Gemma tapped her finger on the papers I pretended to study. “I think there’s something else going on here. She told me how mean you were to her from the moment you met her. You’ve never been that way with me or any of the other girls. Why were you like that with her?”
I lifted my head to see her stare boring holes in me as she waited for an answer. I had none to give her. I didn’t know why I’d reacted that way to Abbi, but from the very first moment I saw her, the need to push her away warred with an intense desire to protect her. I couldn’t explain either feeling.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Gemma? You still have three hours left on your shift.”
Unsatisfied with my answer, she turned to leave, but stopped and turned back to face me. “I want you to know something. Three nights before her interview, Abbi’s boyfriend beat the hell out of her. When I brought her to my house, she offered me every last cent she had to thank me for helping her. That person you so easily dismissed because you saw a few bruises needed a break, and you refused to give her that. Thankfully, Stefan, of all people, isn’t like you. I thought you were better than that, Kane. Now you can fire me or do whatever you want for saying this, but it’s the truth.”
The thought that Stefan had chosen to be a better person than I had bothered me almost as much as Abbi working under him. “Go back to work, Gemma.”
She marched away, still angry with me, as I reeled from her words. She’d struck a nerve. That she didn’t understand why I’d refused to give Abbi a job didn’t matter. That I’d done what I did for Abbi as much as myself didn’t matter either.
Fuck! Why did this girl get under my skin?
After catching Samson as he headed off on his break and lying that I needed to handle something with one of the members, I found myself walking down the stairs toward the bar. I had no idea why, but something inside me pushed me to see her. Maybe it was the guilt trip Gemma had laid on me. Maybe it was Stefan’s suggestion I stop down to see how well she was doing.
Whatever it was, ten minutes later I stood just a few feet away from the bar watching Abbi serve drinks to half a dozen men falling over themselves to talk to her. Her long blond hair tumbled over her shoulders down to her elbows, and she casually pushed it off her face each time it fell into her eyes. The movement made her seem awkward and innocent, and the men in front of her loved it. Just in case that didn’t make them fall hard, her big blue eyes focusing on them as she pretended to listen to every word they uttered did the trick. She looked like an angel, and with each smile she flashed the customers, I saw Stefan’s quarterly income column swell along with every cock in the room.
“Nice to see you took my advice and came down,” Stefan said in a loud voice next to me.
I turned to see his shit eating grin and knew whatever I felt for Abbi was crystal clear, at least to him. “Don’t make this something it’s not, Stefan. I just decided to come down to see Cash.”
Raising his eyebrows to show me he knew I was full of shit, he said, “As you well know, Cash and Olivia are down on Gasparilla Island until next week. He told us two days ago at our meeting. Remember?”
Nabbed.
“Let’s get a drink,” he said as he walked toward the section of the bar where Abbi stood.
I followed him, secretly hoping the music would stop for long enough that I could at least ask how she liked it down here. The crowd of men scattered as I edged my way to the bar to stand next to Stefan, and for the first time since she’d danced for me my eyes met hers. She smiled at her boss and then me, making me think her friend had taken her not getting hired upstairs far worse than Abbi had.
Leaning forward, she smiled even broader at Stefan and said over the music, “Hey, Stefan! What can I do for you, boss?”
He turned toward me and said, “I brought someone down to say hi.”
Abbi looked at me and in an icy voice that belied her sweet smile said, “Mr. March.”
As I tried to keep the disappointment off my face, I heard Stefan laugh. “Oh yeah, I’ll leave you to it.”
Surprised by the cold reception, I leaned forward toward her and said, “Jackson. My name’s not March. I’m only a half-brother.”
As if the music stopped just in time for her to respond, suddenly it went quiet and she said, “I can see that. You’re nothing like your brothers. They’re sweet and friendly, Mr. Jackson.”
Mr. Jackson. Obviously, Abbi hadn’t taken my rejection as well as I’d hoped. She leaned back to focus on the guy who’d pushed his way next to me, but I slid my hands out to the side along the bar to give him the clue that I wasn’t done yet. Much smaller than I, he understood my body language immediately and backed off.
“Abbi, I hear from Stefan you’re doing well down here.”
Her smile faded just enough to let me know she didn’t appreciate my comment. If I hadn’t understood that, what she said next made it perfectly clear. Placing her hands on the bar, she leaned in toward me and said, “I would have done fine up there with you too, but you decided not to give me that chance. Now do you need a drink, Mr. Jackson, or may I pay attention to paying customers?”
Gemma hadn’t lied. Abbi certainly was tougher than she looked. Feeling defensive, I blurted out, “Jack neat” and worked to keep my expression from showing how her words had affected me.
She flashed me a forced smile and turned back toward the wall of liquor bottles. Grabbing the Jack Daniels off the shelf above her, she pounded it down onto the bar. “There you go. Enjoy, Mr. Jackson.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Abbi, but I saw in the mirror behind the bar the guy next to me looked stunned. Sure I didn’t want to stick around for any more of her anger, I grabbed the neck of the bottle and stormed off toward the stairs to head back to where I belonged to down as much Tennessee whiskey as it took to forget I’d ever had any ideas about this woman.
Stefan caught up with me before I got away and pulled me aside, no doubt to rub my nose in it after watching Abbi reject me. His grin told me he’d enjoyed the show. “Planning on drinking tonight, Kane?”
“Fuck you, Stefan.”
“I’ve always wondered what it would look like when you actually tried to seduce a woman. Now I know why you don’t do it.”
“Enjoying yourself? Is this why you wanted me to come down here?”
“No. I thought since she mentioned you a few times that she might like you too. Guess I was wrong, huh?”