A knock on the door woke them from a dead sleep and David looked at his phone and saw it was a little passed noon. Hannah stirred beside him, opening her sleepy dark eyes slowly. "Stay here, darlin'."

David placed a soft kiss against the tired woman in his bed, relishing in the soft moan she made at the small gesture, then grabbed his clothes from the night before and quickly dressed in the hallway. 

It hadn't been his intention to ever start anything with Hannah. David had figured his growing infatuation with her would eventually subside and in time she'd be nothing more than a good friend. 

Fate had other plans for him, he came to find out. When he looked at the gun, her face was the only one that passed through his mind, over and over again playing like a movie and showing him what his life could be if only he gave real living a chance. Last night was his wake up call and damn if he didn't enjoy waking up with her by his side. 

It had been a long time since he'd allowed himself to feel anything more than physical with a woman in his life and David, as much as he tried, couldn't stop himself from feeling everything when it came to her. 

He was sliding his shirt over his head when he entered the living room and saw Meggie standing on the other side of the door, her beat down piece of shit Buick parked behind her by the garage. David had expected the cops to be on the other side of the door since they mentioned something about stopping by to ask some more questions, but it wasn't too surprising that Meggie was here.

After opening the door for her, David stood to the side to let her pass. "Hey."

"I expected you to look more like shit," Meggie spoke in her usual dry, semi-snarky tone he'd come to hate and enjoy.

"Sorry to disappoint. Whatcha need?"

Meggie dropped her oversized purse by the door and her jacket next to it and David had to stop himself from cleaning up the mess. "I wanted to check in on Hannah, but she didn't answer the door. Also wanted to see what you planned on doing about the bar."

"She's still in bed," David explained. 

Meggie's piercing pale green eyes narrowed on him. "Her bed?"

David stared at her for a good few seconds before running his fingers through his bed head. "We should keep the bar closed 'til Black Friday, give everyone a few days off for the holiday. I'll compensate everyone for lost wages, but I think they all need some time to cope with what went down and gives me some time to find a cleanup crew."

"Please tell me you didn't fuck my best friend with your disease ridden dick, David." 

He glared back at her. "I didn't fuck your best friend and my dick is happy and healthy, thank you very much, and none of your goddamn concern."

Yes, David could be considered a man whore. He hadn't done commitment for a good fifteen years at least and Meggie had bared witness to the women he took up to the apartment above the bar. But he was also checked regularly and never had sex without a condom. 

Meggie knew he was a dick and dash kind of guy and that Hannah was not a fuck 'em and leave 'em kind of girl. All this probably spelled disaster to her, but David wasn't just willing to try to be the man Hannah deserved, he wanted to be, which was a damn unnerving thought. 

Meggie crossed her arms and glared at him right back. "If you fuck with her, I will wear the pointiest boots you've ever fucking seen in your life, pierce your balls with them and quit on the spot. Then I'll wait a month before I burn that shit hole of a bar to the ground with you locked inside of it. Do you get me?"

It was no secret that Meggie was a damn terrifying woman,which was one of the main reasons he hired her. She was actually a shitty bartender at first, but she was hot and she was tough, so he gave her time to work on the skill part of the job. 

"Hey!" Hannah sang out, still braless in his shirt but wearing jeans. "What are you two talk—ing about?"

"Just warning me about breakin' your heart or screwin' with your head or somethin' like that," David told her, keeping his eyes on Meggie. 

"Please, she'd break your jaw if you did."

"Death by fire, actually," David corrected. 

Hannah walked to his side and looked at Meggie with scrunched up eyebrows. "That's a bit of an ov—er—kill, is—n't it?"

Meggie shrugged. "I don't think so. Did that hot ass ex of yours leave already or were you two going to spend the day together."

David was embarrassed to admit even if only to himself that he'd forgotten about the Bible salesman staying over, or the fact that he existed at all, but looked passed Meggie and didn't see an extra car anywhere. 

"I sent him back to Se—at—tle as soon as he dropped me off. I th-think we both knew it w-was for the best."

He didn't doubt that one of them knew is was for the best, but something told David that she made it obvious she was less than thrilled with the idea and he decided not to stay where he wasn't wanted. 

David felt for the guy. Though he hadn't been in the same spot as him, he'd been in a similar one where the first and only love of his life was in a dark place after her twin sister's death while he was serving overseas. She went downhill fast until the woman he fell in love with just wasn't there anymore. He hung in there for a good year and a half, but finally called it quits when he was being sent home on leave and realized he didn't look forward to seeing her. 

