A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 54: Chicken Shit

"Hey, newbie," Mike greeted me once I joined him at the counter, ready for yet another long double shift at work. Which was a travesty as it was actually nice outside for once; not too hot, but the sun was out and it was the perfect day to be outside enjoying, but alas. With last night's failure concerning talking to Ace about our kiss under my belt, my mood was already less than stellar, so that was just an extra dollop of irritation on an already bad time.

"You know, I've been here for a while, how long are you going to keep calling me 'newbie'?" I asked, tightening my apron strings.

He shrugged. "Haven't decided yet. Could be forever."

"Should I start calling you 'oldie' then? To make it fair?"

"Hey, I'm only like four years older than you," he said.

"That's a lot though, I mean hell, soon you'll be thirty and I'll still be young and in my early twenties and--"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I haven't started sprouting any grey hairs yet," he replied, refilling our coffee stick jar. "And hey, speaking of hot people, you know who I haven't seen in a bit?"

"Excuse me, when were we talking about hot people?" 

"Well, now that you bring it up actually--" I rolled my eyes "--Abby."

I stiffened. "Abby?"

"Yeah, I feel like she used to come here a few times a week but I haven't seen her around much," he said. "Is she busy or something?"

"It hasn't been that long, has it?" I asked, trying to cast my mind back. It had been, what? Over a week since I'd seen her at the concert? Or was it two? Usually she did drop by a few times a week, but maybe our schedules hadn't aligned or something.

"Kind of, I got used to her being here often, even if you weren't working but I haven't seen her once and I've been pulling a lot of doubles this week," he said, giving me a curious look now. "Did something happen?"

"Why would you think that?" I asked, filling up napkin dispensers and avoiding his eyes. He was way too observant sometimes; it was a gift. Or, in this case, a curse.

"I don't know, I heard something about a concert she invited you to and then nothing. You didn't even mention it or tell me about it, it was only because I was eavesdropping that I knew."

"Eavesdropping is rude you know."

"Yeah, but it's not a crime. Spill. What happened?"

"Nothing!" I insisted. At least, nothing bad. I didn't think. I mean, we hooked up and she seemed to enjoy it, we had fun afterwards dancing too, but come to think of it...he was right. I hadn't heard or seen her since.

"Uh-huh. I believe that. She was the smitten kitten for you, asks you to hang, and all of a sudden she stopped showing up? Something must have happened. Did you guys have a fight or did you bail and she decided to cut her losses or something?"

Or something. It hadn't bothered me before, so much had happened lately I'd forgotten, but now that he'd pointed it out..it was weird, the timing of it a little too coincidental.

"No, we had fun actually," I said slowly. Or did we?

"How much fun?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

I bit my lip. 

"Wow," he said, jaw dropping. "Did you...?"

"Maybe? Yes." I had yet to admit that to anyone yet, but hell, Mike had been there since the very beginning of me getting her phone number, so why not tell him?

He wiped a fake tear away. "I'm so proud of you. Welcome to the club."

"Thanks. You don't think she's avoiding me because of that, do you?"