Authors: Erin Lark
"I'm
sorry," he said smoothly, "but, do I know you?"
I looked for
the hint of mischief in his eyes. I tried to see if he was testing me, but if
he'd known me last night, he didn't know me now. The smile of recognition I
expected to see was missing.
"I..."
I licked my lips. "I'm sorry. You just look awfully familiar."
"I get
that a lot actually." He held out his hand.
"Name's
Jace
.
Jace
Evans."
I looked from
his hand to his face. "Brianna." I shook his hand, finding it odd
when it didn't feel as rough as I'd expected.
He really
wasn't the same guy.
But he looks just
like him! And that smell!
He was wearing the same exact cologne. Maybe he
changed his appearance every night.
And
maybe this isn't a dream. Haven't thought of that yet, have you?
If this
wasn't a dream, I have no idea where I would've seen him before meeting Orion.
It wasn't like I paid any attention to how my customers looked and I almost
never people watched when I walked through town.
And there was
no way in hell I was going senile. Even at twenty-eight, I could remember a lot
more than the kids
Farrin
kept bringing in to work
for him.
"Should
you be back there? Isn't that for employees only?"
Jace
nodded to my attire and the empty bar. "Do
you
work here?"
"Not
really, no." I swirled my glass. "I sleep here."
"In
the bar?"
He raised an eyebrow at me.
"No."
I almost choked on my soda as I took the first sip. "Upstairs."
"So, if
you don't work here and you aren't at home, why are you here?"
"Can't
sleep.
You?"
I glanced over his shoulder at the
documents he'd left at his table. "What's with the papers?"
He settled
down on one of the stools in front of me.
"Work."
He let out an exasperated sigh.
"Just got off actually."
"And you
came to a bar that isn't open?"
"In my defense,
it looks a lot more like a hotel from the outside, and the front door was
unlocked." He shrugged. "Once I got inside and saw the comfortable
chairs, I decided to stay a while."
I couldn't
blame him there. Aside from the usual wear and tear and having to steam clean
the furniture just about every chance he got, Simon had kept the place clean
and smelling like new. Most of his patrons knew better than to drink out
here,
and those who were new to the bar were almost always
corrected by those who'd live here if given the chance.
"So, who
the hell works until three in the morning, anyway?" I asked, studying his
one arm, but as far as I could tell, he had no tattoos.
Damn.
"I got
talked into working for some dumbass internet provider.
Customer
service."
Jace
shook his head.
"Let me
guess,
it's
open twenty-four hours a day, isn't it?"
"Pretty
much.
And when I'm not working, I'm on call. I swear
,
half
the guys I work with shouldn't even have these jobs. They know about as much as
the customers do, and they're paid to look dumb!" He slicked back his
hair. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to unload on you. I'm just so tired of
picking up after their crap."
I stepped
from behind the bar and sunk into one of the loveseats with my drink. "I
know how that goes." I let my head fall back and I closed my eyes. "I
mean, retail probably
isn't
nearly as glamorous as IT
is, but we have more than our share of slackers, lay-
abouts
,
moochers, and kids who are only working because their moms will kill them if
they don't."
"Sounds
a lot like my co-workers."
Jace
turned
toward me and leaned against the counter. "Hey, you want to get a drink?"
I lifted up
my glass.
"Got one, thanks."
What the hell are you doing? Don't turn him
down!
He
wasn't Orion.
Sure fooled me. Not like
you're going to sleep anyway.
I groaned. I really hated the simple pickup
lines, and I honestly wasn't in the mood to entertain some guy I'd just met.
But you didn't.
He wasn't the same man
from my dreams.
He shrugged
and glanced at the front windows. "What else do you have planned? You said
you couldn't sleep."
I rolled my
eyes at him.
"Neighbors."
Did he just
shudder? I smiled. At least he was sympathetic.
"Say no
more."
Jace
gathered his papers before walking
back over to me.
"How about a late dinner?
Early breakfast?"
"Shouldn't
you sleep or something?"
"Eh,
sleeping's for the dead anyway."
I sighed. "All
right, fine. I'll go with you. But if I have a bad time, you're paying."
"Was
going to anyway."
He helped me from my chair and I set my drink
on the counter.
Taking
another look at what I was wearing, I decided it wasn't overly appropriate
since it resembled something akin to flannel pajamas. "Let me just get
into something a little more..."
"Casual?"
He smirked, and I couldn't help laughing.
"You
sure have a way with words." I reached for the door to the back of the
bar. "I'll be right down. Feel free to use the restroom or whatever it is
guys do when they're asked to wait."
As I stomped
up the stairs to my apartment, I had to wonder how I'd gotten here. By all
counts I should've been going back to bed, or rather, getting to sleep for the
first time that evening. Instead, I was going out with a man I barely knew, who
was nothing like Orion. On the up side, at least I'd get a free meal out of
him.
Then again, I
couldn't decide what was worth missing more—Orion's control over me or a man I
could actually call up the day after having a night out.
So long as you like it.
