Once Bitten (An Anya Maynard Novel)

Chapter Six

“Oh my god thank you!” Jess exclaimed when I handed her a cup of coffee as she came through the door, “I don’t think I slept a solid hour last night.”

“Well then we’ll be on equal footing,” I smiled back.

“Mmm,” she said as she swallowed, “how was your first night with Connor?”

I shrugged, “not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Really? So then there were no more murderous glances I take it?”

I followed her in the back as she went to put her stuff away, “no, he was actually pretty civil.”

“Who was civil?” Steve asked as he came through the door behind us.

“Connor,” Jess answered for me, “Anya was just giving me the rundown of her night.”

Steve laughed, “Oh well I have to hear this.”

I rolled my eyes and we all went back into the dining room, Steve pouring himself his own cup of coffee and settling in next to Jess at the counter. At least I didn’t have to face the embarrassment of telling my story in front of Connor. Pete, for the pot head he was, was surprisingly punctual. He showed up ten minutes early and Connor seemed…relieved to go home. A tiny little part of me worried if it was because he had to put up with me all night.

“There’s nothing to tell really.” I leaned against the stainless steel counter behind me, “There were only a couple of customers after you left,” I said to Steve, “and no one else gave me any trouble. So I just read my book and he read the paper. That was about it.”

From the editorials, to the stock market pages, even the Dear Abby, Connor read every inch of the paper. It didn’t leave too much room for conversation.

“Gave you trouble? Who gave you trouble?” Jess asked and I remembered she wasn’t there for my breakdown.

“Just some of the football team,” Steve answered.

“Oh right, East’s homecoming,” she thought it over for a second as she took a long sip of her coffee, “was it a blonde? Hangs around with another blonde and a darker skinned guy?”

“Yeah…actually it was. How did you know?”

“Josh’s little brother,” Jess laughed, “Me and Josh are the same age so we went through school together. His brother thinks because Josh knows important people he gets the same get out of jail free card like Josh does.”

“Important people?” I asked.

“Brad of course. I brought Josh with me when Brad and I first started hanging out, now he’s just another part of his crew. Tyler on the other hand is not.”

“Oh.”

“Tyler huh, I’ll have to remember that name for the next time he shows up,” Steve said with a devious look on his face.

Jess pushed a finger into Steve’s arm, “Oh he’s got it out for you now. He called his brother last night, that’s how I knew, demanding Josh do something about this lowlife who kicked him and his friends out of a restaurant before they had the chance to eat. Tyler didn’t say which one, but when Josh asked them why he got kicked out he said he didn’t know, that the trashy piece of a waitress must have gotten pissed because he turned her down.”

I flushed and turned away.

“Hey, Anya, don’t worry,” Jess called from behind me, “Nobody believed him.”

“What a piece of work,” Steve mumbled, “Just proves money doesn’t buy manners.”

“It’s the last born syndrome,” Jess said irritated, “You could always tell who in school was the youngest in the family. They always thought they could ride on their older sibling’s successes,” she huffed, “I’m so glad Brad isn’t like that.”