Unleashing His Alpha (2 page)

“Well, you could take a load off and keep us company for a while,” the one still wearing his dirty, stained baseball cap said with a sick grin on his face. “What’s a pretty thing like you hanging out in a place like this? Don’t you have a sugar daddy yet that’ll take care of all your needs?”

“Not yet,” she said, playing along with them.

“Whatever’s on tap and cheapest,” Goatee said, lazily pointing at the bar..

“Make it a double,” Hat said, looking straight at her breasts. She smiled and pretended like she was writing it down on her pad. When she looked at him and he was still staring at her breasts, she cleared her throat to get his attention and bring him back to earth. He looked up at her and just grinned without any shame or remorse. “Hell, how much would I have to pay you to get you to sit on my lap for a little bit?”

“More than you have on you,” she said with a grin.

“Try me,” he said, reaching out and squeezing her ass. She pulled away calmly, looking at her pad and giving them a farewell smile.

“I’m going to go get you two those drinks,” she said before turning and heading straight for the bar. God, it was definitely going to be one of those days. As she walked toward the bar, she looked at Vance who had seen the entire thing.

There was a look on his face that told her he was willing to start something to get them out of there.  That was sweet of him, but she didn’t need Vance fighting her battles for her. Besides, she knew that Vance would probably get his ass handed to him by those two guys. “Two of whatever,” Katie said with a calming smile.

“Those guys are assholes,” Vance told her.

“Most of them are,” she answered nonchalantly.

When Vance had pulled the drinks, she put them on her tray and walked them back to the two douches that were sitting in her section. She set them down in front of them, not making eye contact with them as they stared at her, eating her up as she bent over in front of them.

She shrugged it off, reminding herself that there were never any flattering or cute guys of substance that ever came in here. They were always fun or friendly, but they were always trash. There was no such thing as a good guy here. This was the dominion of creeps and losers. She held the tray under her arm and pulled out her pad again.

“Was there anything else that I could get for you or do you need a few minutes?” Katie asked them with a fake smile on her lips that they clearly took to be the real thing.

“How much to get you to come out back and give the both of us some head?” Goatee asked her. “Hell, I’m even willing to tip you for services rendered.”

“That’s not on the menu today, boys,” she said with a pleasant smile that was hiding the burning fire that she felt raging under her skin. She wanted to strangle both of them and smack them upside the head.

There was nothing that she wanted to do more now than splash their drinks in their faces, but that wasn’t something that she was paid to do, so she refrained from it. “I’ll give you a few minutes to look over the menu.”

“Thanks, Sugar,” Hat said with a crooked grin that he clearly thought was charming but was far from it. “And if you change your mind about entertaining us, feel free to stop on back by. You don’t have to be shy about it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. She was trying to conjure up a reality where that would ever work on her or any other girl in the world. People didn’t work like that, especially around strangers. They’d been watching way too much porn and expecting it to be reality. She turned and headed back to the bar, praying that a wave suddenly hit so that she could keep busy and stop spending time around them. She wanted to get as far away from them as possible.

CHAPTER TWO

She stepped outside, wrapped in her long, black pea coat that braced her from the frigid December wind that she was tired of already. She wanted to be done with the winter and they’d only had it for a couple of months now.

There was something about the winter here that made it feel like it lasted for half of the year. She hated the snow and she hated the cold, but there was nowhere else that she could go. It wasn’t like she had a huge amount of savings and a ton of opportunities elsewhere. She was a waitress who believed in angels and fairies.

People weren’t climbing over themselves to knock down her door and beg for her to take a job with them. Wrapping her arms around her chest, she walked toward her tiny Volvo and stopped when she saw a pair of brake lights illuminate the darkness of the parking lot. She looked up and shielded her eyes as she saw a black figure step out of the truck. God, she hated trucks—especially that one.

“What are you doing, Katie?” he shouted at her, already angry and probably already hitting the booze. She wasn’t interested in this. She had only a handful of nights where the stars aligned and all of her friends had the night off and they were going to utilize it. She was going to make sure that there was fun and merriment to be had tonight. “You leave me a note telling me you’ll be out late? What are you, cheating on me?”

She looked at Jake and could tell from the red around his eyes that he’d been smoking pot, too, probably with his friend Hooper. She stopped and looked around, knowing that she was about to be a part of the night’s entertainment in the middle of the parking lot. She looked up at him and shook her head.

