The Beta's curse (#1 of the Spike pack)

just a customer

Lana’s P.O.V.

I groaned, looking at my own reflection in the mirror, while I was trying to put my messy hair into a ponytail. The last few months, my hair had grown quite long, and I found it harder and harder to be able to tame it down.

I need to find myself a hairdresser

or I will start cutting it myself!

After three attempts, I just decided to give up, throw it in a messy bun and go into the bar with my hair sticking all over the place. It wasn’t like I needed to look sexy or anything like that. And I absolutely hated the feeling.

Five months. It had already been five months since I had run away from home, and started my new life, right here in Redwater. But I frowned, as I also reminded myself, that it had also been four months since I had last seen ‘Mister Hottie’ at the bar. And I couldn’t understand why that made me feel as bad as it did. Why on earth did I feel so bad? And because of a guy I had talked to just once? People came to the bar all the time, while passing through for their jobs or during their vacation. You saw them once, and after that, never again. Why on earth did this cute mystery guy keep sneaking into my head every f*****g day since last seeing him? And why the f**k hadn’t he come back, like Billie had promised me he would? And maybe even worst of all, why wasn’t I able to just forget about him and just move on with my life? It wasn’t like he had made me a promise or anything like that. We had simply talked once, and as he had left the bar, he had simply nodded at me. That was that. It was simply nothing more than a normal conversation between two people.

My life had been on automatic pilot for the last couple of weeks. I slept, I worked and, in between, I tried to relax and adjust myself, to living a life where I didn’t need to be afraid, and look over my shoulder with every step that I took outside of my small apartment. I honestly believed that by now, Robert would have stopped searching for me, if he had been searching for me at all. I was living a peaceful life, a safe life, and I loved it.

Although I wouldn’t have minded

if mister hottie would have been here

to share this happy and safe life with me…

And I sighed again, shaking my head at myself and my own crazy thoughts, as I walked into the bar later that night, making everything ready, for when the shift would start in just thirty minutes.

Around ten at night, I made a quick bathroom break. And after washing my hands and staring at my reflection in the mirror, I walked back into the bar. Feeling how my breathing hitched and my body froze for an instant. Seeing that ‘Mister Hottie’ was right there, sitting at the same freaking barstool, as if it was the exact same night, only four months ago. Even though you couldn’t really say that it was the exact same... Mister hottie had changed over the last couple of months. He looked as if he had grown in freaking muscles. When I had thought that he was big before... f**k, I must have been blind back then. His shirt was pressing around his upper arms, as he was leaning on the bar, and after one decent second, where I had been able to look at him without being seen, he turned his head and looked directly at me. With a stare, so powerful that it made me shiver.

Sweet Marry and Joseph

I have died and gone to heaven.

fuck me!

He has just grown even more handsome than before.

How is that even possible?

I swallowed, trying to get rid of the growing lump in my throat. Hoping that I would be able to calm myself down, while I stepped over towards the bar. Feeling how my legs felt all wobbly and like jelly, as I forced myself to keep walking forward.

He is just here for a drink.

He is not here for you.

He will have a drink,

and go AWOL for months again

Don’t fall into this trap, Lana!

So, I sighed, as I walked over to the bar. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to hide anyway. He was just a costumer, and I was just a bartender. This relationship was strictly business. Nothing more. Although I couldn’t deny I almost melted, when I walked over to him and he gave me the cutest smile on the planet, showing me a dimple on one of his cheeks, as he granted me his perfect, colgate smile.

A dimple

He has a f*****g dimple

For crying out loud!

“Hey Lana!” He smiled wide at me, and even though I wanted to frown at him in response, and I wanted to interrogate him, demanding to know where the hell he had been all these past months after giving me puppy eyes four months ago, I just smiled back at him.

He is a customer

You are a bartender.

nothing more!

“Good evening.” I nodded back, finding it hard to smile at him, the way I had wanted to. I actually found myself being angry with this man. Mister Hottie had kept me waiting for four f*****g months, and I wasn’t having that s**t anymore!

Or maybe you read all the signs wrong and he was just trying to talk to you?

“Can I get you anything tonight?” I asked him, sounding as professional as I possibly could. A flicker in Mister Hottie’s eyes, made me wonder if he had caught on to my mood. And as his dashing smile fell from his face, I knew for a fact that he did.

“Just a beer like usual, please.” He nodded, and I was surprised, as another man came to sit next to him. And by the way they looked at each other, I could tell that they knew each other pretty well. So they were definitely friends or co-workers.

“I’ll have a beer too, thanks.” The other man spoke. So, I nodded, picking up two bottles, opening them up and placing them on the bar right in front of them without saying a word. I was just about to walk away from them, when Mister Hottie called out to me again.

“Lana.” He simply said, and it was enough to make my heart jump, do a backflip and do a f*****g happy dance along with it, just because my name came out of his mouth. I didn’t answer him. Instead, I just placed my hands on my hips and looked at him in wonder, waiting for him to start speaking. He bit his bottom lip, as if he knew that ditching me for four months wasn’t the best strategy to go with. But the fact that he was biting that gorgeous full lip of his, made my legs feel like jelly once again, and I couldn’t help but stare at his mouth, wondering what it would feel like to bite that myself.

Shit Lana,

Pull yourself together, alright!

“I’m sorry that it’s been a while since I’ve seen you last.” He then apologized, as if he had read my mind. So, I just shrugged back at him.

