From The Shadows (From The Shadows #1) (6 page)

When I stepped into the restaurant I was soon put to work because we had a lot of reservations to get ready for, which was kind of strange, it being a Monday and all. But I suppose it was because kids were finally out of school for the summer and that meant lots of families had vacation as well. Plus I think I heard something about there being a very important conference happening in our fair town as well.

But well that meant we were going to be busy most of the day and that was just fine with me. It meant less time to think and more tips... oh yes and no being bored today!

I always preferred the lunch shift because it often brought a nicer crowd; families, women on lunch dates with their friends and young couples. No drunks. Well, not most of the time anyway. Actually in general we didn’t get many drunks at the evenings either, but it happened. How could it not when we were serving pizza; the cure for hangovers? We also did have a little bar.

I was on a break when my boss Mr. Leban came in to ask me if I would be up for taking the dinner shift as well. Of course I was, I needed the extra money, I knew I wouldn’t have to be heading home alone in the dark, now that Nathan had insisted to pick me up, and I had kind of suspected that I would be asked to take the shift now with Sasha sick and all. Mr. Leban was a really nice older man whom I almost thought of as a father figure, and I was really glad to be working for him. He was a pretty small man both of height and frame, and he had a heavy Italian accent, which I had had my trouble understanding at first.

“Bella what did you do for fine settimana?” He asked.

And because I didn’t want to drag him into my drama I simply told him. “I spent the weekend at my mate Nathan’s place just chilling out and went to
Hard Rock Café
for a bit of dancing. How was your weekend?”

“I had la mia famiglia on una visita. My mamma, my sorella Lisa…” He stopped talking mid phrase because we heard something not quite right coming from the dining room and both decided to go figure out what was happening when I heard a voice I knew a little too well..

“GET ME NIKKI! I KNOW she is here!” an angry, roaring voice nearly yelled. Shit, I was right; Mike had come to look for me and he was drunk. Nothing new there.

Mr. Leban looked over his shoulder at me and I looked at him with eyes I think said it all because he told me to go back to the break room and that he would try to get Mike out of here. He already had seen Mike on a few of his less bad days and he had tried to tell me multiple times that I deserved better and asked if I really was sure I wanted a guy that bad in my life. He had even helped Nathan “save” me one or two times. So I told him I was going to call Nathan and he just nodded and went on to the dining room.

“Nikki what’s wrong?” Nathan answered on the second ring probably because he knew that I in no way could be off from work already. I had only been in the restaurant for 4 hours.

“Mike’s here… Mr. Leban went to try to get him out of here but he sounds really drunk Nate… and I don’t think I am up for facing that right now... he sounds REALLY pissed too”

“Okay I’ll be there in five minutes, stay where you are”

“Nate don’t drive too fast okay?!”

I could hear Nathan swearing under his breath and I knew, because he wanted to kill Mike right now, it really pissed him off that I was thinking about his safety more than my own at this moment.

“Yea yea.. BUT YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE! I MEAN IT” And then he ended the call.

So typical men, I thought. But I liked that Nathan wanted to protect me, but seriously did he really think I would just jump in there when I knew it would only be to receive verbally punishment. I was not that stupid.

It didn’t matter though because a few minutes later I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall followed by Mr. Leban’s voice “Tu cannot go in there, È per il personale”.

“I don’t give a damn” It came from Mike as the door to the break room was slammed open and I looked around for a place to escape to.

He stepped in and as his eyes met mine I saw something in them that made it run cold down my spine and then something very strange and unexpected happened. I got pissed. I got pissed that he made me want to hide. I got pissed for all the years I had let him rule my life. AND I got pissed that he thought he could just barge into my work place because he couldn’t wake up and smell the God damn coffee. I was through.

“There you are, pack your shit we are going home” He spat at me.

“Screw you Mike I am not going anywhere with you. WE ARE THROUGH, OVER, Capish?!”

Oh shit that didn’t go down well because the next I saw was his eyes sending lightning bolts my way and he took a step closer to me as he began lifting his arm to strike me. I had feared he would hit me before but this time it was really going to happen, so I tried to prepare myself for the sting by closing my eyes and bracing myself for the pain. I even expected it to blacken before my eyes. But the strike never came. Instead an even angrier voice broke through. “You do NOT lay a hand on her Mike! If you do I swear I will END YOU!”

I opened my eyes to find Mike´s hand still in the air but his arm was stuck there because Nathan had caught it midair. Nathan had one hand wrapped around Mike’s wrist and the other around his neck, his grip was tight and his eyes were starring daggers into the back of Mike´s head.

“I can do to my woman what the hell I want” Mike growled back, and I was sure this was going to end in a fight that would potentially cost me my job, no matter how much Mr. Leban liked me. Because those two angry guys fighting each other, in this small room, was going to destroy the entire room and it would be all my fault.

“She is NOT your God damn woman!” Nathan hissed out through gritted teeth. “Not anymore!”

I looked over at Nathan to try and catch his eyes so I could convey my worries to him. He was so focused on Mike that it took me calling out his name to catch his attention.

“NATHAN! You guys can’t do this in here. please stop!” I pleaded with him.

There was so much rage in his eyes as he turned them to me but some of it instantly vanished as our eyes caught. And then he began pushing Mike towards the door in an effort to get him out of there and out of the restaurant all together. I could hear Mike swearing and struggling but I didn’t see any more because I didn’t follow them out. I had had enough for the day and my nerves were kind of fried from that short but intense confrontation. I was just so grateful for Nathan and the fact that he was bigger and stronger than Mike. There was no way with him here that Mike would come back in now.

