Whispers of a Broken Halo

by Glines, Abbi

  My oversize T-shirt and shorts were also a relief after work. I put on a pair of soft, fluffy pink slippers. I just couldn’t bring myself to put on shoes after nine hours in those heels. Pulling my hair up in a bun on top of my head, I turned to look in the mirror and took off my false lashes, then wiped off the red lipstick and makeup.

  Feeling like myself again, I headed back to the main part of the club to restock the bar while Saint put the chairs on the tables, so the floor could be swept and mopped by the morning cleaning crew who would come in and handle the floor after we left. Saint looked over at me when the door closed behind me, signaling my return. His gaze swept from my feet up, and then I caught him smile as he shook his head and went back to putting a chair on the table.

  I headed over to the kitchen entrance to get the cart of clean glasses and roll it to the bar to restock it. I could feel Saint’s eyes following me as I went. He didn’t make me uncomfortable, but I wished his interest in me would fade. It had become more obvious, and the other girls had started to notice. Trix had been my buffer from a few of the jealous ones who wanted me gone. With her gone, I had to deal with them myself.

  After I’d arrived today, I had been late getting onto the floor because my heels had been taken, as had my bottoms. By the time I got out there, the other girls had all the tables covered, and I was put at the bar with Saint for an hour.

  He made me take the tips from that hour, but I felt bad, doing it. Those should have all been his. Working that close to him with my breasts on display had been unnerving. I didn’t think that was what the others had had in mind when they hid my things. I doubted they’d try that again. If it was Saint’s attention they wanted, it hadn’t played out well for them.

  “Why the hell you gotta be so damn sexy, covered up and with the makeup gone?” Saint said as he put another chair on the table.

  I stopped and looked over at him. I didn’t know what to say to that. We normally talked very little when we closed up together. He was a quiet guy, and I liked that. Talking about me wasn’t something I wanted to do with him.

  “It’s the lighting in here,” I said.

  He smirked. “Sure it is.”

  I began putting the glasses back on the shelves, happy to have my back to him. Maybe he was done with the talking. I hoped so.

  “Are you ever going to loosen up with me? We worked side by side tonight. You’d think after that, you would feel at ease with me.”

  I glanced back over my shoulder. “I am at ease with you,” I replied, although part of me never was.

  He was an attractive man who regularly saw me almost naked and was interested in me. What did he expect?

  “No, Angel, you’re not.”

  I sighed and set down the glass that was in my hand, then turned to look at him. It was much easier to do with my shirt on. I shrugged. “You’re my boss. Every female here wants you. I know you’ve slept with a few of them. They talk. But I guess knowing you want to …”

  What did he want to do? Sleep with me too? Or date me? I wasn’t sure. I never let him get far enough to explain it. He was interested in me, but last week, he’d had sex with Blush in his office. On his desk.

  His eyebrows drew together in a frown. “I’m a man, and I have only fucked a few of them. It’s not something I’m proud of, but after a night of watching you, I get worked up. I need a release, and when a naked woman offers it up, sometimes, I take it.”

  My face heated, and I turned back to the glasses.

  “Did Blush tell you I bent her over my desk and fucked her from behind in her uniform? Did she tell you it was your name I shouted when I shot my load into the condom? I didn’t want to see her face, Angel, because I wanted to think it was you. I had watched you all night, and I wanted you so damn bad that I was crazed for it.”

  I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard Saint say that many words at once. My body was a mix of emotions. I didn’t want to hear he had imagined me while he was screwing Blush. Even if she was nasty to me most of the time, she hadn’t deserved that. I respected Saint, and I didn’t want him to change my image of him.

  “Most nights, I relieve myself while thinking about touching you, being inside you. But there are nights when I have a woman begging me to fuck her, so I use her instead.”

  I closed my eyes tightly. I wanted him to stop talking about it. Why did he insist on telling me all this?

