After all, she broke me first.
CHAPTER SEVEN
FRANKIE
I dropped my empty tray in surprise and flinched when it clattered against the floor. I was in a state of disbelief. He was standing right in front of me. Risk. My Risk. His ice-blue eyes were locked on mine and I almost felt paralysed under their watchful gaze.
“Risk,” I blurted. “Hi. Hey. Hi. How are you?”
His focus remained on me and his lips didn’t so much as twitch. I bent down and quickly snagged the tray from the floor before I straightened up. The small action left me out of breath . . . seeing Risk left me out of breath.
“What’re you doing here?”
“This is a diner.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m hungry.”
“Right,” I said, stupidly. “Right. This is a diner. Right.”
“You said ‘right’ three times, Frankie.”
“Right,” I cringed and glanced at the man who was just behind Risk. “Uh, just the two of you?”
Risk nodded, still keeping his eyes on mine which made me feel all sorts of under pressure.
“Okay,” I turned, put my tray down on the counter and grabbed two menus. “Follow me, please.”
I hurried over to booth one but paused when the visual of Risk leaning over the table on our first date when we were fifteen, asking me to be his girlfriend, then kissing me, popped into my head.
“Problem?”
He was right behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up because I could almost feel his body brush against mine. Almost.
“N-No,” I spluttered. “Uh, maybe booth two will be—”
“This one is fine,” Risk interrupted. “It’s just a booth, nothing special about it.”
Somehow, I managed not to flinch. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the booth held no memories for him. It’s not like he remembered kissing a girl when he was fifteen and I was stupid to even consider that he would.
“Of course.” Risk and his friend slid into the booth. “Here are your menus.”
The man with Risk was Angel Reyes, the Mexican member of Blood Oath who they recruited when they were in America their first year. He was the drummer of the band and he was insanely talented, I had heard him play. I had heard all of the band play . . . I just didn’t hear Risk sing. I bought all of Blood Oath’s albums: the instrumental versions. I wanted to support their music and that was the only way that I could without risking my sanity.
I focused on the pair before me and forced myself to be calm and collected. I reached down, grabbed my order notepad from my apron and my pen from the top of my head and said, “Can I start you gentlemen off with some drinks?”
“A Coke,” Risk said without missing a beat. “Cherry . . . Coke.”
My eyes locked on his, but I said nothing. I wasn’t sure if he was referencing the nickname he once called me, but he didn’t look like he was teasing me in any way so I shook it off. I looked back to my notepad and jotted the order down then looked to his friend.
“Just a regular Coke is fine.”
I nodded and placed my notepad back in the pocket of my apron. My eyes glanced to Risk’s hands momentarily and my heart skipped a beat when I saw there were scribbles of black ink on the backs of his hands that disappeared up his wrist and forearm under his sleeves. He used to always write random lyrics and songs notes on the backs of his hands and on his arms. It was nice to see that hadn’t changed.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks.” I plastered on a warm smile. “Please take your time to scan the menu.”
When I turned and walked over to the opened hatch that led behind the counter, I flicked my eyes to the mirror on the wall and I saw that Risk’s eyes were following as I moved. It made me conscious of every step I took until I rounded the corner and was out of his view. I leaned against the wall and placed my hand on my chest, willing my heartbeat to slow because I was at risk of either an asthma or a panic attack, or bloody both if I didn’t calm my arse down.
I hurriedly made both of the men their drinks, then made my way back to their booth. I was very focused on my steps to make sure I didn’t trip or do anything to attract notice to myself. The diner only had four booths filled, but it was only one booth I was concerned about messing up in front of. I reached booth one and smiled once again.
“Cherry Coke.” I placed the cup in front of Risk then placed the other in front of Angel. “And a regular Coke.”