“No, Jake,” she said to him sternly. “I’m going out with my friends. If you have a problem with that, then maybe you should act like an adult and talk to me about it. You’re out every other night and I never say a thing about it. So go ahead and head back home or to the bar or to Hooper’s house, wherever you’re hanging out this night. So get out of my way.”

“If I catch you fucking some other dude, I’m going to kill him,” Jake shouted at her as she headed for her Volvo, pulling her keys out of her pocket and getting in. She locked the doors immediately once she was in the car, seeing him in the rearview mirror as he was stalking back and forth in the parking lot. She needed help with Jake.

She needed to get out of this relationship that had been dead for months now. She knew that given the right opportunity, she absolutely would cheat on him, no doubt. There wouldn’t even be a moment of hesitation in her mind. She was already open for business if there was a guy out there who was worth risking it.

He had to be strong and he had to be charming. She didn’t want some goon that came to places like Big Mikey’s and she wanted him to foster inside of her something that was dangerously close to hope and belief in herself and in the future they could have together. She wasn’t wasting any more time with losers and Jake had been the last straw. She didn’t want it and she was tired of all of it. She needed out. She needed release from all of this.

Sarah and Faith were already at the Valdez Hotel Lounge where they usually went out for drinks, because the guys were cute and the bartender liked them and made their drinks extra special every time.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, she caught one last glimpse of Jake and was thankful she’d never given him a key to her apartment. She would have him there every night trying to strangle her with his drunk, abusive hands.

It took about half an hour to put Big Mikey’s behind her and arrive at the Valdez ahead of April, who would be catching up with them later. She didn’t have a dress to change into and she was going to look extra slutty in this place, but she didn’t really care at this point.

She wanted a martini inside of her immediately and she didn’t want to think about what events the night held for her. To her, the only thing that mattered right now was that she wanted to desperately forget about the life that was holding her prisoner. She wanted to escape and she was willing to give anything for it.

“Hey Gorgeous,” Sarah said, throwing her arm around Katie and hugging her. She could feel Sarah’s investment pressing hard against her chest. The customers had admired her cup size increase with great ferocity and appreciation. Katie smiled at their resident redhead and kissed her on the cheek, glad to see her. Sarah was the vainest out of the trio of beautiful women that were stunning to behold at the bar, which was saying a lot. “How was work?” she asked.

“What kind of question is that?” Faith asked, adjusting her glasses and checking her phone. “That place is such a freak show lately. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to handle it. I think I’m seriously going to start kneeing guys in the balls next time they whistle at me.”

“I think it’s against the rules to do that,” Sarah laughed.

“I’ll have a dirty martini,” Katie told Harvey behind the counter. He nodded and smiled at her, already getting it prepped for her. She liked how he was so good at anticipating what it was that she was going to want. That was what everyone expected in a bartender. That was the kind of service that you wanted when you came to a place like the Valdez.

When April arrived, they were already drinking fairly heavily and Katie couldn’t help but feel bored by all the talk. She wanted to do something and as her eyes scanned the bar, she noticed that there was someone actually hanging out in the lounge alone. She looked at the man who was sitting alone and couldn’t help but feel lonely for him. There was something inside of her that seemed to call out toward him and she kept glancing over in his direction.

He was wearing a pair of thick framed glasses, reading a book as he nursed whatever cocktail struck his fancy. She liked that immediately. He looked classy and educated over there in his sweater. She wondered if there was anything else about him that might impress her.

There was a devilish excitement inside of her and she started to get nervous as she looked at her friends. “I think that guy over there is kind of cute,” she said, taking another drink of her third dirty martini. It was giving her all the confidence that she was going to need and she liked it. Faith and Sarah turned and glanced in his direction where he was seated next to the fireplace.

“Mr. Clean Cut?” Sarah asked, her voice clearly agreeing with Katie’s assessment of the man’s appearance. “I’m digging the short beard. Yeah, I say go for it. That man has style and I’m not seeing a wedding ring.”

“Man like that is definitely taken,” April said with a nonchalant voice, like there were better opportunities here that Katie wasn’t paying attention to and she was eager to steer the topic of conversation in those directions. Katie glared at her as April checked her phone.

“You should go talk to him,” Faith said with absolute confidence in her voice.

“No,” Katie shook her head.

“What do you have to be afraid of?” Faith asked her.

“One word: Jake,” Katie reminded them.