  “Why me?” I asked then, wanting to understand it. Was it because I was the only female here who wasn’t begging him for it? Did he like the challenge?

  He didn’t respond, but I heard him move, and I knew he was walking closer to me. I hoped he left the bar between us and didn’t come too close. I wasn’t afraid of him, but his words had made me nervous. I didn’t know this side of Saint, yet it fit his appearance more so than the image in my head did.

  There would be no barrier between us. He was behind me. I felt the warmth of his body, and I shivered, more nervous now than I had been. He ran a finger over my bare neck and down my back, causing me to tremble. I knew Saint wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, but I was still uncomfortable with this.

  “I wish it weren’t you,” he said in a low voice. “It would be a hell of a lot easier if it was someone like Blush. But since the day you walked into this bar, I’ve wanted you. In the beginning, it was just to fuck the sweet innocence from your hot little body, but then I got to know you. It became more, and I never expected more.” His voice dropped even lower, and I felt his breath on my neck. “All I can think about right now is stripping off your clothes and burying my face between your legs. God, I bet you taste like heaven. Sweet as an angel.”

  I shivered again. I’d never had sex with a man, but I knew all about it from movies and books. The idea of having someone lick me where he was talking about was exciting and terrifying. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to allow myself to be so vulnerable. Yet it had to feel so much better than my own fingers.

  His lips pressed against my neck, and I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply. His hands grabbed my waist, and his teeth gently bit my ear. “If you don’t tell me to move away now, Angel, I’ll be eating your pussy in less than a minute. You smell so fucking good, and, baby, you make me crazy.”

  No! He was not going to be doing that.

  I stepped away from him and shook my head while trying to take a deep, calming breath. I didn’t want to be turned on by his words or feel anything, but part of me did. There was a tingle down low, my nipples were hard from something other than the cold, and I was curious.

  His eyes were locked on my breasts, and I knew he saw my obvious arousal. I crossed my arms over them.

  Slowly, he lifted his eyes to mine. “I’ll get on my knees and beg.” His voice was rough now.

  I shook my head.

  “Angel, we don’t have to fuck. Just let me taste you. Let me hear you come while you’re on my mouth,” he said, taking a step toward me.

  I backed up again. Oh, I wished he’d stop saying things like that. This wasn’t right. I didn’t love him or have feelings for him, but my body wanted to do bad things with him. Things that would ruin our relationship and my job.

  I licked my lips and swallowed hard. His eyes darted to my mouth, and a dark expression came over his face.

  “I’m a virgin,” I spat out in a panic.

  His eyes shot back up to mine, and the dark expression was now one of shock.

  “What?” he asked.

  I nodded my head. “I am. I’ve never been with a man.”

  He stepped back this time and ran a hand over his face as he looked away from me. “Fuck,” he muttered. “How the hell …”

  I didn’t think he was truly asking me for an answer, but I gave him one. “I just … I’ve never been in love. I told you I was broken.” My voice was barely above a whisper now.

  “In love?” He repeated it as if it were a foreign word that he didn’t understand. “You’ve never had sex because you’ve never been in love?”

  I nodd
ed.

  He laughed then, but it was a hard laugh of disbelief.

  “Okay,” he said, then closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to turn his head back toward me. “I’ll finish up here. You can go on.”

  Panic set in. Was he going to fire me because I wouldn’t sleep with him? I didn’t believe Saint would do something like that, but he was telling me to leave. Would Marley let him fire me?

  “Are you—” I stopped, not sure what to say, but knowing I had to fix this. We had to get back to a working relationship. “Are you mad at me?” I finished. Although I saw no reason he should be.

  He shook his head. “No. I just can’t focus with you here. Wanting you like I’ve never wanted anything before and knowing you’re untouched. My head is fucked up. I’ll see you on Sunday night,” he said.

  I had no response to that, so I nodded and headed for the back door.

  “Wait,” he called out, and I stopped, wishing he would just let me leave. “Let me walk you out. It’s late and not safe for you.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I told him.

