«« This chapter contains some themes of harassment. Please read with that in mind. Xx »»
We all burst out laughing. Everyone except River and Harper.
'You guys had more shots then all three of us have had...well ever' Callum pointed at himself and me and Dieter. Harper rubbed her neck, shrugged and got some breakfast. River just stood there dumbstruck. Callum sat with Harper and River and explained what happened last night. Dieter sat down on the sofa and I followed. He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me towards him so I was sitting on his lap. He cuddled me tight.
'Morning.' I said with a giggle. He just snuggled into me more. 'You good?' I asked.
'Just sleepy.' His eyes were closed and head rested on my shoulder. I giggled and moved up the sofa. Dieter layed down and put his head on my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair and he fell asleep. When he woke up, everyone had left I didn't move a muscle because Dieter was sleeping soundly on my lap. He was full of sunshine and rainbows. He was giving kisses and cuddles and more kisses and more cuddles. Then he he asked me out tomorrow night. I honestly hope he hasn't got any stuff to do at home. When he was staying with me, his dad kept messaging him and he kept rolling his eyes or sighing. I accepted the invitation. He looked happy, I really liked this boy, if he asked me to marry him, would I say no? Probably not. He said he had to leave because his dad needed him to do some paperwork for him. I had one hour until my shift at the bar so I got showered and dressed and headed out.
I got there but the bar hadn't opened yet. I went to the peg room to put my bag away. River was there chugging water and had asprin in his hand. I giggled.
'You good Riv?' I asked.
'No.' he groaned. 'Why didn't you stop me?' he said.
'We tried buy there was no stopping you.' I said. 'Besides, you were busy with your tongue down Harper's throat.' I grinned. He looked at me like I just slapped him.
'Bars opening.' he grumbled. I laughed.
When we opened up the bar, unfortunately for River it was heaving with people. The server, Luna, was sick so no one was clearing tables, we had to do that to.
'¡Esto es un desastre! Que haremos?
*This is a disaster! What shall we do?*' I asked River.
'No lo sé! ¿Te aclaras un poco y te invito?*I don't know! You clear up a bit and I'll bartend?*' he offered.
I started to clear the tables. I was wiping a table down and this guy bumps into me. I turned around.
'Oh sorry.' he says. He's looking at me up and down. 'You wanna ditch work and come play.' he winked at me. I was almost sick in my mouth.
'No thanks.' I said. He was about to grab my waist when River came.
'Exuse me, sir, I think you should leave.' River says.
'Yeah, and I will, with this girl right here.' I felt his arm snake around my hips. I froze. I can usually can take care of myself, but from past experiences, anything like this and I freeze up. If Callum wasn't there last time, things could have gotten a lot worse. I felt tears forming in my eyes from the bad memories. River glanced at me. His expression hardened.
'Sir, you need to leave.' River said a bit more sturn and grabbing the man's other arm.
'And I said I will, with this chick right here.' he repeated and his arm pulled me closer and swatted River's hand away. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. River looked at me again and his eyebrows were frowning hard. I'd never seen him angry. He grabbed the shoulder of the man, hard.
'Last chance to leave in a civil way, sir.' River said. The man repeated for the third time about leaving with me. I felt tears streaming down my face. The man hadn't noticed. With that, River grabbed the back of the mans shirt and very easily hauled him outside. River was huge compared to him. He tried to get back in but River stayed at the door until he walked away. That didn't take long. When he left, River ran up to me and grabbed my hand. He told the customers that the bar was closed for a little bit and took me to the peg room. As soon as we got there he pulled me in for a big bear hug. He was stroking my hair.
'It's ok, It's ok.' he kept repeating. I couldn't help but burst into tears. River explained how his mother had a same problem years ago and he recognised that freeze. He stopped hugging me and looked into my eyes.
'This has happened before, hasn't it?' he said sympathetically. I looked at him and nodded.
'It got a bit further though. Luckily Callum came around the corner at the right time.' I said. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and called Callum.
'What are you doing?' I asked.
'You are going home.' He explained what happened to Callum then hung up the phone.
'The shift doesn't end for 3 hou-'
'I'll handle it Bella.' he hugged me again.
'You're hung over.' I tried to make a point to stay.
'Indeed. I'm sacrificing this much so you can go home.' Then Callum burst through the peg room door and hugged me tight. We said goodbye to River and got to the car. Just as I was about to get in, the same man put his hand on my shoulder and Callum saw me freeze and guessed who it was. Now, Callum may be smaller then River but his temper was terrible. I knew Callum would do a lot more then tell him to go away. All hell was gonna break lose.