Don't Fear the Reaper.

Chapter Eighteen - Things Can Only Get Better.

A Couple of Hours Later...
Victoria "Tori" Forester...

Tonight turned out to be one of the best nights of my life.

My Reaper was really mine. My mate.

Daring to believe that it might be him had felt far too dangerous. I knew that because fate was not something that I had ever felt had been good to me. Look at my history and you might have a clue as to why I wasn't exactly sure that I could ever be so lucky.

Yet here I was standing behind the bar, working and talking to both of my mates who had seemed to have struck up somewhat of a friendship, was that too much to hope for?

Hudson was possessive so a part of me was on edge about all of this. I wanted to believe that he was on board but until I got him alone, I couldn't be one hundred percent certain.

The gong of the bell signalled last call and we had a small surge of customers rushing to get their last drink of the night and I was momentarily pulled away from my men. It still set my heart racing – my men. Mine. The smile had been plastered to my face all night and there was nothing in the world that could pull me down. Not one single thing.

"Just my usual please, Blue!" Ray leaned across the bar. Ray was a regular, we had gone to the same school but he had been a couple of years older than me. He was one of those popular guys – you know the type, all handsome guy next door, but there was one thing about the guy that I had always liked – he was the least arrogant guy I had ever met. And he had always been nice to me, even when Joel and I didn't exactly have a lot of friends.

"You got it, Ray!" I turned to grab the shot glass and moved to the optic dispenser and pressed the glass against the lever to get the shot then moved to the ice tray.

"You, having a good night, Blue?" He asked as I slid the glass across the bar to him.

"Sure am, Ray, you?" I smiled as he handed over a crisp twenty-pound note.

"It's looking up-" he glanced across the room where I saw a beautiful girl sitting with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice in her hands.

"Good for you, dude!" I smiled, handing him his change.

"Thanks Blue, see ya!"

"Night!" I moved to the next customer.

For the next twenty minutes, we were kept busy as we filled out the rush of drinks orders thrown at us. This was the part of the job that I loved more than anything. That perfect pocket of time when you had no time to just stand around finding things to do to occupy the time. I always preferred to be busy. And tonight was no different, well not completely different. My only hesitation was that I wanted time to stand still for a few moments longer because I knew the minute those doors locked, I would have to say goodnight to Mason. I was not ready for that.

When would I see him again?

Would he want to see me again?

Cheryl slammed her shoulder into me as she passed to grab a bottle of beer from the fridge along the back wall of the bar. I growled in my throat. This bitch was really beginning to push my buttons. Usually, we didn't have to interact because she was a day time waitress, it was only on these nights when Hudson took his pack for a run that we had to tolerate being around one another but tonight, she was being extra.

Extra everything.

"Watch where you're going bitch!" She whined.

"What did you just call me?" I growled spinning in her direction, I would take the looks with a pinch of salt, I would even let go of the physical altercations where she tried to impose her superiority over me but I will not ever be disrespected. I know my worth and no one is ever going to make me feel like I was less than them.