  He was already almost to me. “I’m walking you to your car.”

  Instead of arguing, I just let him follow me. I headed for the dressing room to grab my bag and put on flip-flops. He stood outside the room and didn’t follow me inside. I was thankful for that. I needed some space.

  When I finished, he walked behind me until I reached my car and climbed inside.

  “Good night, Saint,” I said, looking up at him.

  “Night, Angel,” he replied, then closed my door and stepped back.

  I pulled out of the parking lot and glanced in my rearview mirror. He was standing at the door, watching me leave with his arms crossed over his chest. I wondered how I was going to work around him now, knowing how he felt. Being topless in front of him was going to be difficult.

  “Why can’t it be Rio who feels this way about me?” I asked myself aloud as I drove to Marley’s.

  If it had been Rio confessing all that, would I have let him kiss me … there? Or would I have had sex with him?

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rio

  I had been doing everything I could to not think about Bryn. I hadn’t laid eyes on her in fifteen days. Shouldn’t that be enough time to get the fuck over it? Instead, she was all I could think about anymore. She was the main show in my fantasies. I’d woken up after dreaming about her yet again with need of a shower to give myself some relief.

  I had tried going out with Drake and picking up someone to get my mind off Bryn. I couldn’t even find someone who interested me. Drake was so damn confused when I left a smoking-hot redhead at the bar with the excuse of a headache. I had been disgusted with myself.

  What was wrong with me? Was it the unknown?

  Bryn had a damaged past, a shit-ton of baggage, but I had to accept that I didn’t care. Not anymore. I’d seen too much. I knew she was still the same deep down. All the shit I had been so sure had changed her hadn’t.

  I had been so damn relieved when I pulled into the parking lot at her apartment that I hadn’t even noticed her car wasn’t there. Giving in and coming to see her felt like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. I wanted to see her. Fuck all the reasons it might be a bad idea.

  I looked down at my phone again. I’d been sitting on the stairs, waiting on her, for over thirty minutes now. It was eight in the morning. Where the hell could she be? What if there was an emergency with Cullen? Why the fuck hadn’t I saved her number in my phone?

  Just before I started to call Henley to get Bryn’s number from her, I heard Cullen’s voice. When I looked up from my phone, Cullen was standing at the bottom of the stairs, smiling up at me.

  “It’s Rio!” he called out over his shoulder, and then Bryn appeared.

  She looked like she had just woken up, and I realized Cullen was still in pajamas.

  “Hey,” she said, placing a hand on Cullen’s shoulder.

  “I, uh—is everything okay?” I asked, wondering why they would have woken up and left the house so quickly.

  “Yes,” she replied. “I was going to ask you the same question.”

  I hadn’t thought through what I was going to say or do once I got here. I’d just had to see her. “You look like you just got out of bed,” I pointed out.

  She glanced down at the T-shirt and shorts she was wearing, then laughed. “Oh yeah. Well, we did.”

  “Aunt Bryn is going to cook breakfast. Did you come to eat with us?” Cullen asked.

  There was still no explanation for why they were in pajamas.

  I looked from Cullen back to Bryn. “If I’m invited, I would love to,” I said, watching her face closely for her reaction to my staying.

  “Of course,” she said quickly, then frowned.

  Cullen started up the stairs to meet me and took my hand to pull me toward their door.

  “We stay the night at Marley’s, but we leave early and don’t eat there,” Cullen said. “I’m always real hungry when we get home.”

  Who was Marley?

  “I bet,” I replied while watching Bryn unlock the door.

  She opened it up and stepped back to let Cullen run inside.

  “Go use the bathroom and wash your hands,” she called out to him, then looked back at me. “What is wrong? Did someone get out of jail? Are we in danger?” she asked in a low whisper.

  I shook my head. “No. Has someone been bothering you? Who is Marley?”

