Love, Ally by Hannah Gray

six

Ally

“Can I get you anything else tonight?” I ask the sweet couple seated in my section.

“No, thank you. Everything was great.” The mom smiles as she bounces the baby on her knee.

“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll be right back with your bill.”

I’m still new here at Lenny’s, but I’ve waitressed before, so I caught on quick. I can be bitchy in real life, sure. But as a waitress, I have impeccable customer service skills. I need the money. Bitchy waitresses don’t make good tips—that’s a fact.

I hear the door open and shut but don’t look up as I circle the total on the couple’s bill. “Sit anywhere you’d like,” I call out.

“Fuck, where’s your section? So I can avoid it,” a voice drawls.

I’d know that voice anywhere. And even though I hate to admit it, thatvoice makes my heart damn near skip a beat.

When I look up, Cole’s cocky smirk greets me.

Blowing a loose strand of hair out of my face, I put my hand on my hip. “I’m the only waitress tonight, dipshit. So, you can either deal with it or go somewhere else.” Shit, there goes those impeccable customer service skills.

He probably isn’t going to tip me anyway. Well, unless he tells me to dress warm when I go to hell. That would probably be it for tips from him when it comes to me.

“What do you think, fellas? Should we mosey on down to King’s Pub instead? Say fuck this place?” he says to his friends, though his eyes never leave mine.

“King’s burgers suck, man. I want a fucking Lenny’s burger.” Knox pouts.

The fact that he’s dissing our competition makes me already like him more. King’s is down the street, and Lenny can’t stand the owner. Apparently, they go way back.

“What he said,” the other one chimes in.

He wasn’t with them at the movies. Or if he was, I didn’t see him. He’s cute. Dirty-blond hair and a completely jacked body. The three of them together are sure to give every bitch they pass whiplash. Though neither Knox nor this other dude hold a candle to Cole.

Excuse me while I clench my thighs at the sight of him.

“Fine,” Cole answers and struts over to the corner booth, taking a seat.

“Do you need menus?” I call over to them before I deliver my other table their check.

“Nope. Three Lenny’s burgers, three fries, three Cokes,” Knox yells back.

I glance at Cole to check that is what he wants, and he gives me a single nod.

Such a cocky fucker these days.

When I make my way to the couple’s table, the baby babbles and smiles at me. As he holds his chubby little hand up, drool runs out of his mouth. It melts my heart of stone.

“How old?” I ask.

“Nine months,” the dad answers, smiling proudly while handing me cash to cover the check. “Keep the change.”

Tucking it in my apron pocket, I nod. “Thank you. He’s precious. I hope you three have a wonderful evening.”

While I wait for their food to be finished, other than delivering their drinks, I avoid the guys’ table altogether. Weeknights are slow, and they are the only table here right now.

The picture of him and that slutty bitch walking out of the restroom is etched into my brain, unfortunately. Making me more hostile to Cole than I typically would be.

Trying to make my facial expression somewhat welcoming, I deliver their food.

“Fucking right. I’ve been dreaming about this burger all day,” Knox basically pants.

Licking my lips at the sight of Cole, not the food, I look between them. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Nope,” he says curtly. “There’s nothing you can help me with.”

“I’m sure you got plenty of help in the movie theater restroom,”I coo. I shouldn’t give him the satisfaction that I care. But goddamn it, I couldn’t help but say it.

He chuckles. “And there it is. Allycat here is jealous,” he says in a satisfied tone.

I’m already regretting opening my big mouth. Now, he knows it bothered me.

I scratch my cheek with my middle finger. Leaning closer to him, I drop my voice lower. “Don’t flatter yourself, asshole. I have no interest in catching whatever diseases you’re lugging around with you these days.”

Both his sidekicks burst out laughing. Cole says nothing, just glares at me.

“Hey, is Sloane still mad at me?” Knox asks in between bites. An apparent frown on his face.

I shrug. “I have no idea. Do I look like her keeper?”

“Well, no. I just … I just thought—”

Putting my hand up, I stop him. “You thought you’d just yell some stupid shit at dipshit here”—I jerk my thumb toward Cole—“and you pissed her off. Now, you need to make it right. Understood?”

With his eyes wide, he nods frantically. “Y-yeah, yeah. I got it.”

I set their check down in the center of their table. “I’ll take that whenever you’re ready,” I say and walk off.

We closed five minutes ago, which means I can get my side work started and get the hell out of here.

 

I’m on the other side of the restaurant, wiping down the tables, when I feelhim behind me. Without turning around, I sigh. “What do you need, Cole? Change?”

“Nah, it’s all set on the table,” Cole answers surprisingly softly.

