I feel sorry for whoever gets in my way today and somehow pisses me off. I shouldn't have gone to work. It was a bad idea.

The moment I walked into Eddie's, inhaled the smell of alcohol and looked around the people, I regretted it.

Theo pissed me off enough at lunch. I haven't seen him since then, and that's a good thing. I kind of hope he won't be there when I get home tonight. Truth? I wouldn't even be surprised if he did leave.

"You've got to be kidding me." I found my target to take my anger out on as my gaze wandered to the bar.

Julie stood behind the bar, smiling from ear to ear at Acker, who was laughing and drinking.

I quickly walked over to the bar and held on to the last patience so as not to knock over his chair and see him on the ground.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I said between my teeth.

Julie's smile dropped immediately and she looked at me confused.

"Mimi." Acker smiled at me. I'm going to break someone's jaw today. No one will mind if it's him. "I'm enjoying a drink. I heard this is one of the best bars. I wanted to see for myself. What about you? Are you even old enough to drink?" He looked at me thoughtfully while I clenched my fists. Julie walked quickly from behind the bar next to me.

"Maya works here." She said before I could open my mouth or snap at him. "Eddie was asking for you. You should go, I'll join you. Nice meeting you Sebastian." She gave him a small smile and started pulling me into the back rooms.

"What are you doing?" I pulled out of her grip when we were far enough away from people.

"Me? What are you doing?" She frowned. "You looked like you were going to smash his mouth in. What happened?"

"Theo happened. And that moron over there." I pointed back to the door of the bar. "Is his best friend."

"Oh." She stood stunned.

"Yeah, oh." I crossed my arms over my breasts. "Please tell me you weren't flirting with him."

"I wasn't." She put her hands in a defensive gesture. "Only he was."

"I'll break his jaw." I turned on the spot and was planning to go back to the bar when she caught me.

"Maya stop. Please. What's wrong? Lunch with your brother went that bad?"

"What do you think?" I raised my voice, which startled her. "Sorry." I quickly came to my senses. What am I doing? Julie doesn't deserve this. "There's a lot going on right now." I breathed out hard. "And Acker being here isn't helping."

"I get it, Maya." She grabbed both my hands. "Why don't you go to Eddie and ask if you can get a night off? There aren't many people here, Mason can handle it himself."

"No." I shook my head. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes." I tried to smile. "Do you know what Eddie wanted?"

"Nothing." She laughed. "I just wanted to get you out of there."

"You little devil." I laughed.

"Go change and breathe deeply." She gave me a quick hug before heading to the bar.

I changed into a leather skirt with black nylons and a black top with a deep neckline. I locked my things in the locker and headed to the bar.

I went behind the bar and thank God Acker was no longer sitting there. My prayers were answered. Funny since I haven't been to church since I was about fifteen.

"You look a little tense." I was greeted by Mason.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"You know what I meant."

"Of course." I tried to smile and walked over to the woman who was waiting for Mason to turn to her. She was already slightly drunk and it was a little difficult to understand her over the loud music, but she finally ordered and waited while I prepared her order for her.



I watched Maya take orders from each side and prepare drinks one after the other.

I don't think she knows I'm still here. She wasn't thrilled to find me here.

In my defense, I didn't know she worked here. How could I? Even Theo doesn't know.

Theo. Their conversation probably didn't go the way he imagined, as Maya would have preferred to scratch everyone's eyes out.

Even so, she smiles at the customers. It's obviously a fake smile, but no one seems to mind. Half the bar is looking at her tits when ordering anyway.

As if I were somehow better.

I checked the time and saw that I had been sitting here for two hours. It's time for me to go.

I drank the rest of my glass and took the leather jacket from the chair that I just kept in my hand.

As I was leaving, I noticed that Maya was no longer behind the bar. Where did she disappear to?

It's not my concern. Let Theo take care of that. I'm not her brother.

As I walked out the door and down the sidewalk, I stopped at an alley between a bar and another building. There was only one lamp in it, which barely shone on the door that led to the bar.

But next to them, a figure was leaning against the wall and exhaling a puff of smoke. I could see from afar that it was Maya.

I don't know what came into my mind, but I walked towards her.

"What do you want, Acker?" She asked when I was almost at her side. It caught me by surprise as her head was tilted back and her eyes were tightly shut.

"How did you know it was me?" I frowned.

"I could smell your overpriced cologne when you stepped into the alley." She looked at me and put the cigarette to her lips, but before she could take a drag I took it from her. "What are you doing?" She frowned.

Silently I put the cigarette to my mouth and took a drag. I crossed to the other side of the alley and leaned against the building. "What would your brother say if he saw you smoking?"

"I don't know what he would say, but I would tell him to go fuck himself." She pushed herself away from the wall and walked towards me. "Give it to me." She reached for a cigarette, but in vain. "Stop it, Acker. I'm not in the mood for your games."

"What games?" I bent my head towards her and exhaled a puff of smoke directly into her face.

"You haven't grown a bit." She snorted.

"But you for sure did." I looked her over and stopped at her short skirt. From the other side of the bar, it was impossible for me to see that she had it. But now? I see a lot of things.

"You done staring?" She looked at me tiredly.

