Soul Mates

Ch5 - First Impressions

Chapter 5 – First Impressions

                “Shit!” the attractive brunette yelped and quickly let goes of his hold on me to put his hands on his now wet face.

                The way he watched me… It was like he was studying me, trying to figure me out. I knew he must have been curious as to why I looked like I did. I got confused and shocked expressions from many people the first time I encounter them because of my tiresome appearance. But Keegan didn’t look repulsed by my appearance, he looked rather concerned and that made me feel uneasy.

                “What in the—“ Max walks out of his office, obviously wondering what all the commotion was about, and takes in the scene in front of him; me holding out an empty cup, Riley unsuccessfully hiding a snicker, and what’s-his-name rubbing his burning cheeks with his hands.

                “Keegan?” Max asked the stranger. His name’s Keegan? How unique. Then Max’s eyes landed on me and my empty cup. Quickly putting two and two together, he rolled his eyes as I shrugged. “What happened?” he asked, but by the sound of his amused tone, he already knew.

                “This bitc—“

                “That’s my sister.” Riley growled, interrupting Keegan.

                Keegan straightened up. The corners of my mouth twitched at how angry he looked and how drops of my caramel macchiato were dripping down his chin. Even though the front of his shirt was soaked, just like his face, he looked rather cute.

                Wait… what? Cute?

                I shook my head to clear the thought. No, he wasn’t cute. Tanner was cute. Keegan was… something else but it wasn’t cute.

                “This girl,” Keegan emphasized, “just poured her steaming hot coffee on my face!”

                Max was trying to fight a smile. “Oh? Did it hurt?” he asked.

                Keegan did a double take. “Did it hurt?” he stammered, incredulously. “Of course it damn well hurt, Max!” he turned to me and pointed a finger at me. It was nice to know that not like other guys, Keegan kept his fingernails clipped and tidy. “Who are you?!”

                My lips thinned and I could feel my eyes darken. My whole composure changed as my spine straightened and I narrowed my eyes at him. I was back to being heartless Rebecca Monroe.

                Riley must’ve noticed my sudden change of stance because his glare for Keegan turned into a worried look for his little sister. Max noticed too because he put a hand on Keegan’s extended arm, making it lower back to his side.

                “Fire him.” I told Max, even though my eyes bored into a pair of green ones.

                “Rebecca—“ Riley went to grab my arm but I flinched and took a step back.

                Keegan saw it. He saw me cringe at the almost close physical interaction. He had a questioning look on his face; the frustration from the current incident had clearly left his mind.

                “Fire him.” I repeated more firmly.  

                I didn’t own Rainforest café but I sure as hell had a big part of it. If it wasn’t for my father starting Uncle Jay’s very first coffee shop in our city, their business wouldn’t have expanded and they wouldn’t have been successful.