  She sighed in relief, and her shoulders relaxed. “No one has bothered us. I just saw you and thought there had to be a serious reason to bring you here and agree to stay for breakfast.”

  She still hadn’t answered my question.

  “Who is Marley?” I repeated.

  She closed the door, locked it, and turned back to me. “My boss. She has a baby, and Cullen stays at her house with the sitter. He goes to bed there, and I come there after work. We sleep there and then come home in the mornings.”

  So, she was back at work.

  “I see,” I replied. “How long have you been back to work?”

  “Two weeks,” she said, walking toward the kitchen. “Do you want some coffee?”

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  “What brings you here if not to tell me bad news?” she asked.

  She was back to working topless in front of dozens of men every night. I had come here to be around her. See if we might … hell, I wasn’t even sure. But was her job going to drive me crazy? If we spent time together, wouldn’t I have to deal with that too? I didn’t know, but I did know I couldn’t get her out of my head.

  “I wanted to see you,” I admitted. Might as well be truthful.

  She paused with a coffee cup in her hand and looked at me. “You did?” she asked with a confused look on her face.

  “Yes, Bryn, I did,” I replied.

  Cullen came running back into the kitchen, wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. “I dressed myself too!” he announced with pride.

  “Thank you, Cullen,” Bryn told him. “Why don’t you watch one of your movies while I talk to Rio?”

  Cullen looked to be considering it, then turned to me. “You are staying to eat, right?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Okay,” he said, smiling, then turned and hurried to the television.

  When he was settled on the sofa, Bryn placed a cup of coffee in front of me. “Maybe you could be a little clearer on the reason you wanted to see me,” she said in a softer voice so that Cullen didn’t hear.

  I could tell her the truth, or I could make up an excuse. The first meant I had to be serious about this. Bryn wasn’t someone I could date casually. I had to accept her and her job. If I made up an excuse, then I would be in my shower again tonight, getting her out of my system—or at least trying.

  “Because I can’t get you out of my head,” I said.

  Her eyes widened, and she licked her bottom lip nervously. Damn, I was turned on t
hat easily. There was a kid in the room, and I had no business getting a hard-on.

  “Really?” she asked as if the fact that a man couldn’t stop thinking about her was hard to believe.

  Did the woman look in the mirror?

  I grinned. “Yeah, Bryn, really.”

  Some of her hair hung loose from the messy bun she had it in, and she tucked a strand behind her ear. “Okay.” She let out a small laugh and blushed. “I’m sorry. I just, uh, wasn’t expecting that. I think I’m n-n-nervous now.”

  “Want me to help you make breakfast? I’m real good at frying bacon,” I told her.

  She licked her lips again, and I must have studied her lips a moment too long because her breathing picked up.

  “Yeah, th-th-that would be n-nice,” she said with a small tremble to her voice.

  “Good.” I went to the fridge to find the bacon and to stop thinking about her lips that she kept wetting.

  “I was going to, uh … I m-m-mean, I thought I mi-mi-might do biscuits a-a-and gra-gravy,” she stammered out.

  I set the bacon down and closed the space between us. Slipping a finger under her chin, I lifted her head to look up at me. “You’re stuttering. You don’t do that with other people. I don’t want to make you nervous, Bryn. It’s just me.”

  She blushed and let out a small laugh. “I’ll try. If I concentrate on my words, I can control it.”

  I looked down at her mouth and wished like hell we were alone. I’d thought about kissing her mouth since I had been a kid. When I finally did, I wasn’t going to do it with an audience.

  “Th-th-at,” she sighed. “That makes it h-h-hard for me to con-con-concentrate,” she said softly.

  “My looking at your mouth?” I asked.

  She nodded her head.

  “Good,” I replied.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Bryn

  I splashed my face with cold water a second time. I was indeed awake, and this was not a dream. Staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I was wide-eyed. Rio had come here to see me. He had cooked the bacon and eaten breakfast with us. He was sitting on the sofa, watching television with Cullen. Because he wanted to see me.