Well, almost everything. Cole decided it was time to kick his plan to win Bri back into high gear. He’d been patient, following her pace for long enough. He was ready to make her see that they belonged together.
The poor girl wasn’t going to know what hit her.
Chapter 20
It was Friday night, and Joe’s Tavern was packed. Bri’s shift had started only two hours ago, and she was already exhausted from the constant demand. But despite her already aching feet, she was grateful for the distraction. Being run ragged at least kept her thoughts from dwelling on a certain dark haired annoyance she couldn’t seem to quit thinking about. It was confounding and disconcerting to say the least.
Taking a moment to catch her breath, Bri leaned against the bar, almost collapsing onto the countertop
“Tired, sweetness?” Dave slid over to her. “It’s still early. You can’t be worn out yet,” he teased.
“You try running around like you’re on fire for a couple hours and see how well you hold up,” she shot back at him.
He leaned in as close as the counter separating them would allow and grinned at her.
“Maybe you just need a little pick me up.” He eyed her lasciviously. “I bet I could get that heart of yours racing.”
She just looked at him a moment before bursting into laughter. Dave was cute, she’d give him that, but he was a shameless flirt and monogamy was not a word in his vocabulary. His charms held no sway over her, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
“Really Dave, that’s the best you could do?” She shook her head at him, teasing. “You’d better be careful, I think you’re losing your touch.”
“Not a chance,” he smiled, nonplussed. “I could give you a list of women who would happily and enthusiastically attest to my skills and prowess. If you’re interested?”
“No, no.” She held up her hands. “I’m good, thanks. That is information I can happily live without.”
“Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me,” he winked. Bri just shook her head. “Now, you’d better get back out there before the natives get restless.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, reluctantly pushing off the counter.
Dave, unable to resist the temptation, whipped a bar towel at her behind.
“Hey!” she spun on him, half amused, half outraged.
“Hop to it, Bri. The tips won’t come if you don’t get that hot ass out there. Go work it girl.” He flashed her one more brilliant smile before turning to a customer.
Rolling her eyes with a smile, she turned to get back to work. Not expecting to find her boss standing right behind her, she squeaked as she almost ran into him.
“Hey, Joe,” she hastily scooted back. “What’s up?”
Joe was glaring over her at Dave, who’d already found another girl to charm. He abruptly reached for Bri’s arm, and pulled her away from the bar. When they’d made it a sufficient distance away, he stopped and turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Listen, Bri,” Joe looked at her seriously. “I want you to be careful with Dave over there. You need to watch yourself, and don’t let him get to you.”
“Joe, what are you talking about?”
“That man,” he pointed back at Dave, “is not to be trusted. I’ve seen the way you two have been flirting. No matter what he says to you, or how charming he may seem, he’s not the guy for you.”
“Really?” She had to bite back her laugh. Joe looked so worried and upset, she couldn’t resist the urge to mess with him a little. “How do you know he’s not the guy for me?”
“Because not two days ago, I caught Dave and Sarah knockin’ boots back in the store room!” he hissed.
“Knockin’ boots?” Bri burst out laughing. “Knockin’ boots? Oh my gosh Joe, how old are you?”
“Okay, so maybe I don’t know what you kids call it these days, but that doesn’t change the fact that I walked in and caught Dave and my third favorite waitress in a very compromising position. And then the next time I see him, he’s hitting on you. I’m telling you Bri, that boy is no good.”
Touched at Joe’s concern for her, Bri patted his arm consolingly. “Aw, thanks for looking out for me, Joe,” she smiled. “But you don’t have to worry about me and Dave. I see through his tricks, and while most of the girls in here are swooning all over him, I am not attracted to him in the least. So you don’t have to worry, my virtue is safe.”
“Good to hear.” Joe let out a big sigh. “I tell ya, that boy is nothing but trouble. I’m glad to know you’re smart enough to see through him, though. Do you mind trying to talk some sense into Sarah for me? Before he drives her away, and I have to find me a new waitress?”