Breathing a sigh of relief I fell down on a chair, running my fingers through my hair. I had totally forgotten that Mr. Leban was still there until he cleared his voice.

“Nikki I think tu should take the rest of the giorno off..”

Frowning I looked up at him. “But you needed me to take Sasha’s shift?!”

“I can take it me stesso!” he said with conviction in his voice so I knew I’d better just listen and go home. He didn’t mean to fire me, but he cared and he could see the tool this was having on me. I was pretty sure he had caught me telling Mike it was over as well.

I wanted to ask him if he was sure but he just gave me a nod and left the room. So I sat back to breath for a bit longer before I would go find Nathan. I figured by now he had gotten Mike to leave.

I went to remove my apron and get my stuff and then I headed towards the door. As I was about to open the door Nathan opened it for me. “You got off already?” He asked me.

“Yea I think Mr. Leban thought I needed to get out of here after what just went down”.

He just nodded and motioned me towards the truck.

As we got to the truck, Nathan still behind me, I figured he would open my door, but instead he backed me up against it and with his hands put on my hips he pulled me to him so he could overtake my mouth. My body responded instantly but my brain was still overactive so I tried to pull away.

Nathan looked confused when he got the message and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I.. I.. don’t know.. on top of all that, I just feel.. strange.. I suppose”

He still had his hands on my hips but this time when he pulled me in it was to hug me. “It will be okay Nik”

Sighing into his neck I just nodded and hugged him back. I was trying to relax into his embrace, and I did feel safe here in his arms, but I also had a nagging fear that Mike would see us, if not this time then the next time we were in each other’s arms. And though I was not embarrassed to be seen with Nathan, I feared Mike flipping even worse if he saw it.

“Babe relax he isn’t here anymore. I made sure he was out of this area before I came to see if you were okay” Nathan told me and then added “I am proud of you for standing up to him”

That made me smile. I had stood up to Mike hadn’t I? That must have been only the second time I had dared to do that. First time being the day I left him.

Feeling the tension leaving my body I turned my head to look up at Nathan. “Can we go home now?” I asked him and his eyes smiled back at me.

“Yea babe, we can go home” And then he gave me a soft kiss on the lips before pulling away from me to open up the passenger door.

Chapter 8

As we had pulled up at Nathan’s driveway and he was about to turn the keys in the ignition to kill the engine, he turned towards me with a face marred in thoughts. I frowned at him wondering what he was about to say.

“Are you up for getting out of here instead of just being at home the rest of the day thinking about what happened?” The man knew me too damn well, because yes, if we were just staying at home I would keep running the scene in my mind again and again whether I wanted to or not. He was also showing me he was still the friend I could count on to take my mind off the rest of the world when I needed it. I however also felt I needed to consider him and I knew he had stuff to do.

“But don’t you have to finish the project?” I asked him.

“Nah.. that can wait” he said. I wondered if it was a good idea for him to just blow it off and for me to let him. But well, Nathan was not usually the one to blow stuff off, the man had serious drive, so for him to do it this one time probably would not blow the house of cards to shreds.

“So you want to go somewhere with me?”

I could see in his eyes that he really did want to take me some place. I was guessing this was a place I had never been to with him before, a place that held some kind of meaning for him, because he had a look in his eyes telling me that this was about more than just getting away for a few hours.

“Sure, I’d like to get out of here.” I finally admitted.

He then reached over and took my hand, squeezed it and lifted it to his lips, planting a tender kiss on the back of my hand and then he gave me a sweet smile that melted my heart. For that smile I would agree to just about anything.

As Nathan backed the truck out of the driveway and began driving down the road, I pondered where we could be going and I was thinking about what I did know about his past and what places could hold great meaning to him.

Nathan too had had a pretty difficult childhood. I knew he still saw his mom and that she wasn’t as bad as mine. Actually I never heard him talk ill of her at all. She had been an alone mom for almost all his childhood and because she had never gotten an education, the work she could get didn’t earn her much and that led to her not being able to feed Nathan and his siblings. Nathan and his one year younger brother, being the oldest, had therefor been thrown around between foster homes and in between those they had lived at his mom’s for short periods of time. Consequently they had been raised in turmoil but at least they had had a mom who cared for them. A mom who had done the best she could because she loved her children, unlike my mom, though she only had one kid.

After we had been driving a bit in silence the curiosity finally got the better of me and I had to ask.

“Where are we going exactly?”

But Nathan didn’t answer; he just chuckled and shook his head. This was going to be a surprise and there was no way I was going to get it out of him easily. I was however too curious so I began guessing in the hope of getting him to admit it if I got the answer right.

“Are you taking me to the beach?” Another shook.

“Are you taking me down town?” And another shook.

Hmm.. where could we possibly be going…

I decided to use another tactic.

“Is it far away?” I then asked and finally I got a few words out of him.

“No not exactly, but we will be driving for around half an hour more”

Okay so what was within half an hour’s reach? I could not for the life of me figure out what it could be, until a kind of unnerving thought hit me.

“Are you taking me to meet your mom?” I asked with a bit more worry in my voice than I had intended. I was not sure I was ready to meet his mom, and even if I was we had not had THE TALK yet. We had only been more than friendly a few days, so what would he introduce me as if we were going to see her? Friend? Lover? Girlfriend?

Me always being the open book, I was sure the worry was showing on my face and when Nathan spoke I was sure he saw it. His voice was even filled with a mix of concern and some anger as well. “No Nik, we are not seeing my mom today” He took a deep breath and with a more forced tone he continued. “..But I WANT you to meet her.. SOON”