Page 68 of Vandal Unbound

“Can you take this tray to table eleven?” Annie asks.

Her words cut through my thoughts, and I plaster a smile on my face. “Of course.”

I grab the tray and make my way through the bar. “Three beers,” I say as I place them down, one in front of each of the three men. “Can I get you guys anything else?”

The man in the grey polo shirt shifts his ball cap, smoothes his hair back, then reaffixes his cap. “If you’re offering your number, I’ll take it.”

One of his buddies elbows him jovially, while the other laughs.

I point to the bill that has a line for a tip on it. “Twenty. That’s my number and you can write it right there.”

He has the good grace to smile, and on some level, I acknowledge the guy is attractive. But his muscles are a little, well, puny compared to Vandal’s. And my dreams now feature men of a much more muscular nature.

Plus, I get asked for my number every day. Same type of cheesy guy with a cheesy line. Sometimes they ask about why I’m not wearing a wedding band; sometimes they check out my finger and assume.

As I take the empty tray back to the bar, the door swings open. Since I saw the man with the tattoo, the swinging door has been the source of plenty heart drops. I keep expecting to see them everywhere I go. Around the grocery store aisle, at the gas station, and right here where I work.

While I look up, hoping it’s not them and wishing for Vandal’s return, it’s the second closest thing.

Knox leads Reaper, Lock, and Sunny in. All big men in denim and leather who command a kind of authority money can’t buy.

They exude confidence as they take their usual table.

“He’s not there, so you can stop staring,” Annie says.

My head swivels from their direction to the expensive liquor on the higher shelf. “I’m not staring, I’m working.”

Annie huffs but then gives me a knowing smile that makes me pick up a lime slice and throw it at her. We’ve become friends over the last ten days. Sure, at first, she was doing me a favor by giving me a job and generally being nice to me. But one morning, when we were opening up and setting all the chairs to rights after the floor had been cleaned, I spilled my guts to her about how confused I am about Vandal. Annie encouraged me to talk through the pros and cons, and when I’d finished, she told me to look up. She’d written everything out on the chalkboard for keeping score next to the dartboard.

It was a rather unhelpful dead heat. But talking through the situation out loud with someone did feel better than bottling it up.

Maren has been helpful. She babysat two nights so I could work a last-minute evening shift for Annie. The extra couple of shifts, and the extra tips you get at night when people get more drunk and more generous, helped me pay down some of my credit card balance.

But I didn’t feel like I could share my fears with her the same way I could with Annie. I don’t know what she might report back to Knox.

As if he can read my mind, Knox changes course and walks toward me. “You doing okay, Daisy?” he asks.

“I am. How is he?”

Knox doesn’t need to ask me who. He simply places both hands on the bar and leans forward then back for a moment. “He’s in New Jersey.”

I don’t know why something burns in my chest at the thought he’s so far away. “New Jersey? Why?”

I look down at my hands, mainly because I don’t know what to do with the feelings that are swirling.

“He’s doing the work,” Knox says vaguely as Annie places a glass of beer in front of him. He tips his chin in thanks.

“How bad was it? Havoc won’t give me a straight answer.”

Knox glances over his shoulder to his men. “That’s because Vandal told everyone that we’re not to worry you.”

I smile sadly at that. “Sounds about right. Is that why he didn’t reply to my messages? He said he’d never lie to me.”

Knox turns to face me. “It’s been hard. Grim at times. Because cold turkey ain’t for the weak of heart, although Reaper had a plan that eased him into it a little. So, in a way, it was bad like it was always gonna be.”

“Is he at least doing better now?”

Knox sighs and then smiles. “Yeah. I sent him to New Jersey for a couple of days. Got some brothers up there who went through shit. Thought it might be a good distraction to go see them. Get some different experiences. Havoc went with him.”