“If you’re that worried, why don’t you just fire Dave and be done with it?”
“Believe me, I’d love to boot him out right on his ass. But, look at all the customers he brings in.” He gestured to the full pub. “Who am I to complain that they’re all mostly female?” He winked at her.
“You are terrible,” she smacked his arm in mock outrage.
“Just trying to pay the bills.” Joe ducked as Bri swiped at his head this time. “No get back to work,” he grinned at her. “And I’d stay out of the store room if I were you. Just in case.”
“Yes, we don’t need any more boot knockin’ around here,” she laughed. Joe just glowered at her.
“Get back to work, smartass.” He gave her an indulgent grin and headed off to solve the next crisis of the night. Obediently, Bri turned to take the next table’s order.
An hour later, the pub was even more tightly packed as people came in for the live band that was set to start soon. There wasn’t an open seat to be had, and people were pressed back against the walls. Bri didn’t know who Joe had hired to fill the spot tonight, but they were already drawing a large crowd.
Becks finally arrived, to the chorus of the whole bar, for one of her rare weekend shifts. Seeing how busy it was, Bri wouldn’t be surprised if Joe called Sarah to come in and help tonight too, despite the fact that she and Dave would probably end up hooking up again at break time.
Speaking of break time…
She rushed over to Becks, barely giving the girl time to don her black apron.
“Hi! Here,” Bri unceremoniously shoved her order pad into Becks’ surprised hands. “Tables ten and sixteen need their orders taken, and two and eight are waiting on their food. Everyone else could probably use drink refills. I’m taking my break now before my legs give out. Have fun.” Bri gave Becks an evil grin and dashed back to the small break room behind the kitchen before Becks could protest.
The noise from the crowd was muted back here, and Bri was grateful for the semi-quiet. Pulling out a chair, she collapsed into it and kicked up her feet, and for a few minutes she just sat. It was bliss.
Fifteen short minutes later, she decided she’d better get back before Becks got eaten alive out there. Grabbing her drink tray, she reluctantly walked back to the main floor.
The band was just getting starting as Bri walked out. Not caring much who was playing- it was usually mopey, emo types from the university, she waved to Becks on the other side of the room. Becks motioned to a table in the back, and Bri headed over. She was in the middle of taking the table’s drink order when the lead singer’s voice came over the speakers.
“Hey everybody,” his deep voice rumbled. “We’re so glad to see so many of you here tonight. Let me start by introducing the band. We are The Hacks, and we’re basically just an alternative rock cover band. We all met at work, and after discovering that we had similar tastes in music, we started playing together. Our break room jams turned into full practice sessions, and here we are. This is our first gig, and we’d like to thank Joe for giving us the opportunity to live out our rock star fantasy.”
The crowd cheered and Joe bowed graciously.
“Well, let me introduce the boys here, and we’ll get to it. My name is Reggie, and on drums we have Cory. Marc is on bass, and on
lead guitar is my man Cole, who is going to introduce our first song.”
Bri had finished her table’s order and was just turning, when an all too familiar voice came over the microphone.
“Hi everyone! Thanks for coming out tonight.”
Shocked, Bri’s eyes flew to the stage where, sure enough, her Cole was smiling back at her. She froze and, her fingers having suddenly forgotten how to work, she dropped her tray. The loud clatter echoed through the now quiet room, causing everyone to turn and look. She was vaguely aware that everyone was staring at her, but she couldn’t move or take her eyes off him. She knew she should be embarrassed for causing a scene, but she was too astounded to feel anything.
Cole was standing there on stage, a guitar slung across his chest, just grinning at her. Even from this distance, she could see his eyes dancing in amusement. He’d got her, and he knew it. As she just stood there, unable to make her brain, or any other part of her work, he chuckled, drawing the crowd’s attention back to him.
