There aren’t many girls who can catch my attention without saying a single word. That’s how I knew Shannon Hales was special.

But something was off during one of our shifts. I was working the counter when I saw Eugene calling Shannon to his office. He’d talked about letting some people go, but I didn’t think he’d go for her.

I watched her pass by me, glancing sideways for a brief moment. I could see on her face that she knew something was wrong. Eugene never called anyone back to his office unless he was discussing an issue about the safety of the club or was firing someone.

It was a slow night, so I left the bar and stopped in front of the office, trying to hear what was going on in there, but all I heard were muffled voices.

“What are you doing?” Victoria, one of the waitresses asked as she stood in front of the door for the employees’ lounge. “Come sit with me on my break.” She grinned and I walked ahead, glancing back once at Eugene’s office door.

Somehow, Victoria had ended up on my lap (she had a habit of slinking her way there while talking to me), and while she went on about God knows what, I heard Eugene’s office door creak open. Seconds later, Shannon was storming into the employee lounge, stomping toward the coat rack. She snatched down a leather jacket, and I frowned as I watched her. He had definitely fired her.

“So, like, my mom then calls me and is freaking out about my sister riding with that Ryder guy…” Victoria was still talking, but her words were going in one ear and right out of the other. I couldn’t focus on what she was saying, my gaze was on Shannon, who gave me a dagger-like stare over her shoulder as she continued emptying out her locker.

“Hey,” I called to her as she put her jacket on, but she only grimaced. I started to ask where she was going, but she stomped toward the lockers and yanked hers open, taking down a tote bag, and immediately stuffing it with things in her locker.

“Are you listening to me?” Victoria asked.

“Give me a sec,” I muttered. I didn’t wait for Victoria to get up. I started to stand, which left her no choice but to move. I walked out of the lounge, still hearing Shannon rattle and shake and slam her things around as she cleared out her locker.

Heading down the hallway, I shoved Eugene’s office door open and he flinched behind his desk. A cigarette was pinched between his lips, a lighter already in his hands, ready to spark it.

“Jesus!” He garbled out around the cigarette, dropping the lighter. “What the hell, Max?”

“Why are you firing the other bartender?” I demanded.

He looked at me like he was confused—as if he hadn’t just had a conversation with our other bartender—and then he sighed, plucking the cigarette out of his mouth. “We’ve got enough staff and you can cover the bar full time.”

“But she’s a good bartender. Better than me, and she’s been here longer.”

I know she has,” he muttered, avoiding my eyes.

I took a step deeper into his office. “So why the hell are you letting her go then?”

“Look, I’m just doing my job, alright? I’ve been going over the books and shit is not adding up. We’re losing money, which means we gotta pick up the slack around here, cut some corners. She’s good, but I’ve watched her and she gives too much liquor sometimes. That shit costs eventually.”

I scoffed. “You’re a cheap motherfucker Eugene. Damn. You know what?” I pointed a finger at him. “You fire her and I’m leaving too. Then we’ll see how much you really struggle with this place when my parents hear about it.”

“What are you saying?” he snapped. “Come on, Max! I’m doing you a favor! You’ll get more hours, which equals more money for a couple weeks until I find more help behind the bar. She’s one person. She’s replaceable.”

I really didn’t like the way he was talking about her. I mean, I didn’t know the girl all that well, but she seemed good enough, kind enough. Calling her replaceable was fucked up.

“So am I,” I grumbled.

“You bring in a lot of girls. Girls talk, spread the word around. We need that.”

“I said what I said. If she goes, I’m out too, then you’ll have no bartender at all.” I stood taller, cocking a brow.

He looked sideways at me, and then sighed and shook his head. “Fuck, I swear you’re a pain in my ass! You’re lucky you’re my nephew!” He popped the cigarette between his lips again and then said, “Fine. She can stay, but it’s coming out of your hours.”

I smirked “I’m good with that. It’s not like I really need the money anyway.”

“And she does?”

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen what she drives? She clearly needs this job more than I do.”

“Why do you care so much anyway?” he muttered, lifting the lighter, about to spark the cigarette. “She’s not going to sleep with you. She’s a smart girl and you definitely aren’t her type.”

I stepped forward, snatching the cigarette from between his lips and tossing it in the trash bin next to his desk. “First of all, stop fucking smoking in here. No one wants to smell that shit. Secondly, I don’t know why I care. Just seems like she needs someone to save her instead of failing her right now.”

Eugene rolled his eyes. He was never the type to care for others, plus he was a cheap bastard. Always worrying about cutting costs and sparing money, but he was my father’s brother and okay with starting up businesses.

I twisted on the heels of my shoes and left his office. As I looked down the hallway, I noticed the door had just slammed shut. I checked the bar area but there was no sign of Shannon.

She was already leaving. Fuck that. I wasn’t letting her get away from me that easily.

I chased after her in the parking lot and her death-stare alone could have stopped me in my tracks, had me running back into the club to mind my own business, but I knew it was a front. This girl always had her guard up. Even on the first day I started working at the bar, she didn’t acknowledge me like the other girls did. In fact, she flat out ignored me and told me to stay on my side of the bar.

“What the hell do you want, job thief?” she spat at me. I had to be careful about how I approached. She was upset and I didn’t want to make thing any worse. Fucking Eugene.

When I told her she still had her job, I noticed the way she loosened up. Her brown eyes softened as she looked me over, and her shoulders weren’t as tense as before. Those daggers she was shooting at me dropped to the ground while in mid-air.

Honestly, she looked like she was about to cry, and I wanted to ask who had hurt her? She seemed to be carrying so much baggage, so much pain, and I was sure she didn’t deserve to be.

After that night, things changed between us a lot. Shannon wasn’t as icy toward me and I was enjoying the hell out of that. I knew a part of her figured she owed me, but she really didn’t. This was the least I could do, and I meant what I’d said before. It was clear she needed this job more than I did. I could have quit that same night and got by just fine, but I don’t think she could have said the same.

Flirting with her was different but exhilarating. The bickering and going back and forth. Her pretending she wasn’t really into me, but showing subtle signs that she was, like how she bit her bottom lip, or fought her smiles when I teased her.

She loved playing hard to get, and I loved making women think that I didn’t care. We were a recipe for disaster. I knew she’d come around to me one day, and she finally did.

Our first date was like no other date I’d ever had. I’d never had to go deeper with my discussions with other girls. Most of them were so basic and simple and only after one thing by the end of the night—same as I was—but somehow Shannon always led me to talk about things that I most times neglected.

A one-night stand wasn’t going to cut it with her. I knew, after that first night of our first date, I was going to need more of her. I would want to see her as much as I could, call her, text her, hang out with her. She was special, and her walls were coming down for me. The more she revealed her true authentic self, the more I fell in love with the woman she was and understood her. The more I revealed my true self, too.

I knew I didn’t deserve Shannon Hales. In fact, I always figured deep down I would end up fucking up my relationship with her by doing something stupid, but I tried hard for her. I really did. I scheduled picnics, bought her chocolate, went shopping with her, let her spend the night with me. I’d never let a woman spend the night at my place until her.

She was changing me…and a part of me was terrified about it. But another part of me was happy as hell that it was possible.

Shannon was my everything and more, and though I’d fucked up what we had, she still meant so much to me.

After everything we went through, I knew she was going to be that girl—the one who got away. The girl a man like myself meets who he will never, ever forget, no matter what happens to him, or who he ends up with after her.