Chapter 1
I walk into the bar, needing a break from the stress of work. I'm still in work clothes, to exhausted to stop at home and change. I sit down at the bar with a sigh. The cute bartender I spotted as I had walked in, heads over to me.
"What can I get started for ya?" He asks, already mixing up a drink in his hand for another customer.
"Uhm, I need just a moment before I decide." I give him a half smile then pull out my phone.
"No worries, just give me a call when you're ready." He shrugs and pours the liquor into a glass, sliding it over to someone at the other end of the bar table.
As I'm scrolling on my phone a random guy walks up and rests his hand on the chair next to me and the back of mine.
"This seat taken?" He sits down in the chair before I can respond. "What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone in a bar at this hour?"
"I'm not alone." I lie.
"Really? I don't see anyone else around here." He pushes.
"My friends are in the bathroom." I don't look over at him. My hand tightens on the phone.
"Let me buy you a drink." He offers and starts to wave down the bartender.
"No thank you." I try to politely decline. But the guy won't leave me alone. Out of the corner of my eye I see the bartender that had previously came up to me, watching the guy with a slight glare in his gaze.
"What's the matter? Won't let a guy with good intentions buy you a drink?" The strange man kept pestering me. I swear it's harassment by this point.
"If a guy has to say he has good intentions, he probably doesn't." I deadpan. I move to another chair away from the man but he follows me.
"Why ya moving away? Got a boyfriend or something?" The man leans super close to me. I put my hand up trying to push the man back.
The bartender walks over, clearly irritated and fed up with this man.
"Actually she does." The bartender leans over the counter, shoving his arm between me and the stranger, purposefully shoving the man backwards, away from me.
"Really? Don't you know it's rude to interrupt? Who are you anyway?" The stranger sneers.
"Her boyfriend. Now back the hell up, before I put your backside on the floor and call security to drag you out by your hair." The bartender grabs the man's collar, shoving him away from the bar. Then he grabs a glass and slides it over to me and winks. "Here you go love."
I give him a thank you look and take a drink. I'm surprised when the stranger leaves, and then even more surprised when the bartender gave me my favorite drink.
"How'd you-"
"Know? I saw you reading the same drink on the menu for 5 minutes."
"Oh. Why did you help me out anyway?"
"Because I'm not gonna let a moron like him, harass a girl that clearly isn't reciprocating the same interest."
"What's your name? I-I mean if it's okay that I ask." My cheeks flush slightly from embarrassment.
The bartender chuckles, and leans over the counter slightly. "Baron Connahan, at your service. And you are?"
"Jaelyn Westcott." I smile, and swirl my drink.