“Like Reggie said, we are all big alternative fans, especially the older stuff. So tonight, we’re going to start with one of my personal favorites: Wonderwall by Oasis.”
Cole strummed out the first chords and Reggie’s voice began singing, and still Bri hadn’t moved. Becks wandered over, her hand on Bri’s arm finally snapping her out of her trance.
“You going to get that, luv?” Becks nodded at the tray still lying on the floor.
Shaking her head, Bri finally forced her body to work, and she picked up the tray. As she stood, she glanced up at the small stage again to find Cole watching her as he played. His amusement had spread to his whole face. Feeling her cheeks flushing, she rushed over to the bar to put her order in.
“Oh my god, Bri,” Dave laughed. “What was that?”
“Shut up, Dave,” Bri groaned, not wanting to dwell on her embarrassing mishap.
“That, my friend,” Becks’ smug voice drifted over as she sidled up to Bri, “was bloody brilliant. Honestly, I couldn’t have planned that better myself.” She laughed at Bri. “The look on your face! I do hope someone got that on camera.”
“Did you know about this?” Bri looked at Becks incredulously. “Did you know he would be here tonight?”
“I might have heard it from a little birdy that Cole and his mates would be playing tonight. What of it?” Becks’ blasé attitude sent Bri’s anger boiling, breaking through the wall of numbed shock.
“And you didn’t think to tell me? You could have warned me he’d be here, so at least I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of all these people.”
“And where would be the fun in that?” Becks grinned back.
With a disgusted groan, Bri turned to storm away, but Becks caught her arm.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But he wanted it to be a surprise. He swore me to secrecy, and you know how seriously I take that sort of thing.”
“You love gossip more than you love shopping,” Bri glared at her. “You can’t keep a secret to save your life.”
“You may be right,” she relented. “But I believed this secret was worth keeping because it was for a good cause. If I’d told you, you wouldn’t have come, and I couldn’t let you miss out on this. Look at him,” she turned Bri toward the stage. “Your bloke is amazing up there. And right sexy, too. So pull your knickers out of your bum and just enjoy it.”
Becks left to help a table and Dave moved down the bar, but Bri just stood there, taking in Cole on stage. She had to admit, his band sounded good. Reggie’s voice was surprisingly strong and his range was impressive. He probably could’ve had a music career if …
Bri’s eyes grew wide in recognition. Reggie was a Sports Center anchor on ESPN, and a former NBA player to boot. Suddenly the larger than normal crowd made sense. They had two celebrities in the house tonight. Cole and Reggie had been all over ESPN’s basketball coverage recently, and obviously word of their performance tonight had gotten around. Bri didn’t recognize the other two band members, and figured they must be behind the scenes guys at the station. Looking around, she wondered if Seb had come tonight, but she didn’t see him among the crowd. No, it looked like Cole had done this alone.
Turning her attention back to him, she marveled at how she could not have known he even played the guitar, let alone had a band. This new piece of information shook her. If she didn’t know something this huge about him, what else had she missed?
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she turned her focus back to her job, but felt like she was floating around in a fog. As the band played their set, Bri couldn’t keep her eyes off Cole. Becks was right, he was hot up there, and Bri wasn’t immune to that fact. He was good, which shouldn’t surprise her, but it did. As she watched his hands, so sure and confident on the strings of his guitar, she wondered just how long he’d been playing. Seeing him on stage, seeing this new side of him was wreaking havoc on all of her preconceived notions about him. She was seeing him in a new light tonight, and she didn’t know if she liked it. It was throwing her off.
The set ended and the crowd went crazy. The majority of the customers called for their checks and headed to the door. As the crowd finally thinned out, Bri paused to rest a moment on one of the barstools. Dave slid her a vanilla Coke, and she smiled gratefully at him before he moved away. A sip or two later, she jolted as a large presence settled into the seat next to her.
She heard Cole ask Dave for a bottle of water, but she refused to turn towards him. She could feel him watching her, and after a few moments of weighted, uneasy silence, she let out a sigh and gave in.
