I glanced over at the booth where Brenna was waiting for me. Fuck it. I vaulted over the bar and grabbed a bottle off the shelf.
“Hey, what the fuck man, don’t jump the bar,” the bartender yelled. I ignored it, pulling out a hundred and tucking it in his apron. A few of the patrons were laughing and applauding. I hopped back over the bar then walked back over to the booth. She wasn’t alone. There was a guy in my seat, leaning across the table.
“Look, you said he’d show up and he hasn’t yet. I think you were lying to me.”
“Oh, give it time,” she said.
“How about you give me your number while we wait?” he asked.
“Brenna,” I said, coming up to the booth. The man looked up, then did a double-take. His face blanched and he jumped up to his feet.
“Told you he was coming back,” she said.
“Who are you?” I asked the man.
“Hey, relax I was just keeping your girl company while she waited for you,” he said. Was that supposed to make it better?
“If I need your help, I’ll ask for it,” I spat.
“Maybe if you don’t want guys talking to her, you shouldn’t leave her alone so long,” he said. I put the water down.
“Leave her alone.”
“Make me,” he said, puffing his chest out. Okay. I grabbed his arm and hauled him away from the booth.
“Find yourself a girl who isn’t taken,” I said. The man shoved me in the chest.
“What if I want yours?”
I shoved him back. “She’s going to be carrying my baby,” I said. The guy looked at Brenna, his eyes roving up and down her figure.
“You should carry my baby instead, babe.”
“He’s giving me a mil to do it. How much are you offering?” she asked, laughing. I grabbed the guy, about to slam him into the wall.
“Charlie, don’t!” I felt Brenna’s hands on my arm, pulling me back. “Calm the hell down. What do you think you’re doing? Someone’s going to call the cops on you.” He was asking for it officer. He was flirting with my… my what? My surrogate?
“Why were you flirting with him?” I demanded.
“I swear to god,” she grumbled. She grabbed the contract then tugged my arm for me to follow her out of the bar. The few bystanders who had congregated quickly turned away from my glare. The guy I was about to knock out was back at the bar. He was lucky Brenna was there to defend him. If it was just the two of us, I’d be going to prison.
8
Brenna
“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”
I pulled Charlie out onto the sidewalk. He stumbled out after me.
“Why were you talking to him?”
“We were at a bar, people talk to you at bars.”
“Kidding about my baby is not funny.”
“He was drunk, okay? Relax.”
“Why don’t you take his advice then?” he snapped. Okay, so maybe I was a little drunk. It had been a rough day but Charlie wasn’t making it any easier. He was being completely inappropriate. He was the one who wanted to come out to this bar. He was the one who popped up on me out of the blue so we could ‘discuss his contract’. All of that and he has the nerve to get mad at me because some douche who was also drunk thought he could score?