Ezra's POV
I take a good sip of my drink. This had to be the fourth one now. I look around and spot Father talking to some investors from here. I myself just finished having conversations with a few; an excuse I used to lose Kandra. She's been glued to me all night, pretending we were madly in love. I had to literally pry myself from her and give myself some space. I have to say I'm a bit surprised no one has walked up to me yet.
I look around and even walk to a corner of the room to see if I can spot Elissa, my sister. She said she would be here but I wouldn't put it past her to not actually come. She's never really cared about the company like us Roth men have, which is also probably why I'm the one taking over, not her. I sigh and check the time, I'm supposed to give the one and only speech in the next 40 minutes. And, I know I might be well on my way to getting wasted. Typical me. And if Father knew I was on my fourth drink with a speech to give, he'd literally kill me.
I turn to walk towards where my dad is when I see a dark-haired woman in a red dress. I look again to make sure I'm seeing right until I'm sure it's the dark-haired woman; the one I'm sure I keep remembering from the bar. The waitress. I down the remainder of my drink as I watch her ask a waitress for something to which she heads in the direction of the bathroom. Christ, I must be really drunk because my legs start advancing in her direction before I knew it. I But right now, the woman in red mattered more than the investors or my liver. I round the corner to the bathroom just in time to see her step into the lady's room.
I stand outside of it. What am I doing? Following a woman into the lady's room? What am I even going to say to her? 'Sorry I just saw you and followed you into the bathroom, I thought I might have recognized you as the waitress but I wasn't too sure. Do you have any idea why I've dreamt about you two nights in a row?' Fuck.
I really don't want to give off creep to this woman. But I guess I can just tell her I wanted to say hi. I guess.
I'm still thinking about my life choices when the door opens and she bursts out of the bathroom like a tornado, straight into my chest.
I set my hands on her shoulders to steady her. I guess it wasn't a good idea to stand in front of the bathroom.
"Hello, again" I say still holding her. She looks at me like she's just seen a ghost. I'm definitely giving off creep.
She looks down at where I'm holding her and I remove my hands like it's on fire. "Sorry about that, you just came bursting out." I say sheepishly.
She recollects herself and stands straighter clutching her purse in her hands. She tilts her head upward to look me in the eyes. She seems to remember something immediately that makes her eyes narrow slightly. Maybe it was the whiskey warming my veins, but her eyes looked like liquid gold under the lights.
"Do I know you?" she asks me. "It depends. Do you remember that you know me?" I mentally face palm. No more drinks for today, Ezra.
With a raise of her eyebrow, she replies "No, but you should know me to be standing in front of the girl's bathroom, unless you're a woman." Fair point.
"Well unfortunately, I'm not a woman. But I know who you are. You work at a bar in town as a waitress. I thought I could come over and say hello." she looks unconvinced.
"Well, hello to you too and I would love to stay and chat but I have to get back, I have someone waiting for me." she starts to walk off.
"How are you here? You don't look like you're working? "I ask her.
She turns to me slowly, and I'm momentarily shocked by the flash of coldness in her eyes. "I'm here as a plus one. I'm not working. Does it bother you, that I'm not in my work clothes at an event you never expected to see me at?"
"Okay slow down, ice princess. I was just asking. I didn't assume."
She scoffs. "Yeah sure, like it's not better for you to see me in my work clothes." Okay, I'm sensing some serious hostility here.
"Did I say something wrong?" Because things seem to be escalating quickly.
She looks at me and blinks a few times. She seems to regain some composure and tells me "I don't think so. But, even if you did, you might not even know. And honestly, I don't know you and I don't see any reason why I should be answering your questions, so let me do both of us a favor and leave. Goodbye." and with one last look at her card I watch her retreating figure.
A smirk forms on my lips and I fold my arms still watching her. Harlem, that was her name. Beautiful and feisty but hates me? I wonder why. What are the odds?
The sadist in me realizes something, I crave more. So much more.