“What?” She lifted her brows at him.
“Nothing,” he tilted his head, a slight smile on his flushed face. “You look good in this light. I was just admiring the view.”
Bri opened her mouth to snap at him, but he held up his hands.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” he chuckled. “How are you, Bri? It’s been a busy night.”
“Yeah it has, thanks to you,” she snipped. “You never told me you were in a band. I didn’t know you even played the guitar, for that matter.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t start playing until after we broke up, so how would you know? You stopped talking to me about then, if I remember correctly.” She dropped her eyes. “My therapist said I needed a way to deal with my emotions,” he continued, his voice softening. “He suggested that music might be a good way to let out what I’m feeling. Since I was traveling so much, I needed something portable, so I chose the guitar. I took lessons for a while, and then just kind of started to pick at it on my own. It turned out to be quite therapeutic.”
“Your therapist sounds like a smart guy.”
“That’s why I keep paying him,” Cole agreed.
Feeling bad about prying, but unable to deny her curiosity, Bri pushed. “So you’re still seeing a psychiatrist? Even after all this time?”
“I told you I was a work in progress,” he smiled ruefully. “I’m afraid that it’ll take more than just a few years to get me straightened out.”
Not sure how she felt about this revelation, or the new side of him she’d seen that night, Bri turned back to her drink. They sat for a few moments in silence, Cole slowly drinking his water, and Bri desperately trying to decipher this new enigma sitting next to her.
“Hey guys,” Joe sauntered up. Bri’s head snapped up, but Joe was talking to the band, which had pulled up to the bar on the other side of Cole. “You were great! Did you see the size of that crowd? Any chance you’d want to come in again next weekend?”
Horrified, she cut in. “Joe, I don’t think that’d be a good idea…”
“We’d love to,” Cole interrupted, glancing at his band for confirmation.
“That would be awesome,” Reggie agreed. “Thanks, man.”
“But,” she tried again.
“Wonderful,” Joe barged along. “If you keep pulling this kind of a following, we may have to make this a regular gig.”
Bri ke
pt trying to interrupt as Joe and Reggie worked out the details of the show next week, but neither of them paid her any attention. Cole did though, smirking at her as she tried to keep him and his band out of her bar. All of her Cole-free havens had been compromised, and everyone around her was either oblivious or unsympathetic to her discomfort and reticence. Cole was weaseling his way into a more permanent position in her life, and she didn’t like it one bit.
“Cheer up, Bri,” Cole leaned in and grinned at her. “This just means that you get to spend more time with me. How could you turn down an opportunity like that?”
Horrorstruck, she stared at him. More time with Cole was so not what she needed right then. Frustrated, angry, and not a little worried, she stormed away.
Ever since returning from their trip to England, things had been different for her. As much as she tried to prevent it, her thoughts were constantly swirling around him. The change in him was dramatic, and she found herself liking this new Cole- and worse, wanting him. The attraction she’d felt to him had never disappeared, hadn’t even diminished much despite everything. And as she spent more and more time with him, those feelings grew stronger and stronger. He was a constant presence in the back of her mind at work, during class, late at night as she was drifting off to sleep. Or worst of all, when she was with Adam.
Though on the surface her relationship with Adam seemed fine and unchanged, she felt a rift forming between them. She didn’t know if she was causing it, or if he was drifting away from her, or if maybe it had been there from the beginning. All she knew for sure was that she could feel it widening every day.
Guilt punched her in the gut whenever she thought about Adam. He was a great guy, and she was lucky to have him. But despite the few months she’d had to get accustomed to the idea, she still couldn’t think about marrying him without a small panic attack threatening. She loved Adam, why couldn’t she commit fully to him? She didn’t know what her problem was, but she was pretty sure she was a horrible, evil person who didn’t deserve him in the first place.
Perfect Imperfection Page 21