“That guy looks like he could put Jake’s ass in the ground with one punch,” Sarah said as she shook her head. “Besides, you’ve got to get another man to help you out in that department. Enough is enough with that creeper.”

“He’s probably not looking for complicated and I’m extremely complicated right now,” Katie told them.

“Do it,” Faith said with a finality in her voice that meant she was done having this debate and wouldn’t entertain it anymore. It wasn’t long until Sarah followed suit with the stubborn unity that they all had for each other. Only April remained undisturbed by the debate as she kept checking her Facebook.

“Fine,” Katie groaned, taking one last drink of her dirty martini for good luck and stood up from the bar. She could tell that they were watching her with their little smirks and encouraging smiles.

Walking over toward him, she felt like a slut. Honestly, she was dressed like a slut and that was doing most of it for her right now. It was impossible for her to actually feel like she was doing something successful with herself when she was dressed in a mini skirt and wearing a shirt that left nothing for the imagination.

She walked past the group of men who were checking her out at their little table and she could almost feel their eyes rolling over her body. God, she hoped that she didn’t embarrass him. He looked so good in his sweater and jeans that she figured he was probably used to a classier kind of woman than she actually was. As she approached him, she felt more nervous than usual.

“Hi,” she said, standing near him.

He looked up from his book and immediately his dark blue eyes met hers and didn’t run all over her body. That was the first time that someone had done that in a long time and it was honestly catching her off guard. She noticed that he was actually wearing a watch and that was also something that she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with.

What kind of a classy man had she just accidentally stumbled across right now? As she looked at him, she felt her nerves picking up and when his eyes finally took her in, she could see that he was starting to form opinions about her.

“I saw that you were over here alone,” Katie said with a smile and wishing that she’d at least worn her pea coat over here. “I usually hate it when guys come up to me and try talking to me when I’m trying to read, but I was just wondering if maybe you’d be interested in having some company.”

“Sure,” he said. His voice was strong and sure of itself, but not in a cocky way, more of a reasonably confident sense. She liked the sound of his voice and she liked the way it resonated inside of her. There was something happening to her as she stood there and listened to him. That single word was like a single tug from gravity and deep inside of her a wall of ice was cascading and plummeting into the ocean of her consciousness. He closed his book and set it on the little table that was holding his cocktail and he sat up straight, gesturing to the chair next to him, offering it to her.

“I’m Shane,” he said, holding out his hand for her.

She took it and felt his strong, sure grip and she liked it. It wasn’t rough and it wasn’t soft, but she felt an electric surge when she touched it. God, that was the hand that she wanted to feel on her skin, running over her body.

She felt flustered. What was she thinking? She needed to get her head on straight and focused before she did something stupid that she was going to regret.

“Just Shane?” She pressured him, urging him on to tell her his full name.

“Shane Blackwood,” he said with a slight shrug. “It’s not the best name, but it’s the one I’ve got.”

She giggled at that and held on to his hand. “Katie Harper,” she answered with a sweet smile on her lips.

“Pleased to meet you, Katie Harper,” he said as she released his hand, not wanting to freak him out any more than she already had. “So what brings you to the Valdez Lounge tonight?”

“Just got off work,” she said, gesturing to her provocative clothing. “I didn’t really have the chance to escape home and change, so I’m sitting in here like a twenty dollar whore trying to drink away the shame.”

“So what is it you do?” Shane was grinning, showing off his fantastic smile and teeth that she wanted to feel biting down on her naked flesh. She realized that she was staring and shook herself out of the trance that she was falling into.

“I’m a waitress,” she said. “I work at this smutty little restaurant that likes to think of itself as a Hooters and men tip me very well because they can see my cleavage.”

“I can’t say I blame them,” Shane said with an awkward grin.

She liked that. She wanted him to check out her cleavage, but his eyes never left her face, something that she loved. He didn’t leer at her and he didn’t stare at her body, but there was something about him that pulled her closer and closer as she leaned in to hear what he had to say. “What about you?” she asked him softly. “What does Shane Blackwood do?”

“I’m a travel writer,” Shane said with a sad little nod, like he wasn’t impressed by his own line of work and knew that she probably wouldn’t be, either. “Yeah, I travel around the country and I write for a series of blogs. I review hotels, tourist destinations, movie theaters, and restaurants. I have six blogs, all of which pay me an average salary of seventy thousand a year and climbing. So, that’s the one thing I have going for me.”