“Okay. What do you want?” I retort back at him. “Because I’m trying to get my shit done so that I can get out of here. So, if you have any smart-ass remarks, save it.” There goes that A+ customer service again. Right down the shitter.

His last name is Storms, and when we first met, with the way he went through life and the way he played football, I couldn’t help but begin calling him Storm because he was a storm—a force, a weapon. He took his shitty life, and he used the bad parts to make himself better and stronger. Like Mother Nature, there has never been any stopping that boy when he wants something. It’s inevitable.

The funny thing is, since I was a kid, I’ve always loved storms. Much more than sunny days.

I can remember when my mom was all fucked up on whatever drugs she’d snorted or shot into her veins, and she and her friends would be partying in the living room. I’d lock the door to my bedroom, scared someone would get in and try something. I would look out my window, and I would pray for a big ol’ storm to come and drown out the noise. That way, for a few short hours, everyone would be feeling the chaos of the same storm that I was. It made me somehow feel less alone. Even as I got older and after my mother overdosed and died, I’d still find the nearest window and just watch, listening to the rain pelt off of the roof and against the windows. It calmed me. Maybe other kids my age would have been scared and climbed in their parents’ bed. I didn’t have that option, so I learned to embrace it.

That’s what made Cole’s nickname so special and something only we had. He knew what I meant when I called him “my storm.” Because he calmed me, and he turned the loudness into white noise. He took away all of my pain. But now that he’s some big football star, everyone and their grandmother calls him by that name. And it somehow seems far less genuine now. What used to be something special between us now makes me feel like I’m just like everyone else. And it reminds me that I now share him with an entire campus.

“I owe you nothing. You left me, remember?” he says out of the blue. Anger seeping from his voice.

“I’m aware of that.” I didn’t have a choice but to leave you, asshole.

“But for your nosy-ass information, I’m not carrying around diseases with me. I’m clean.”

Spinning around slowly, I lean against the table, folding my arms over my chest. “Congratulations.” I cock my head to the side. “You use condoms. It doesn’t make who you’ve turned into any less disgusting.” I say it with venom because that’s how it makes me feel when I think about him with another person that isn’t me.

Stepping toward me, he invades my space. His delicious scent instantly filling my nose and crippling my brain, turning me stupid.

Looking down at me, his eyes are filled with pain and not anger. “How would you know what I’ve turned into, Ally? You haven’t been around me in fifteen months.” In an instant, the anger returns as a vein bulges in the side of his neck. “Fifteen. Fucking. Months,” he says through gritted teeth. “Like a fucking ghost, poof, you were gone.” His fingers grip my chin roughly, and he looks like he might erupt. “You left me alone. You joined that fucking club of disappointments in Cole Storms’s life. You. Get. No. Fucking. Say. Anymore.”

My chest heaves from him being so close. My breaths become so shallow that it actually hurts. “You’re right. I guess I don’t.” I narrow my eyes. “But you fucked a girl in a restroom, Cole. That’s pathetic. So, yeah, excuse me for thinking your dick probably isn’t the cleanest these days.”

I cannot hold his gaze any longer, and I avert my eyes to the floor. I feel my hard exterior crack the smallest bit. That’s what I’m afraid of—that he’ll break me down. He has the power to do it.

His lips move closer to mine, lingering over them and making my knees weak. I remember exactly what he tastes like—sweet mint. And now, that’s what I’m craving.

“And if you hadn’t cut me off, I would have been fucking you instead,” he says callously. “This is on you, Ally. Not me.”

I can feel his breath against my mouth, making my entire body feel numb and my legs turn to Jell-O.

What a pathetic bitch I’m being.

His words shouldn’t do this, but they cause an ache in places that should not be aching for him. A longing deep within me that only he can fulfill. He’s being a dick, but damn, I’ve missed him.

All of him.

“Everything all right, Al?” the owner, Lenny, says, coming out of nowhere.

Giving him a tight-lipped smile, I nod. “All good, Len. Mr. QB here was just on his way out,” I say before turning my head back toward Cole. “Isn’t that right, Storm?”

He eyes me over for a moment before backing away. “Sure is.” Turning, he struts out. “Yo, Knox, Weston. Let’s roll.”

And then he’s gone.

While I can breathe again, my body feels completely empty and cold.

“What was that about?” Lenny asks, a broom in his hand.

Lenny and his wife have owned this place for thirty-five years. She passed away a few years ago, but he refuses to stop working. At the age of seventy-three, he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.

Rushing over to Cole’s table, I begin to clean it off. I don’t like Lenny working any later than he has to, so I always try to get my tables cleaned and everything put away for the next day in a timely fashion. Even though he lives above the restaurant anyway. So, luckily, he doesn’t have to travel home late at night.

