The Bear’s Mail Order Menage

Chapter 6

“You doing alright, darling? Anything I can get you? Anything at all?”

“Pitcher and a bottle. Just set ‘em down right there on the table.”

“A bottle? Like, a whole bottle of liquor?”

“Yes ma’am. A whole bottle of vodka, to be specific. That’ll do just fine.”

“Alright, but Andrew, you know the rules here, don’t you? We don’t really do like a bottle service or anything like that. I don’t know if it’ll be allowed.”

“Damnit, Crystal, you asked if you could get me anything. That’s what you can get me. If you can’t do that, then a pitcher and a couple of shots. But you damned well better make sure you keep ‘em coming, ok?”

Crystal looked entirely torn. She was a good waitress and she valued her job but she was also completely infatuated with Andrew, which was exactly what he was counting on in this particular situation. He grinned at her with that devilish smile he knew she liked best and and gave her a wink for good luck. He could see the resolve in her face starting to waiver and he was certain that he was going to get his way. That was good. It was about time something went his way.

He was starting to feel a little bit dangerous, truth be told. He kept thinking about what he had walked into and if that was the case, if he was going to have to deal with those same fu*king images playing on a loop in his head, he damned well better have a bunch of booze to keep him company. Besides, Joshua and Alina should be arriving shortly. He had a feeling that, if they were feeling anything close to what he was feeling, they were going to want a drink as well.

“Ok, sugar, I can do it for you. Just don’t make it a habit, ok? I’ll get into trouble and then I won’t be able to serve you anything at all. You wouldn’t want that, now would you?”

“Nah, of course not. It’ll be a one-time thing, ok? But I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t mind if those drinks got here sooner rather than later.”

She gave him what he knew she must have thought was a seductive smile and sashayed off to the bar to bring him the things he had asked for. He had to keep his own smile on his face, as much as he loathed doing so. Something about the saccharin sweet desperation of the way she was acting made his stomach turn.

He couldn’t stand it when women acted that way. He didn’t remember it bothering him in the past, but many things had changed over the past six months. He had wanted Alina to come to town to shake things up, to make him feel more alive and more content.

It had even worked, for a short amount of time. But inevitably, just as everything else he could think of had, things had gone off track and any marginal amount of contentment he had felt had been totally blown. Even worse, he felt a mounting anger growing inside of himself that he wasn’t sure he could control.

“Andrew.”

His head snapped up to see Joshua standing hesitantly beside the booth that had become the booth that belonged to the three of them, Alina standing behind him like he was her own personal shield. Luckily for all of them, that was the moment when Crystal appeared again, pitcher and bottle in tow. She had even enlisted one of her cohorts to bring along glasses and a bucket of ice to keep the vodka chilled.

Andrew didn’t even bother to thank her, just gave her two thumbs up and poured three shots. He knew it wasn’t going to be Joshua’s favorite, seeing as there was nothing to chase the straight liquor with, but at this point he didn’t really care. He didn’t see the need to expend a whole lot of energy worrying about what Joshua wanted at the moment.

“Andrew?”

“Yes. I hear you, Josh. Why don’t you sit down? Both of you. I’ve already ordered the drinks, which you clearly know being that you just watched me pour the shots. I would’ve ordered food but I saw that you already ate. Unless you’ve already worked up an appetite.”

There was something disturbingly satisfying about the pained look on Joshua’s face. He had never taken pleasure in his friend’s discomfort before, but now that the seed was planted he was finding it very difficult to let go of. Something felt like it was beginning to twist inside of him, to burn him from his organs out to his sun kissed skin. The fear that he could smell coming off Alina was only adding fuel to the fire.

He wondered if she even knew how dangerous he could be? How much had Joshua told her? Andrew hadn’t realized until only an hour ago the extent to which Joshua would keep things from him. They had brought this girl all the way from Russia and in less than a year things were absolutely different between the two of them. Alina was right to be afraid. The way Andrew was feeling at the moment, they should both be afraid.

“Andrew, man, I’m sorry. Can we talk about it?”

“Sure, we can talk. What do you think the drinks are for? Now sit, ok? Both of you. Sit.”

Joshua slid into the booth directly across from him. Alina stood in the no-man’s land between the two men she was sleeping with, looking from one man to the other with wide eyes. After only a few moments she slid in beside Joshua, just as Andrew had known she would.

Still, knowing that’s what was going to happen and watching it occur were two very different things and Andrew’s fist clenched so tightly around his glass that he was almost sure it would shatter. Then, after it stayed intact, he wished it had shattered. It seemed like it would make him feel better somehow to break something just to watch it break. It would definitely have made a statement, that was for sure. At this point he didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with scarring them a little bit more. They deserved it. Especially Joshua. He deserved whatever Andrew had to throw at him.

“Drink?”

“I don’t know, maybe that’s not a good idea.”

“Drink. Sorry, maybe I didn’t make myself clear. It wasn’t a question. This bottle isn’t going to drink itself, now is it?”

Alina looked like she was going to cry and Joshua didn’t seem to have any words, which was all good in Andrew’s book. It made it harder for him to fight back. He slid the shots across the table to the two of them and slammed his own back, then watched as they downed their own. The moment they were drained he pulled them back in and filled them up again, watching their faces the whole time to see what sort of reaction he might get.