Dances with Monsters(26)

He smirked. "Nah. They just have to work in the morning and knew that their boss would be pissed if they were late."

She smiled at that and nodded. "Their boss can certainly be a scary guy when he wants to."

"So, you leavin' here soon?" he asked. "It's about closing time."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't have to stay for closing duties tonight, the other girls will handle that. But I want to wait for these assholes to get going." The group of obnoxious guys was very slowly making their way toward the door.

"Well, let me and Connor give you a ride home," Heath said. "We drove together, and it looks like I'm going to have to drive him anyway. He's a lightweight. Unless your girl is coming to pick you up?"

"No, Bunz and her boyfriend are having a date night tonight," Drew said. "I don't want to interrupt so I thought I'd take the bus."

Heath frowned and shook his head. "No. No bus. I'll take you home." He glanced over his shoulder as the lounge suddenly got quieter and noticed that the group of guys had moved outside. He turned back to Drew. "Why don't you get your stuff and come outside. Connor and I will go get the car."

"If you're sure," Drew said uncertainly. "Bloomfield is not super close. I'd hate to impose."

"I'm sure," Heath replied. "Meet you outside." He turned and walked off to collect Connor before she could protest further. Connor was hunched over, texting on his phone, hardly noticing when Heath approached. "C'mon, bro," Heath said. "Let's get the car. Give me your keys. I'm taking Drew home, too."

"How chivalrous of you," Connor said with a smirk.

"Whatever," Heath said with a shake of his head. "I just don't want her taking the bus by herself that far this late at night."

"Hey, I support this," Connor said. "A new sister-in-law? Hell, yeah."

Heath couldn't help laughing out loud at that one. "You might be getting a little ahead of yourself." He threw an arm around his slightly tipsy older brother's shoulder and yanked him toward the door. "Now, come on."

Heath shoved the door open and saw several of the annoyingly drunken guys still outside. He didn't spare them another glance, shouldering roughly past them, but drew their stares.

"Hey, those are the dudes!" one of them called, and Heath didn't turn around. "The brothers! The MMA dudes from Ultimate Warrior! Holy shit, bro, can I have your autograph?"

A chorus of laughs erupted from them when neither Heath nor Connor turned around to acknowledge him.

"Asshole!" the speaker shouted at him, slurring his words. Heath clenched his jaw, his fist balling involuntarily.

"Calm down, man," Connor said quietly. "Let's just get to the car."

Connor handed over his keys when they reached his Range Rover and Heath hopped into the driver's seat. Connor climbed into the backseat and Heath looked at him curiously.

"The fuck are you doing?" he demanded. Connor grinned at him.

"The lady should sit in the front," he said. "I can pretend to pass out if you want, so you can say all your sweet nothings to each other."

Heath shook his head in annoyance. "Shut up, man." He backed the vehicle out of the stall and carefully pulled out into the street. As he pulled up closer to the bar, he frowned. Drew was standing just outside the door, and the crowd of guys had closed in on her slightly.

"What's this?" Connor murmured from the backseat.

Heath expected her to shove through them to the car; she was a bartender, and he figured she'd be used to dealing with drunk, obnoxious men. But the look on her face stopped him; she was frozen in place, her eyes huge with the same fear he'd seen the night of her attack at the gym, and she stared blankly in front of her as two of the guys leaned in close, flanking her.

Abruptly, Heath thrust the gear shift into park and hopped out of the car.

***

Drew hurried through the short checklist of cleaning duties she had at the bar before hurrying to the back to get her jacket and bag. She was grateful for the offered ride home; truthfully, the idea of traveling at least an hour on a smelly bus with the weirdos this late at night freaked her out more than she cared to admit.

"You guys ok?" she called to the other girls.

"Yes," one of them called back. "You stayed mad late last week doing this shit. Go on. We got it."

Drew smiled over her shoulder. "All right. Have a good night, ladies. Good work tonight."

She moved toward the door, feeling the cool blast of air breeze in from outside as she pushed out. Immediately, her stomach clenched.

Several of the guys from the obnoxious group were outside still, smoking and drunkenly cavorting in front of the lounge. She assumed they were waiting for their friends to come back with the cars. Either way, in order to get across the street she was going to have to walk through them.