On Every Street (6 page)

“Excuse
yourself,” Tom said to him, obviously immune to his golden eyes. What Javier was doing here, I had no idea. The last thing I wanted was for him—for my mark above all things—to catch me doing my legitimate job, fumbling fruitlessly, and looking like I’d been covered in smoke and booze all evening. But that didn’t matter because here he was, and the look he was giving Tom, the look the dumb idiot wasn’t picking up on, was one of the deadliest things I’d ever seen.

Javier smiled politely, no teeth, and gently pressed his palms together. “There seemed to be a bit of a problem over here.”

Tom snorted. “There’ll be a problem if you don’t get out of my face.”

Javier’s
smile tightened. I watched him, utterly fascinated.

“I’m afraid I can’t get out of your face. I’m drawn to fucking assholes like yourself like moths to a flame.”

My eyes widened. One of Tom’s friends let out a low whistle, as if this was a regular occurrence, their nightly entertainment.

“You’re nothing but a piece of shit immigrant,” Tom said, his veins pulsing on his reddened forehead. “Now fuck off.”

I expected Javier to explode at that ethnic slur, but he did nothing. It was like he didn’t even hear it.

He spoke, calmly and smoothly. “I just wanted you to know that I’m here to back this woman up
since you seemed so adamant that it couldn’t be done. I’d happily help her get you banned from this place. Didn’t your mother ever teach you some manners? Or was she too busy screwing your dog?”

“
Fuck you,” Tom said, shoving Javier backward. Javier barely moved, just dusted off the front of his white shirt like he had dandruff.

“This is an expensive shirt,” Javier said with one eyebrow raised.

“You’ll be glad I’m not curb-stomping your face,” Tom said, taking a step closer, spittle flying out of his mouth while he talked. Julie was now at my side, eyeing the fight that was about to break out. I wanted her to get Steve, to put a stop to this before it got started, but part of me wanted to see what this man was capable of. I wanted to know exactly who I was dealing with.

Javier lowered his chin, staring up at him venomously. He watched
Tom for a few moments, long enough for the tension to become palpable, a living, seeking thing that coated us all.

“What the fuck you staring at?”
Tom cried out, his fist now raised. But it was shaking and so was his voice. He didn’t know what to make of Javier, and now, in his drunken stupor, he was finally scared.

Javier kept on staring, giving his lips a lick before shooting a glance in my direction. “You need to apologize to this woman.
For calling her a very misogynistic name. And then for taking the bottle of vodka from behind the counter and helping yourself. After she cut you off.” He raised his voice over the last phrase enough that Julie heard it. I could feel her eyes on me, but I couldn’t tear mine away from him.

Tom looked completely dumbfounded.

Javier smiled quickly. “What, you don’t know what misogynistic means? It means I’m about to break your nose.”

At that threat, Tom lunged forward with his fists primed, ready to clock Javier in the head. I gasped out loud like some damsel in distress but my worry was unwarranted.

Javier moved like a cat. One minute I was sure he was a goner, the next, he was springing upward with his palm open. It connected with Tom’s nose, shattering the cartilage with one quick and nasty hit. Blood and pain exploded everywhere, everywhere except Javier’s pristine shirt. 

 
Tom cried out, clutching his face in agony, doubled over like a dying grizzly. Javier got down in his face. “That doesn’t sound like an apology to me,” he teased.

He looked up at
Tom’s friends, who were standing around with their mouths open.

“Perhaps one of you can make him apologize. Are all of you misogynistic dogs as well? Huh?” He
cracked his knuckles.

They exchanged a nervous glance with each other, no one wanting to be on the receiving end of Javier’s palm. In the back of the room I could see Steve approaching, shoving people out of the way.
In the last few seconds, quite the crowd had gathered.

“Wh
at’s going on here?” Steve bellowed over the noise.

Javier ignored him, still focused on the frat boys. “Well. Do you all want to be banned from here or what?”

Finally one of the guys kicked Tom lightly in the side and hissed, “Tom, come on bro, just apologize.”

Tom made a moaning sound and slowly got to his feet. His hands still covered his face, the collar of his shirt stained with blood. I spied one of his eyes under his fingers, watering like hell, and it looked right at me.

“This is your last chance,” Javier whispered to him, like a confidant. He didn’t need to add an “or else” to the end of it.

Tom muttered
a totally dejected, “I’m sorry” just as Steve walked up to them. He looked Tom up and down then glared at Javier.

“What happened?” Steve asked. He looked to me and Julie.

I found my voice and pointed at Tom. “I cut this guy off because he was being drunk and rude to me. He then took the vodka from me anyway and drank it. This man here was sticking up for me.”

“I paid you, you stupid bitch,” Tom wailed.
Big mistake. Javier looked ready to bite his head off, but Steve beat him to it, grabbing Tom by the collar. Steve was thin and wiry but he obviously knew how to handle the idiots.

“All right
, buddy, that’s all I needed to hear. You’re banned from here. For good. Your pals too.”

In unison they all cried out in protest while a few people in the crowd clapped and cheered. I guess they
’d had this coming to them for quite some time.

“Do you need me to assist you?” Javier asked Steve, carefully rolling up his sleeves.

Steve eyed him suspiciously. “No, I think you’ve done enough.” He paused before hastily thanking him.

He dragged Tom a few feet and pushed him, his friends following behind, shooting me and Javier sharp looks.

Julie bent over and scooped up the twenties that Tom had littered on the ground. She stuck the sticky wad in my jeans pocket and patted it. “Those guys have made this place hell. I’ve never been able to get them banned. You deserve this.”