“Nobody,” I mutter.

“Didn’t seem like a nobody,” he answers.

“Well, maybe he was somebody to me at one time, but now, he isn’t.”

Putting his hand on my shoulder, he looks me in the eyes. “That boy’s eyes never left you. Not the whole time he was here. I might be old, but I’m not blind.”

My heart softens for a split second before I ice up again. “You’re right; you are old. You are probably getting senile and seeing shit. Or maybe you’ve got cataracts,” I joke before patting his hand.

Even though we haven’t known each other long, we already banter nonstop. I’ve never had too many people in my life I can count on. Yet I somehow know Lenny will be in the extremely exclusive group that I have.

Taking the bill from my apron, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. They left me three one-hundred-dollar bills as a tip.

“Jesus Christ,” Lenny huffs under his breath, spotting the cash. “Nobody, my ass.”

“Hey,” I say, holding the money up. “At least that pain in my ass is good for something, right?” Taking two of the bills, I try to pass them to him. “Here, all I did was take their order and bring it out. You cooked it.”

He backs away, shaking his head and raising his hands up. “That’s all yours, Al. You earned it. You get on out of here. It’s a school night.”

“Yes, sir.” I know better than to argue with him. He won’t change his mind. “I don’t work tomorrow, but I’ll see you Thursday.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mutters before heading back into the kitchen.

 

Locking the front door, I hear Cole’s voice come from behind me in the darkness, and I turn around.

“Tell me you weren’t planning to walk home alone,” he growls, pushing off of a jacked-up black truck. “Because that would be really fucking dumb.”

It should have startled me, made me jump … something. But I think my mind already knew he’d be outside, waiting for me.

When we’d first met, he’d instantly become my guardian, always making sure I was all right and that I was taken care of, even before himself. One thing I can say about Cole Storms: if he considers you his family, he’ll protect you at all costs.

“Well, I have no other way to get home, so yes, I’m walking home,” I huff out. “Besides, campus is not even a mile up the road.”

“It’s nighttime, Ally.” His voice comes from the darkness.

I throw my hand up. “The entire way is lit sidewalks! Jesus, did you forget how I—no, how we grew up? Walking at night isn’t a big deal. At least, it never was.”

In reality, I am a little spooked to be walking home alone at night. The day I left the Falls, I learned just how horrible people could be. But forcing myself to suck it up and push my fears aside—in this case, while walking home—is something I need to do. For me.

“Yeah, well, once you came to Charlotte’s Falls, you were no longer alone. You became my problem after that.”

“Well, I’m not your problem anymore, Cole.”

Before I even realize it, he has me pushed up against the side of the building. He smells like mint and pine, just like he used to. Even in the darkness, I can see his eyes glaring down at me.

“You will always be my problem,” his deep voice barks, his delicious, minty breath hitting my face, numbing me like Novocain. “You really ought to know that by now.”

His hand cups my cheek, moving down to my neck. He grazes my skin with his fingertips, causing my entire body to melt into him.

His eyes move to my lips for a moment, and there I stand, wanting him. Needinghim. He makes me feel like myself again. Finally. I’ve craved him since the day I left. And I can say without a shadow of a doubt, if he tries to take this further, I’ll let him take it as far as he wants.

“And what if I don’t want to be your problem anymore?” I manage to say through my breathlessness.

“We both know that isn’t true. So, take it the fuck back,” he snarls like a dog protecting its bone.

“I don’t know anything anymore,” I breathe out. “Everything I thought I knew is different now.”

He flicks his gaze from my eyes to my lips and back again. Slowly, he blinks, snapping himself back to reality.

Stepping back, he stuffs his hands in his pockets. Almost like if he doesn’t restrain them, they’ll roam my body. Deep down, I know that’s what I want though. I want them on me.

“Get in the truck, Ally.” He doesn’t ask. He demands.

“You can’t tell me what to do, Storm.” Stepping up to him, toe to toe, I put a hand on my hip. “Maybe back in the Falls, I let you.” A bitter laugh escapes my mouth. “Hell, I probably even followed you around like a pathetic fucking puppy dog. But that was then.” Stepping up even closer to him, I glare up into his eyes, gritting my teeth. “But this is now,” I hiss.

I turn to walk away, but before I even make it a full step, I’m snatched up and slung over his shoulder—his deliciously muscular shoulder.

“Motherfucker!” I yell, kicking my feet and flinging my arms.

Gripping my ass cheek with his hand, he squeezes. “We could have done it the easy way, Ally. But no, like always, you have to be a pain in my fucking ass,” he roars.

“Put me down, asswipe! Or so help me God, I will cut your balls off.”

Feeling him chuckle beneath me only infuriates me more.

Cocky motherfucker.