Free The Blinding Light by Renae Kaye Page B

free to have a coffee or sandwich from the fridge.
I dropped the sugar jar in the kitchen last night. Check the floor for glass.
I’ll be home at 5pm. Do you want to stay for dinner?
    Sincerely,
    P. Stanford (aka Patrick).
    I dropped my face into my palm. The man obviously didn’t get manners. I would have to work on it.
    Dear Patrick,
Are we still writing in bullet point?
Your manners are improving but we still need some tweaking. Consider this revision, “Can you please check carefully for glass shards?” Commit it to memory and it can be your homework for the weekend.
I’d love to stay, but I have to work at 6pm on my second job. Another night?
Have a safe weekend and please ring me if you need help. I will see you on Monday. Actually, I won’t, but you know what I mean.
    Cheers,
    Jake.
     
     
    T HE T AV was hot that night—extremely busy and humid inside. I was tending bar when Luke appeared in front of the crowd looking for a beer.
    “Hey, man!” I shouted over the music, happy to see him. “Where have you been?”
    He smiled back at me and leaned over the bar so I could hear him. “I’ve been saving my money. You were right, you know? I have a girl I have my eye on, but I can’t ask her out unless I have money to treat her to a nice date.”
    I held my hand up and we slapped palms in high five. “Do you want a beer? My shout?”
    I handed him over a freebie, and he nodded his thanks and disappeared back into the crowd. I managed to catch his eye an hour later and signaled to him over the top of the crowd that I was taking my break out the back. He waved and signaled back, saying he’d be there in a minute.
    I was leaning against the railing when he arrived. “Hey, Jake.”
    “Hey, Luke. I was getting worried about you. Haven’t seen you in weeks. I thought maybe I’d scared you off or something. Charlie would be on my arse if I scare the customers away.”
    He found himself a clean spot to lean on the railing and smiled my way. “Nah. Just took a bit of a long look at my life.”
    “Yeah? Find anything?”
    He hesitated before admitting, “Well, you see there’s this girl….”
    “Ah ha! I was getting a bit nervous about you there, man. You were hanging out with me way too much. I thought I’d turned you to the dark side or something.”
    He blushed in the dim streetlight. “Nothing like that. I’ve liked this girl for a while. Since high school actually.”
    “Ooh. So I know her, do I? Who is she? That Casey Denham chick with the blonde hair?”
    He looked at me, horrified. “What? No way! I saw her about a year ago. She may’ve been the most popular girl in our class, but she needs a good session on Australia’s Biggest Loser or something. Wow, she’s piled on the kilos.”
    I laughed, enjoying the image of the bitchiest bitch at school looking like a stuffed pig. “So who are you crushing on, then?”
    He smiled a secretive little smile and gazed out over the car park. “Not telling. I don’t wanna jinx it or anything. Hell, I don’t even know if she has a boyfriend. She’s on one of my daily runs with the courier truck. I’ll ask her out this week. See how it goes.” God, the man was bright red. This girl had hooked him bad.
    “Good luck, then.”
    “Thanks.” We breathed in the cooler night air for a while before he asked, “What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
    I shook my head. “I’ve been too busy to worry about things like that.”
    “How about a crush, then? What sort of man does it for you? Sav on the door?”
    I chuckled. Sav was our regular bouncer, and as far as I could tell, he did three things in life: lifted weights, breathed air, and knocked heads together. The man was built like Arnie but had the sense of humor of a politician facing a crowd of angry constituents. “Fuck, no. And don’t even mention it to him. The guy will chop off my nuts if I even glance his way. Eh!” I shivered at the thought. “No way. The guy I like…. For a start he’s