I quickly scanned her body again. Now I am." I looked up at her face. I took a drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke into her face again.

Maybe it's the alcohol, even though I only had two drinks, but provoking her is giving me some kind of pleasure.

"You're even worse than those assholes inside." With a disgusted expression, she turned and started walking away.

I tossed the cigarette to the floor and approached her before reaching behind Maya and grabbing her wrist. I pulled her to me. I pushed her against the wall I was glued to a moment ago and put my hands next to her head. She didn't look very excited.

I lowered my head to her and skipped between her eyes.

"What are you doing?" She frowned.

"I'm trying to figure you out." I narrowed my eyes.

"Well, good luck with that. You'd be first." Her small hands landed on my chest and she tried to push me away. She looked adorable. "Can you move? I have work to get back to. You know, that's the place where you do something and get money so you can live to see another day. But you probably don't know that, do you?"

"You think I've never gotten my hands dirty before?" She didn't understand where I was going. How could she? She would never have thought that she had a brother in the mafia.

"I'm really not in the mood for you. Let me go." She tried to slip again but failed again. "Acker, you're pissing me the fuck off. Let. Me. Go."

"I'm sure you understood her." A voice called out from behind us. "She made it clear enough. But I'll be happy to repeat it to you."

I dropped my hands from the wall and straightened up. I turned to the guy in the doorway from the bar.

"It's okay Eddie." Maya walked past me and stopped next to him. She grabbed his hand, which was intertwined with the other on his chest. "He was just leaving."

"It didn't look like it." He said with a clenched jaw.

Someone here is annoyed.

"Sebastian is..."

"Her friend." I finished for her.

"No. My brother's friend." She corrected me. "And he's leaving. Preferably from Seattle as well."

"That's up to your brother, Mimi."

"In that case, you should start packing. I told him to leave. It was good seeing you. Well that's not really true. Goodbye Acker." She turned and started walking towards the door where she got lost. Eddie, or as she called him, followed her like a lost puppy.

Funny what happens to you when you want to get between someone's legs.



I broke my rule.

Never sleep with customers at Eddie's.

But the truth? I was up to my neck yesterday. This was the only way I could calm down and relax.

I slowly disappeared from the bed and from the apartment of some guy from yesterday. We didn't exchange names. We both went into it thinking it was a one-off.

But I still broke my rule.

Until now, they have kept me together and because of them I have avoided problems. I really hope it stays that way.

And the other rules? I don't remember breaking any. On the other hand, I drank a little.

It was seven in the morning when I got home. I must look terrible, but that's the last thing on my mind.

"Where the hell have you been?"

I heard Theo's voice the moment I closed the front door.

I really expected that he wouldn't be here anymore. I didn't expect him to stay here after yesterday. Our really "pleasant" conversation.

"Out." I dropped my keys on the kitchen counter and walked past Theo straight into the kitchen to get water.

"I called you probably a hundred times. Couldn't you pick up?"

"You're the one to say something." I snorted and took a sip of cold water.

"This is not funny Maya."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" I turned to him. I put the glass on the kitchen counter and leaned my butt against it.

"You could have at least texted me. It wouldn't have killed you. How was I supposed to know you were okay? I was scared." He threw his hands around worse than a mother.

"That would be a first." I crossed my arms over my breasts.

"Can you act like an adult for a moment?" He raised his voice, which pushed my last button.

"Don't you dare tell me how to act! I owe you nothing!"

"I came here to fix our relationship, why can't you understand that?"

"Because there's nothing here to fix! You left!" I screamed and didn't care that the whole building could hear me.

"I already apologized. What more do you want?" He's kidding, right?

"What do I want?" I snorted. "I want you to leave. That's what I want. So why don't you pack up your shit and go back to where the fuck you came from. Wherever that is." I have it up to my neck. How dare he yell at me in my own apartment? He has no right to do so.

"After what you did today? How could I? I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew you were out there somewhere and God knows if you were lying dead somewhere."

"So you suddenly care if I'm okay. Ironic." I shook my head.

"What do you mean?" He frowned. "Of course I care if you're okay. I'm your brother."

"So where were you when I needed you! When I lost..." I stopped myself. "Where were you when I was in the hospital calling you because I wasn't sure I was going to survive!"

Shit.

I really said that out loud, didn't I?

"What?" He looked at me startled.

"But hey, you don't know about that because I didn't call you. Oh wait, I did. You just didn't pick up. And after two weeks you wrote to me that you didn't have time and that you were sorry. But most of all, you sent me money because you also forgot my birthday. And while we're at it..." I turned and opened the corner cabinet above my head, where I pulled out an envelope of checks. I threw them on the kitchen counter in front of him. "Every fucking penny. I don't want your money. I never asked for it. What? You got nothing to say now?" I frowned.

Theo just stood as if pinned to the ground and did not take his eyes off me. As if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Don't you dare come here and want something from me. You have no right to do that. So why don't you do us both a favor and leave. In the end, that's what you do best."

At least I got that out of me. It is a good feeling really.

I walked past him and took my keys before leaving the apartment and heading anywhere he wasn't.

I was stupid to think that something would change.

He's still the same as he was years ago.



Another chapter cuz why not, right?