The Alpha Protection Program

Chapter One

Charlotte, North Carolina: Present Day

"You like that, baby girl? Fuck, that's good."

The woman screeched wildly in response, pawing on the wood like a caged animal. Steady thumps against the door were drowned by the roar of the bar, the patrons entirely unaware of to the couple occupying the women's bathroom. It must have been the intoxication of a taboo, or the lightness that came with drowning your morals after too many shots.

Either way, Sophie Hart was entirely overwhelmed.

Charley, her supervisor and owner of the bar "Charley's" requested not to be disturbed on Fight Night, since he chose rather to drink with buddies than aid the overworked staff. The other waitresses decided to take a smoke break, and the cooks, though friendly enough, did not speak English. Sophie was far too embarrassed to seek out the bouncer and was sure that by the time she found him, that the couple would have already finished.

"Come on now, baby, right there!"

"Oh my god," Sophie mouthed, scurrying away, half-giggling and half feeling like she was intruding on the exhibitionist couple, even though they were breaking the law. 

At 1AM, she had to have been delirious from being on her feet since the mid afternoon to find anything of this sort amusing. The waitresses here would get a real kick if they found her blushing like some school girl. She'd already had the misfortune of being mistaken for a high schooler by the staff and patrons on the regular based on her looks and height.

But since she made it back to the staff area without any run-ins, she knew she would probably never tell the story to anyone. After work, there would be no one else to share an amusement with or gush about the audacity of some people. Sophie would return to her one bedroom apartment and go to sleep as if nothing ever happened. Just like any other night, the expectation of solitude would be the despised comfort of her night.

"You look flustered," the bartender, Liz, noted absently. "Ain't no one bothering you tonight, is there?"

"Everything's okay," Sophie assured, arranging pitchers on a tray. She looked up to thank her, but Liz, at seven months pregnant, had already waddled off to the other end of bar to talk.

Charley waved her over before she could check her tables, and she was inclined to obey. She hadn't worked here very long, and the boss tended to stay out of the way as long as there weren't any problems.

Oh no, did he hear about the couple in the bathroom? Was he mad about her not telling anyone?

There weren't many things she despised more than confrontation, a natural introvert forced into extraverted society. Turns out, the price of living and going to university to achieve a quiet job meant sacrifices. 

The TV captured everyone's attention as the bar exploded into shouts, and Charley's friends into rounds of taunts and laughter. The rowdy, mostly drunken men were intimidating even when calm and sober. Unlike the other waitresses, Sophie was too shy to interact with them on a normal basis.

She stood patiently, unwilling to interrupt Charley, who seemed to entirely forget about her standing by his table. A commercial returned him to the present.

"Sarah!" He finally clapped her on the shoulder, and she fought a wince. It's Sophie. "You're a sweet girl, do me a favor. The young man in B5 wants you to wait on him, and I owe him something big. Don't mind, do you? Nah, I knew you wouldn't. Go on, now."

He hadn't given her the opportunity to decline. Her inability to protest rose in her throat, and she obeyed.

"Hey Liz, Charley wants me to look after B5, is that okay with you?" Most of the girls would get mad at stealing tables, but on a night like this, the extra help was usually appreciated.

Liz stood on her tip toes to see the booth, looking over the brawny men's heads which Sophie failed to see past. Her face washed white; Sophie assumed she was about to have another round of sickness, being that she was an unlucky mother whose morning sickness hadn't disappeared after the first few months. 

"I don't mind, crazy enough already. Here, take 'em this, he's a, uh, regular." Liz practically shoved the pitcher into her hands, hurrying into the back whilst ignoring the taunts from the bar occupants.

A policeman?

Surely he wasn't going to ask her about the couple in the bathroom- Charley said he just wanted her to wait on him. Maybe one of the other waitresses was an ex girlfriend? As she drew closer, Sophie knew Liz had been lying about the man being a regular; she was sure that even she, oblivious and innocent Sophie, would remember a man so strikingly handsome. The man's unnaturally blue eyes burned into her face, never turning down their intensity even as she smiled in an attempt to be amiable.

Here goes nothing.

"Hi, I was told this was your normal drink." His stare was not lust or an attempt at flattering; his eyes were narrow and judgmental, obviously not pleased with what now stood in front of him meekly. Sophie's hands trembled a bit as she slid the drink in front of him. It didn't matter that he was that good looking, there was something completely unsettling about the man, perhaps being that the police uniform was making him exceptionally intimidating. "Could I get you anything else, sir?"

He grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. "What's your name?"

"Um, Sophie." She tested his grip slightly, only to find it was tight. If she wasn't creeped out by his stare before, she certainly was now. There was a strict no-harassment policy at Charley's, but a lack of enforcement at the moment told otherwise. He was the enforcement, sitting rigidly in his blue uniform.

His fingers pressed into the bottom of her wrist, as if he were feeling her pulse. Perhaps he sensed how nervous she was and wanted to feel the race of her heart pounding throughout her body, a predator amused by his prey. After an overdrawn awkward moment, the man let go, eyeing her over suspiciously once more. The name tag on his uniform read Levi.

"I'll take the special. Bring me another beer when you come with the food, Sophie," he spat, turning down to his cellphone and dismissing her existence entirely.

What on earth was his problem with her?