Free My Side by Tara Brown

throat was burning
from the puking and my head was spinning, “No. I never pass the two-glass
rule.”
    He didn’t say anything
else, thank God, until we got to a small mom-and-pop establishment. I made a
face but he pointed a finger, “Trust me?”
    I looked at him and
with all my might I tried to say no, but I didn’t. The nod was almost
involuntary. I opened the car door and he was there, holding a hand out for me.
    I recoiled, “You’re
being sweet to try to trick me into losing the apartment.
    He shook his head,
“Not today, I swear.”
    His blue eyes
sparkled. He didn’t even know he was doing it. I groaned and let him pull me
from the car. I burped. He gave me a worried look. I laughed, “There’s nothing
left. I got it all out last night.”
    He placed my hand on
his arm and closed the door, “Okay, but if you throw up on me, I might just let
you win.”
    I laughed, “I’ll
remember that.”
    When we walked inside,
he pulled me to a booth. It sounded like I was squeaking against rubber, when I
sat. I looked around, frowning, “What is this dump? Why do you always eat in
seedy, shitty places? Is that guy smoking?”
    He chuckled, “Trust
me.”
    I gave him a look,
“It’s illegal to smoke in a restaurant. He’s endangering all of our health,
including the servers and cooks. It’s a major lawsuit waiting to happen.”
    He gave me a dead,
blank stare and looked back at the guy smoking, “Yo!” The man looked over. He
was the size of a Honda Civic with tattoos and a huge beard. He looked like a
biker, but not the hot kind. Not the kind in the novels I liked to read.
    Lochlan nodded, “You
wanna put that out. She’s a pain in the ass about smoke, so if you don’t put it
out, she doesn’t put out. I ain’t getting any, if
she’s mad when we leave here. Help a guy out.”
    The guy gave him a
look and laughed. He winked a glossy eye at me and ground the
smoke into the bar, “Better be extra nice to him later.” He spoke with a
gravelly voice. The waitress smacked him in the arm and wiped up the ashes.
    My face was on fire. I
looked down at my sticky, plastic menu, “I can’t believe you just said that.”
    He snatched the
plastic menu, ignoring my annoyance, “You don’t need that.”
    I looked up, about to
snap and smack him like the waitress had done to the biker with the manners.
    A
gum-chewing, hair-twirling brunette with her own biker sort of look to her and too much cleavage, stepped in front of our booth.
She snapped her gum at me. I glowered at Lochlan.
    He chuckled and
ordered, “We’ll have two number threes and non-stop coffee. Over medium.”
    She winked a false
eyelash at him.
    I shuddered as she
left, “Who wears false lashes at nine in the morning?”
    He smiled
sardonically, “Oh, you think we’re here for small talk?” He leaned forward,
“No, princess. You need to tell me what’s going on.”
    My stomach started to
hurt again, “I hate it when you order for me. I can order my own food.”
    He pointed, “Start
talking and not about food. Unless that’s why you carry mace everywhere you
go.”
    My fingers left the
table, brushing against the mace in my pocket. It was as natural as putting
deodorant on.
    I sighed, “It’s
nothing, it’s just an ex-boyfriend and he’s back in North Dakota. No big deal.”
    His hands slid across
the table, encompassing my left hand with warmth, like a cocoon, “Did he hurt
you?”
    I stared at the
plastic table, unable to breathe, “Not… not really.” I felt detached from it,
“He just wouldn’t leave me alone.”
    He lifted my chin to
look into his intensely-dark blue eyes, “Are you
scared he’s going to come for you?”
    I shook my head, “No.”
    His look softened,
“Tell me the story.”
    I nodded hypnotically,
still seeing him the way I had the night before. The words left my lips, like I
was in a trance, “I lived in dorms at UND. My parents are in Grand Forks but I
wanted the full college experience. I dated a guy