Torn - Part Four (The Torn Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

only one other bartender which didn’t seem right considering the number of people they had to serve, but they seemed to be keeping on top of things. Riley even managed to reach through and pass me a beer without breaking her stride.
     
    The guy she was working with was either Martin or Shawn, but that was all I knew. She hadn’t really gotten into physical descriptions. Or much of any descriptions at all. You never asked , I scolded myself. But I was there now, and based on the smile that ghosted her face when she looked my way, that was all that mattered. That was enough.
     
    I sighed with relief when they finally announced last call. I was getting tired just watching her. Bartending might actually be good endurance training . Maybe I’d missed my calling. It was worth thinking about, especially as winter descended and I found less work.
     
    “Sorry we had to ignore you, didn’t expect so many people tonight,” Riley’s coworker said when they finally locked the front door after the last patron had stumbled out. “There was a birthday party, and you know how it is. One party’s a magnet for another, everyone wants to be in the bar where everyone already is.”
     
    “No worries, man, nice to meet you. I’m Mallet.”
     
    “Martin.” I shook his hand. From what little I’d gleaned, Martin was the more levelheaded of the couple. “She’s just finishing up in the back, we’ll get out of here soon.”
     
    “No rush.”
     
    Martin gave me an assessing up-and-down look and made no attempt to hide it. “So. You’re Mallet.” His grin wasn’t entirely friendly but it wasn’t outright hostile, either.
     
    “In the flesh.”
     
    “Some flesh,” he winked, “You must make a career of working out.”
     
    I flexed an arm. “The harder I am, the more it hurts to hit me.”
     
    Martin laughed at that. “So when will we all get to see you fight? Riley talks about it all the time, we’re dying to check you out in action.”
     
    I quirked an eyebrow. “I hope you aren’t hitting on me.”
     
    “I know too much about the trouble you’ve given our girl for that,” he said, “Though I can appreciate a human work of art when I see one.”
     
    There it is . “Thanks, I think,” I mumbled.
     
    Martin smiled - this one was warmer. “I don’t mean to come off so confrontational,” he said. “She’s a nice girl. We just hate to see her hurting.”
     
    I rubbed my eyes, feeling a headache threatening to grow. “You don’t want to get into a posturing match with me, buddy,” I said, “I’ll only say this once. I’m not going to hurt her again. Our shit’s sorted. So you can either get off my case or be the asshole friend who hates her boyfriend. Your call.”
     
    Martin sat back in his seat. “Boyfriend?”
     
    “That’s the part you heard?”
     
    His grin broadened, and he reached out to shake my hand again. “Truce. I’m off your case. I can speak for Shawn, too, but not for the ladies. Good luck, there.”
     
    I snorted. This Martin guy was all right. Still, I thought I’d rather face that Crusher Nosebreaker bastard again than go up against Riley’s girlfriends. Some battles, simply losing is the best outcome you can hope for.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    I worried needlessly. Adele and Vanessa were both suckers for a hot body and the old Catone charm. I flattered them both immediately, let them squeeze my biceps, and all was well - at least for the moment.
     
    Maybe Riley had talked them down earlier. Either way, I was grateful they weren’t going immediately for the jugular.
     
    They said the same thing Martin had said - “We want to see you fight!”
     
    I was sitting between Riley and the redhead - Vanessa? - on the couch. Martin was on a chair and Shawn and Adele were on the floor. The coffee table between us was littered with red solo cups and bowls of chips and pretzels.
     
    “I have a match after Christmas,” I said, hesitating for just a moment. Did