Later that night, he was going over some paperwork in the office when Drew stopped by on her way out. She rapped her knuckles on the doorframe even though he'd seen her heading over.
"Heading to Cliff's?" he asked.
"Believe it or not, I actually have the night off," Drew replied. "Another girl wanted an extra shift so, even though it was hard, I sacrificed mine."
"That's big of you," Heath replied, suppressing a smirk.
"It really was. Anyway, Bunz and I are going get a jumpstart on the baking for tomorrow. So, essentially I'll still be working."
"Hope you get some sleep in there somewhere," Heath replied, popping a toothpick in his mouth and stacking some papers together.
"Right. So, anyway, I am working at Cliff's tomorrow, and since the Pirates and the Yankees are playing at PNC tomorrow night and we're not a sports bar, it should be relatively quiet."
Heath nodded and waited for her to make her point silently, lifting his brows.
"Anyway," she said again. "If you and your boys wanted to come by for a drink I could probably hook you up with a couple freebies. Just saying."
Heath was surprised at the invitation and caught off guard. It was so random and he wasn't sure what to make of it. Was she implying that she wanted to see him outside the gym? He realized that she was waiting for some sort of acknowledgment or reply, so he cleared his throat.
"Uh, sure. That sounds good. I'll talk to Rex and Jameson. Maybe drag my brother's ass out for a change." He chose not to mention that he didn't really drink during training.
She looked pleased. "Okay. Well, no pressure. I just thought that since it'd be pretty quiet in there, you wouldn't really be bothered like you seem to be here by people coming up to you all the time. And, like I said. I can probably score you guys a couple free beers or something."
He allowed himself a half-smile. "That's nice of you. Thanks."
She cleared her throat and gave a little shrug. "All right, then. Have a good one." She turned and walked away before he could reply.
Annoyance rose again as he felt excitement at the prospect of seeing her the following evening, even though she'd be working. It was just a nice gesture from one human being to another. Nothing more, nothing less. Even so…
"Rex," he called, heading toward the door and hating himself for it. Bad as a fuckin' teenager. "What you doing tomorrow night?"
***
As Drew walked out to Bunz's car parked across the street, she cursed herself with every step. What the fuck was wrong with her? Inviting Heath Riley of all people to Cliff's for drinks? Free drinks, at that? He probably thought she was some desperate groupie now. Over the past week, they'd made lots of small talk, and she grew to look forward to seeing him each day. He was very quiet but observant, and she liked the way he paid attention to her little daily anecdotes and stories. She'd even managed to make him laugh a couple of times. Though he was still very much an enigma to her, he was nice, much nicer than she would ever have expected him to be, and he was attentive in his own way. She had known of him, of course, as all of Pittsburgh did, from the Ultimate Warrior event and all the coverage about him going AWOL and how he'd fought his own brother at Ultimate Warrior. Before her attack at the gym, she'd admired him only for his athleticism and grace in the ring; she'd assumed, unfairly as it turned out, that he would be some big-headed prick with an ego the size of the Statue of Liberty. Even after her attack, if she was being honest, the way he'd reacted by kicking the three guys out of his gym and acting concerned about her, she'd thought it was fake; an act to cover his own ass had she decided to press charges. It would have been press he didn't need, and she'd believed that he acted off of that notion. And even when he'd shown up at the café, she still hadn't been convinced of his sincerity. It had taken a lot of thought and a lot of verbal battles between her and Bunz to finally give the gym another try. And she was glad she had, because he'd turned out to be a very nice guy.
Inviting him to Cliff's had been completely impulsive and she had no clue why she'd even thought that would be a good idea. She'd felt a desire to do something nice back for him, the way he had done something nice for her, and it was the first thing that came to mind. He was a guy, right? And in her experience, guys liked to drink with other guys. She figured he was more cut out for the quiet lounge rather than a crowded, loud sports bar where every guy, and probably girl, in there would recognize him and hound him all night. Cliff's was notorious for being empty on game nights since the ambiance was not conducive to supporting sporting events. All of that had swirled together in her little mind faster than her logic could kick in, and the invitation had spurted out of her mouth before she could stop it.