After
reaching the top of the stairs, I listened to Simon and David murmur on the
other side of their door. They were still awake, either taking a break between
rounds of wild sex or winding down for the evening. I couldn't be sure. And I
didn't want to know. Good
God, that
was an image I
didn't want in my head before going out for the first time in what felt like
forever. Not to the guy's house either. I was actually going out where there
was food and drink, which was almost unheard of when it came to me and the guys
I met.
You sure know how to pick them.
Maybe this
time would be different. Maybe I wouldn't choke on a roll or fall flat on my
face. But at least for now, I could get into something a little more
appropriate. It hit me just then what
Jace
may have
seen in me. I was wearing a flannel shirt and pants with pockets in them. Bra
or not, there's no way that could've been attractive, which was my intent.
The last
thing I'd want was to go into the bar and get picked up by some drunk.
But
Jace
is sober.
Good looking, too.
Maybe he just wanted to talk.
Oh, God, what if he wants to vent?
I was fine with the small
complaints we'd made in passing, but sitting through that for an entire meal?
That was like asking me to go on my first date all over again.
And you remember how that ended.
Not
well. Not well at all.
Closing the
apartment door behind me, I considered locking it and calling it a night.
He'll just come back tomorrow, you know. He
knows where you live.
Crap. Now I wished I would've just dug around for
some earplugs and possibly dozed off between Simon and David's
sexcapades
.
Fuck it.
May as well get it
over with.
If all else fails, at least it makes for a good story.
I grabbed my
phone off the nightstand and searched for Karie's number. I highlighted her
name then thought better of it, remembering she had work not four hours from
now. I turned off the phone and shoved it in my jeans' pocket.
Ready or not...
Chapter Four
Turns out
nothing’s open between the hours of three and five in the morning aside from
fast food restaurants. Not like it mattered. Neither one of us was hungry—certainly
not enough to order greasy food and melted shakes. But because I’d thrown on my
work slacks and a sweater, I saw no reason to head back inside.
Simon and
David were probably in to their third or fourth round of sex by now. And
knowing how they were when they got like this, I had until six in the morning
before one of them left for work. They’d had sex marathons in the past, so
until one or both were showered and dressed, I was with
Jace
.
It was
strange though. For as long as I’d lived on
I never noticed how quiet or empty the streets were so early in the morning. Neon
signs highlighted the asphalt beneath our feet as we walked up
whatever treasures waited for us through large store windows.
Every now and
again one of us made a comment or some odd remark about what we saw, but for
the most part our walk was a quiet one. Half the time I was thinking about
Orion and how much
Jace
reminded me of him. As for
the other half, I was thinking that I couldn’t figure
Jace
out.
There we
were, walking in the streets with nowhere to go, nothing to say. The flood of
complaints I expected to hear from him about his job never came, and I started
to wonder if he felt just as lost as I did.
There’s
no way he’s Orion.
I was sure of it now. His continued silence was evidence
enough that he was lacking in the confidence department. Even so, I couldn’t
say I wasn’t glad for the company.
I nearly
jumped when
Jace
cleared his throat and changed
directions, slowly making his way back to the bar.
"Think
your neighbors will be asleep by now?" He raised an eyebrow at me and
shoved his hands in his pockets before rolling his shoulders back.
I know that look.
Had he just turned into
someone else? I swallowed and gave him a casual perusal. His hair may have been
a little ruffled from the wind, and he might not have had a tattoo on his arm,
but those eyes! I’d memorized them from the night before. He had the same exact
eyes. Hell, even the small flecks of silver near the iris were there.
He stopped dead
in his tracks and tilted his head to one side. "What?" He glanced
back over his shoulder, then back at me. "Do I have something on my face?"
I shivered
when he grinned, and I told myself it was a chill. "I know I said it
earlier, but you really do look familiar."
Gravel
shifted under our feet as we passed over a handful of unpaved driveways.
Jace
dug his phone from his pocket, turned it on, and
flipped through a handful of images before handing it to me. "Still look
familiar?" he asked.
The image was
of him without a shirt. By the look of it, the shot had been taken at night
with a lot of light going on around him. There were two other guys as well, one
to either side of
Jace
. I squinted and inspected the
image further. The
Jace
in the picture had a darker
patch of skin on the side of his one shoulder.
Another tattoo.
And like with Orion’s, I couldn’t make
out any of the details.
He had ink.
It might not have been on his forearm or even been a snake, but he had at least
one tattoo somewhere on his body.
I handed the
phone back to him, and my dumbfounded gaze was probably obvious because
Jace’s
smile grew.
"I take
that as a yes?"
God, I wish I knew who you really were.
"I was
admiring your tattoo, actually."
"Huh?"
He held the phone up so he could see, and like me, he peered at the hint of ink
on his one shoulder. He laughed. "What do you know, you’re right." He
shrugged when I gave him a curious glance. "Temporary. Well, that one was
at least."
"You
have more?" I took the phone away from him, eager to see if there were
other images of ink and bare skin inside his cell. "Do you have pictures?"
"Afraid
not."
He paused and pointed at a photo of a dog that looked a lot
like some wild animal. "That’s Bear, our old dog." He got quiet then.
"Damn
mut
. You can give him a full bowl of
kibble, and he’ll still go after your shoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."