Filed to story: The Rise Of The Lycan Queen
“That’s not what I meant.” I struggled not to let the smile grow across my face. It’d been a very long time since this had been an issue.
“Doesn’t matter.” She looped her arm through mine and tugged me toward the tables. “You’re stuck with me.”
“Hey, Ella,” a guy called as we passed by. He ran his fingers through his chestnut-brown hair and pulled out a seat at the table. “Why don’t you two join me here?”
“We were going to have girl talk.” She tugged me on, but he stepped in front of us and pouted.
“Are you coming to the bar tonight?” His green eyes stayed locked on her. “The whole… group is going.” His tight shirt emphasized his muscular build, and he had to be close to six feet tall.”
“You know I hate going. They refuse to serve me alcohol.” She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Bring your friend here.” His gaze landed on me. “She looks to be a freshman. There. Problem solved.”
“Hell, yeah.” She turned to face me and grinned. “I mean you do owe me one after the coffee.”
“No… I’d better not.” I had a date with Netflix tonight, so they were shit out of luck.
“Aw, come on.” He reached over and touched my arm. “It’s a group of our friends, and we behave for the most part.”
I jerked back. I didn’t like being touched. “Doesn’t really sound like my scene.”
“What?” He laughed as his forehead furrowed. “It’s every college student’s scene.”
“Maybe when they’re drinking age.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Mason makes sure they know I’m underage. The one thing I wish he’d be chill over, and he’s not.”
“Having a brother who cares must suck.” Her strange comments amused me. “Though it sounds fun, I have homework I need to get done.”
“Please.” She pouted and gave me her puppy dog eyes. “I’ll pick you up and everything. Hell, I’ll buy your dinner.”
“I’m sorry but no.” I couldn’t abandon my whole life’s motto of keeping my distance from everyone, especially supernaturals, now. “I’m sure you can find someone else to go with you.”
“Ugh, but they are so boring and only after my brother.” She whined and pouted.
“Sorry, good luck with all that.” This was my cue to leave. “Hey, I forgot I had to run an errand before my class later. I’ll see you around.” I spun on my heel, taking off before she could convince me to stay.
“Aria,” she yelled after me, but all I did was stick my hand up to wave goodbye.
When I stepped outside of the student center, my breathing finally returned to normal. I hadn’t realized how claustrophobic I felt until I took a deep breath of clean air.
There was a group of people standing in front of the student center, laughing as I walked by. They smelled human with no supernatural in the mix.
It sucked because I’d give anything to be just like them. Human, normal, no knowledge of the supernatural, and only caught up in who’s doing what. They didn’t realize how lucky they were to be born that way.
I headed toward my history class. It started in thirty minutes, but I figured maybe there wasn’t anyone around and I could go ahead and get my seat.
As I moved in that direction, I felt a buzzing in my pocket. I pulled my phone out and saw a text from the bar I worked at.
Can you come and fill in for Suzy tonight?
That was the third time Brad had asked me to cover for her in the last two weeks. It paid the bills though and gave me something else to do. So I replied yes and shoved it back into my pocket.
It didn’t take long for me to reach the building, and as I stepped into the hallway, a guy with short dark hair and piercing green eyes walked past me.
My world seemed to stand still for that moment, but he didn’t glance my way. He rushed out of the building on some kind of mission or something.
I took a few steps, following him, when I realized what the hell I was doing. I’d lost my damn mind. I stopped and watched him run off toward the student center.
It probably was a good thing that I hadn’t stayed there. If Ella had seen my reaction, I was sure she would’ve wound up doing something to embarrass me.
Making myself turn around, I began my slow stroll through the hallway, looking for the class. After a few minutes, I found it on the fourth floor of the building.
It was empty, so I headed straight to the back, taking the center-aisle to the desk right in the corner. It was the easiest spot to hide. The only problem was when teachers would go overtime and I left. There was something about punctuality that had been ingrained in me. You arrive on time and leave on time. At least that’s how I’d been raised.
I pulled out my phone as it vibrated again. It was Brad again.
Good, there is a huge business party coming in, so be ready to haul ass.
Great. That meant tonight was going to suck. Usually, large parties included some kind of supernatural. It made it rough to pretend to be human because there was a scent all supernaturals had. Granted, I never shifted, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but you never know who you might run into.
I put on my standard black shirt and blue jeans that were dress code for the bar. In all fairness, it was a trendy bar that businesses and more upper-class individuals liked to frequent.
It was a large open space with a huge bar in the center. The bar faced the open area, and there was a glass wall right behind it.
There were tables set up outside with a cover, and inside were more tables spread throughout. In the middle of the seating, there was a winding staircase that connected to the top floor. Up on the top floor was where all the pool tables, dartboards, and lounge seating were held.
“We better get some good tip money tonight,” Todd grumbled as he put on the apron over his dark shirt. He was only a few years older than me, but he complained about everything, and that was saying something, coming from me.
“As long as you put a smile on your face and keep the negativity to yourself, you should be good.” To say he hated when I called him out would be an understatement.
“It wouldn’t kill you to be nice every now and then.” He arched an eyebrow and tied the strings in the back.
“It might.” Being nice to people encourages them to hang around you more. That’s what I was trying to avoid.
“In all fairness, if you started being nice, it would freak me the fuck out.” Todd rolled his dark chocolate eyes at me. “I’ve grown oddly attached to your pessimistic vibe.”
“Not pessimistic.” I grabbed a clean towel and began wiping down the beer glasses. “Realist.”
“That’s what all pessimistic people say.” He grabbed his notebook and pen. “Shouldn’t you be the one serving all those bureaucratic men?” He nodded toward the door where a group of at least twenty-five men dressed in suits stood.
“I don’t do people well.” Now, that wasn’t an exaggeration. I purposely went out of my way to not talk to people. That’s the reason I chose to work in the kitchen instead of a club. I made a little less, but I didn’t have sloppy, drunk-ass men hitting on me.
“You better be glad Brad cares that you’re underage, or he’d have your hot ass serving drinks.” He took a deep breath as if he was gearing up for the jackasses.
All men in suits were jackasses. I learned that at the tender age of six. And in all fairness, he couldn’t allow me to waitress. He’d tried, but I refused to get certified to serve drinks. “Don’t let them be complete dicks.”
He winked at me and nodded toward the large table that the hostess was pushing together. “Wish me luck.”
Considering the way that group looked, he was going to need more than luck. I left the bar area and moved back toward the kitchen. The last thing I wanted to do was get stuck serving them drinks. “Why don’t you go back there and start washing dishes?” Brad walked out from his back office and looked at me. “They never got caught up after the lunch rush, and I’m thinking we’re going to have another round to do after the dinner rush.”