I smiled awkwardly and looked to Javier who was taking a seat at the bar, wiping down the counter with a napkin. “Well, actually
, I think this man does.”

She looked between us and gave me a wink. “His drinks are on the house then. And whatever else he wants.”
Then she sashayed down the bar to help Deanne with the remains of the crowd.

“Did you hear that?” I asked him, suddenly feeling nervous as all hell. “Free drinks for you.”

Javier neatly folded up the napkin and stuck it in an empty glass before looking up at me. He waggled his brows. “And whatever else I want.”

Please for the love of God, stop blushing
, I told myself. I cleared my throat. “So, what would you like to drink?”

“Aside from you?”

I laughed anxiously. “You can’t drink me.”

He leaned forward, his eyes running up and down my body
, causing my skin to heat. “Yes, I believe I can. And I believe I will. But for now, I’ll just have a Bombay and tonic.”

I gulped down his word
s as they penetrated hotly. This was going far too easy, far too well. I expected to have a challenge in getting to know this man, to get close to him, and here he was coming after me. It made things much easier and much more dangerous, in ways I couldn’t even pinpoint.

I quickly made him his drink, trying hard to look cool and confident as I did so, knowing his eyes were on me the whole time.

I handed over the drink then grabbed a slice of lime for a garnish as an afterthought. I was about to place it on the rim, but he reached out for my hand and took the lime out of my fingers. Then, while his eyes held mine, hot and hard, he placed his lips on my fingers and sucked the lime juice off of them. Tingles pricked at me from the inside, running from my fingertips to my heart.

My jaw unhinged for a second before I snatched my fingers away from his warm mouth.

“You taste as sweet as I imagined, angel,” he said, his eyes dancing with intensity. “Of course, when I said I’d drink you, I was hoping for a bit more privacy.”

What could I say to that? I couldn’t even find the words. So I switched the subject.

“Thank you for that.”

“For licking your fingers?”

I smiled wryly, conscious of how wet they still were. I didn’t want to wipe them off. “For saving my ass back there. I…”

“You handled him just fine,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to just show up and save anything. You, my angel, don’t need any saving. I just wanted to put the boy in his place. That is all.”

I felt an unwanted thrill at his use of the word “angel” again. Particularly when he put “my” in front of it. His angel. My mark.

“You look like you put a lot of boys in their place,” I remarked, aware that I was skirting dangerous territory.

He shrugged and sipped his drink. “Perhaps I do.”

“So why did you come here?”

He smiled lazily. “I told you. I’m persistent. I don’t like being told no.”

“To be fair,” I said, consciously wiping down the bar and counter so I didn’t look like I was slacking off, “you asked me out on a date for Friday night, not Thursday night. I only said no to your second offer.”

“I hoped I could show you what you were missing.”

“And that is?”

“You’ll find out. I’m planning on staying here until you’re off your shift.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I told him. “I don’t think those boys will be back.”

He lowered his chin. “You are misreading me. I am staying here so I can talk to you. Look at you.” His eyes seemed locked on to a place at my bare neck, where it met my shoulders. “Be with you.”

I swallowed hard. “You’re very forward
, Mr. Bernal.”

“Please,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “M
ister, that makes me sound so old.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

I did a double-take.
“No way.”

He stroked his face. “Do I look older?
Younger? I hope you think I’m handsome, no matter what the number is.”

“You are handsome,” I blurted out stupidly. “I mean, I thought you were older. You act older. I don’t know man
y twenty-year-olds who dress so well.” I was going to say expensive, but I didn’t want him to think I noticed his wealth.

He took another sip of his drink and folded his hands on the table. “And you. How old is Eden?”

“Twenty,” I said automatically then realized my terrible mistake. “I mean, twenty-one. Man, I guess I’m just hanging onto that golden age.”

My heart was racing so fast in my throat
over that error I was certain it was showing up all over my face, like I had a big neon sign blinking above my head that said, “Liar, Right Here.”

But Javier just gave me a slow smile, gradually showing his white teeth. “You have the face and body of a twenty-one year
old, I can see that very well. But your eyes. No, you have a story in your eyes. You lived in this world a hundred times over. You’ve seen some things that no one else should see.”

A shiver ran down my spine and I channeled it into putting empty glasses away. What else could he see? I gave him a polite glance and then turned my back, trying to get my thoughts under control.

“You’re very beautiful,” he said from behind me, his voice like a soft blanket. “But you know that. I can see you know that. And I’m glad. It means people have been brave enough to tell you. We need more bravery in this world.”

“You’re just saying that because I called you handsome,” I joked self-deprecatingly, not willing to face him yet. I concentrated on a sticker on the register that said “Mississippi Does it Better
,” my focus going in and out like a camera on macro.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he remarked.
“At least with me. How about with you?”

I took in a deep breath and finally turned around. “It will get you another drink.”

“I can live with that.”

And so Javier sat there and had a couple of drinks until it was time for me to leave. He wouldn’t have more than two, since he said he was driving, something I found somewhat admirable since so many people in the south drove drunk. We didn’t talk much about him,
but we discussed neutral topics like music. It turned out he was into some of the same bands as I was, which was always the way I bonded with people. He asked a few questions about me, but I was so prepared with my answers that I handled them with ease. Eden White grew up in Bixby, Arizona. She went to college in Phoenix for two years, wanting to take veterinary medicine, but dropped out because she couldn’t handle the thought of animals dying on her. She came to Mississippi because she had a cousin in Florida she wanted to visit and she ran out of money halfway through the trip. She didn’t plan on staying in Biloxi for long, unless she found a good reason. So far, her good reason may have been drinking a gin and tonic.