“You don’t need to apologize, you just came here to get a drink. Where have you been? Caught up in work? Or trapped inside of a gym?” I asked him, pointing at his muscled arms during the last question I asked him. It made him grin wide, and I felt how I lost the ability to breathe with it.

That smile is f*****g dangerous!

What the hell was it with this Mister Hottie? And why did he have such power over me?

“You could say that. We have been training a lot, making sure that the security is as high as it could be.” He spoke, nodding and looking over to his friend. His also 'very muscled' friend. They looked somewhat alike, they both had somewhat of a tan, telling me that they spent much of their time outdoors. But this new guy had shorter brown hair, as where Jamie had a full set of reddish brown curls. The new guy had a freshly shaven ‘baby face’, while Jamie looked rougher, as if he hadn’t shaved himself in days.

Which looks f*****g hot as hell!

So, even with both guys looking the same in some ways, they were total opposites in others.

“So what? Are you colleagues?”

Please be colleagues

If they are more than colleagues,

I will start to throw up all over the bar

right here and now!

Thank God, the other guy nodded, sticking out his hand towards me as he leaned over the bar.

“Luke, nice to meet you, Lana. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He grinned, to which I shook his hand and smiled back at him. I also couldn’t look past the glare that Mister Hottie was giving his colleague/ friend Luke that very same second. And I couldn’t help but feel my own smile grow with it, as I turned around to throw away my towel, and saw in the corner of my eyes, how Mister Hottie punched his Luke-friend against the shoulder.

“So, what is the reason for you being here tonight? Grabbing a drink before you will go back under the radar for another couple of months in the gym?” I asked, not being able to leave the venom out of my voice. If Mister hottie hadn’t known that I was pissed at him before, he sure as hell would know now. But I turned around to grab some empty glasses and pressed my eyes shut. I had just basically confessed to him, that I had kept track of him and how long it had been since I had seen him last. I basically just confessed to him that I had missed him. And that I was interested in him, too interested!

Stop it Lana,

you have not one reason to be angry with this guy!

He doesn’t owe you anything!

He is just a customer, like anybody else.

And again, he bit his f*****g delicious-looking lip. Before, he looked straight into my eyes.

“Would you be able to get that five minute break today, Lana?” He asked me, and I didn’t know what I wanted to answer to that. At first, I simply wanted to say ‘no’, turn around and walk away. Why on earth would I offer my break to talk to a guy who had just disappeared from me for months, without a single word? For all I knew, he could take advantage of me, and run for the hills tomorrow morning. But on the other hand, my weaker side, I really wanted to hear what he wanted to say to me. He was pulling me in. Fast and hard. And it was messing with my head.

“I don’t even know your name. So, as of right now, I know more about Luke over here than about you.” I stated, and I could tell my words had struck a nerve with him. He looked over at his friend and I could tell he was locking his yaw and biting down on his teeth, hard. But he swallowed, before he looked back at me.

“My name is James, my friends call me Jamie. I have been absent for a while, since we are working on a very big… case. Once this case will be over with, I will have all the free time in the world. So no, I will not be locking myself up in the gym again after tonight, if that is what you want to know?” I nodded, and thank God, I saw a customer lift his hand, and I needed to leave him for a bit. So, I just raised my hand at Jamie, telling him I needed a minute, knowing once I would start helping other customers, I would easily be busy for half an hour. And so it was, and 45 minutes later, I was right in the middle of cleaning glasses, when Billy came to stand next to me, looking at me with a playful smirk on his face.

“What?” I asked him, to which he smiled even wider, making the skin around his eyes wrinkle even harder.

The old man just loves to get on my nerves.

“That man of yours is begging me to give you a break, so he can finally talk to you.” I rolled my eyes, taking the next glass.

“He is not ‘my man’ Billy. He is just a customer, like everybody else.” I stated, shaking my head at him in denial.

“Lana, come on girl. I spy a good man when I see one. And believe me, that one has got it bad for you! Give the guy a chance. At least give him one decent conversation before you go judging him.” He spoke to me, and I looked up at him, sighing deeply.

What was it with Billy and Cynthia trying to set me up with a guy?

Do I look so desperate?

“You know, my Cynthia would never have fallen for me, if she wouldn’t have given me a chance to even try and win her over. At least your guy is handsome in contrast to me. And by the looks of what he has packed underneath that shirt of his, I honestly believe he can protect you from a freaking mountain lion, if one could try to pass by this very second. Just saying dear, they don’t come around that much here in Redwater like him. You might regret sending him off, later.” I thought about that for a second, while I looked into Billie’s eyes, eyes that had seen a lot in their life.

“Why are you so desperate to match me up with some random stranger?” I asked him, seeing him roll his eyes at me.

“Oh dear, because you deserve to be happy. And if that happiness involves a handsome man by your side, why not? No one deserves to spend their life all alone. And I promised him I would give you a break. He has been practically begging me.” Billy laughed at me. I swallowed, placing the last glass away while I looked at the clock. It was 11.45h, the bar would be closing soon anyway.

“I’ll be back in before midnight, to help you clean up.” I spoke, to which Billie smiled wide at me.

“Take all the time you need, Lana. The ones who are still here right now, are too drunk to care anyway.” And I swallowed hard, looking over at the bar, where I found Mister Hottie, staring right back at me, while I could have sworn his eyes were turning more dark than usual. I picked out my jacket and walked over to him, seeing how his dark gaze vanished and he grinned wide, once he understood what was happening.

“You have a break?” He smiled at me, to which I nodded. And he stood up, as we both walked out of the bar, straight outside.