Loving Mr. CEO

17

Cade

The care free country music resounded at Russo's, mixed with the chattering of the few people in the restaurant. I just made my way to the bar stand, spotting Jace mixing drinks. He didn't seem to spot me approaching, cause he seemed to be really focusing on the drinks he was mixing.

When I took a seat in front of him, he didn't look up, the frown on his brows seemed to grow stronger with every second, his jaw clenched from time to time. He looked pissed for a reason. Like someone had done something worth murdering for.

I was about to make a comment when my eyes met the sketch pad just a minimal distance beside him. When I picked it up, he didn't seem to notice.

I furrowed my brows, opening it.

My eyes widened at the first sketch I saw. It was a rough piece, but still neat. It was the kind of sketching a normal person who knew nothing about art would see and just toss aside, and also the kind sketching a person like me would see and call real art.

It was a sketch of a man trying to make his way through a heavy storm. I couldn't see the face of the man, but with each sketch stroke, it displayed struggle, strife and hope, the painting felt too personal, and I felt like I was invading someone's privacy. But it was too good to look away from.

I turned the page, and the next sketching I saw, made me voice out my thoughts. It was a double faced person, like you could see the blur from the real face, it was absolutely extraordinary. "Wow."

He looked up immediately. "What the fuck?" He said, yanking the sketchpad from my grip. "Are you kidding dude?"

"Never leave your sketchpad unattended to." I said, watching him toss it somewhere beneath the bar table.

He clearly didn't cherish his designs.

"If I had sketches like that, I wouldn't disrespect them." I told him.

He refrained from rolling his eyes, going back to mixing drinks.

I took a shot glass from one of the glasses in front of him, throwing my head back as I took a sharp swig of it. I felt it burn down my throat as I set the shot glass back on the table. "You know, whatever the problem is, mixing drinks wouldn't solve it." I said.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, but I work here, and mixing drinks is like part of my job." He said, without looking up.

"I know Jace. But does frowning and looking like you want to murder the next customer come with your job?" I asked.

He glared up at me.

"Yup," I said, picking up another shot glass in front of him, before drinking and dropping the shot glass back on the bar table. "I guess it does."

He sighed. "I didn't get your name the other day."

"It's Cade." I answered.

He nodded.

"So, what's eating you up Jace?"

"I honestly don't wanna talk about it." He said, dropping the bottles down.

"Well, my grandma always says, a problem shared is a problem yadda yadda, you know the rest." I said with a lazy wave of my hand.

He sighed. "I don't wanna bore you, it's honestly nothing you'd want to know."

"Your girlfriend broke up with you?" I asked.

He raised a brow at me. "No girl has ever dumped me."

"So you're the heartbreaker kinda guy. Smooth." I said.

"It's my Mom."

I raised a brow, my mind recalling back to the other night. He had mentioned something about his mom ditching him and his Dad years ago. "Oh..."