ten-year-old Trevor next to her and Drew inside of the shopping cart playing with a key ring.
“Hey beautiful,” Dante said, and then kissed Keira on the cheek. “How are you doing? It’s been a while since I talked to you or that crazy husband of yours.”
Keira grinned at him. “I’m so happy that I don’t think I can handle anymore,” she replied.
“Great, I was hoping Jim was treating you right. I would hate to give him another talking to about you.”
“Jim is wonderful, so there’s no need to worry. Right now, he is away at a motorcycle convention for a week. So, Trevor has been a big help to me with Drew.”
Dante glanced down at Jim’s son who wasn’t looking at him with the friendliest expression on his young face. He was getting the feeling the little boy wasn’t too pleased with him talking to Keira.
“Hi Trevor, how are you doing? Are you still playing those videos games like you used to all of the time?”
“I’m going to tell my dad you were kissing my mom and he is going to kick your ass for doing it. So, you better be ready for it,” Trevor warned him. “He doesn’t like when guys look at her too long, so you’re really going to be in a lot of trouble for touching her. You aren’t going to take her and Drew away from us. I won’t let you do it.”
“Trevor!” Keira gasped. “You stop it right now. You know better than to talk to an adult like that. Your dad knows that Dante and I are only friends. Now, apologize to him.”
“Sorry.” Trevor glared at him before mumbling under his breath.
“Why don’t you go and get those cookies you wanted before we leave and I’ll deal with you more when we get back home.”
“I’ll be back and I’m still going to tell my dad about you.” Trevor warned him one last time before spinning around and walking away in the opposite direction.
“I’m so sorry about Trevor,” Keira apologized, looking back at him. “He’s so protective of me ever since Jim and I got married. I believe he’s still trying to make up for the lie he told about me. I don’t think he’s gotten over it completely. I might need to talk to Jim some more about it so we can reassure him that I’m not going away. However, he shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”
Dante understood what Trevor was going through. He already had one family ripped away and he was scared another one might be destroyed too. He didn’t fault him at all. Actually, he was secretly proud of how Trevor stood up to him. He was already showing signs of what kind of man he might turn out to be.
“He’s a little boy who loves his family. I’m not offended by his comments.”
“Well, I still want him to give you a better apology. Trevor knows better than to act that way in public. I’m going to have a long talk with him on the drive home. I can’t let him get away with it. So, are you going to tell me why you’re buying up all of those chicken wings?”
He was a little embarrassed to admit the truth, but he didn’t see any way around it. “I forgot to order extra chicken wings for my famous hot wings. Now, I’ve been making trips to all of grocery stores buying up what they have in stock.”
Laughing, Keira shook her head. “I can only guess what got you sidetrack. Dante, was it a woman?”
“No, it wasn’t,” he answered a little too quickly making Keira shoot him a doubtful look.
“Okay, I won’t dig any deeper into your personal life, but if you need a friend to talk to I’m always here for you.” Keira gave him a hug and then stepped back. “I better go check on Trevor and make sure he isn’t getting more than those packages of cookies.” She touched him on the arm one last time before walking away now with a sleeping Drew in the grocery cart.
After seeing how happy Keira’s life was with Jim, Dante knew his decision not to pursue her when she broke up with Jim was a good one. He wouldn’t want to have been the person who kept them from finding each other again.
Looking away from Keira, Dante took one look in the meat case rechecking to make sure he had everything he needed. He turned away hurrying back towards the front of the store. He was running late and Kent was probably almost out of chicken.
****
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