Situations changed people. Sometimes they bounced back and found their way back to themselves, but everything a person goes through has at least a small impact on who they are. 

But if the the Bible Salesman tried anything with Hannah again, David's fist would be making an impact on the guys face. 

David wrapped his arm around Hannah and pulled her against him, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered against her skin. He kissed her again before letting her go. "You ladies want some breakfast or lunch or somethin'?"

Meggie tilted her head and stared at him. "I think we should talk about what happened last night. You know, when you killed someone."

His mind went back to when he'd first killed after they'd walked into an ambush. He remembered pulling the trigger on instinct when he saw the gun pointed at his truck twenty feet out. It was the most surreal feeling he'd ever had, but it was cut short by the fact that there were still men shooting at him and his friends. There wasn't even time to think about the biggest moment in his life while it was happening. 

When everything subsided around them, it finally sunk in. He'd taken four lives in probably five minutes or less. All of them were someone's son, some father's and husband's. All had lived out their lives the only way how until he took those lives away. 

Like probably everyone else did, he told himself he'd deal with those emotions when the time was right because in war, if you let that stuff get to you, it could cost you your life or the life of one of the men at your side. 

Once he returned to civilian life, it had become a constant battle. He went to the meetings, went on medication to help him sleep, but the first year was hell. He'd opened a bar hoping to keep his mind busy, but it ended up being the sanctuary of this house that brought him the peace he needed. 

That past would always be a part of him, however. Not a day went by where he didn't think about the lives he'd taken or hated himself for not knowing just how many times he'd killed. Whether killing on a battlefield or killing at the bar, it was all the same. David was still in charge of protecting his employees and it was still survival instinct. The only difference was that bar would no longer serve as a distraction, but as a reminder of what'd he'd done inside those four concrete walls.

"Break—fast sounds good," Hannah said by his side. "We should prob—ab—ly hur—ry, though. We still have to go groc—ery shop—ping and get dec—or—at—ions for the house to—day."

He loved her for that and the thought caused his entire body to tense. 

"I'm not hungry," Meggie muttered across from the. "I'm confused and annoyed, but not hungry. We need to talk about this, David. Everyone is going to want to talk about this. It's not just something you can sweep under the rug."

Like hell he couldn't. David had done just that time and time again and knew eventually his life would be rearranged and the rug would be re-placed. But he wasn't going to open that wound until the holidays had passed, after Hannah's family had come and gone. Then, he'd go and find a meeting and talk to the people who wouldn't just empathize, but understand from personal experience. 

David let Hannah go and went into his bedroom, removed the art print from the wall and turned the dial of his safe. He didn't bother counting the money, just grabbed a couple of stacks of hundred dollar bills and closed it all up. 

Then he went into the kitchen, grabbed the list of the names and numbers of all his employees, then walked into the living into the living room and handed the stack to Meggie, along with the list. "Call everyone up and have them meet you somewhere. Give the kitchen crew a few hundred bucks for lost wages, the bartenders and waitress four for lost tips and you can keep whatever's left. Tell them we'll open again on Friday and if anyone doesn't to return, I understand and to call me so I can cut 'em a paycheck for two weeks while they look for another job."

Meggie's eyes remained on the stack of money in her grasp for a good half minute before looking up at him, then at Hannah, then back at him. "You're paying me off so you don't have to talk about it."

"I can't talk about it," David corrected quietly. "I'm paying you extra as a bonus. I want to promote you to manager."

"Manager," Meggie repeated. "You're manager."

David shook his head. It wasn't something he'd thought about until he spoke the words, but his head would never be in the game at the bar. Not anymore. It would never be a place he'd enjoy being in from this day forward and if he was really going to try this thing with Hannah, his night of drunkenness and debauchery would have to come to an end. 

Since she'd entered his life, all he wanted to do was get his shifts over with and get back home. Even if was asleep in her own apartment, she was still closer and that closeness had brought him a peace like nothing else. 

After what happened last night, David knew two things. 

The first, he no longer wanted to live a wasted life. He wanted to feel at least some small sense of pride in what he did day in and day out. He didn't want to keep pushing off any dreams he had, telling himself he had plenty of time left or that they were a fools dream. 

The second, he wanted someone by his side when he made those dreams come true.

None of that would happen at the bar. It was just a place to fill his time so he wasn't just living his life on an inheritance. 

He wanted to build furniture again, like he did when he'd just got out of the military. He wanted to open up the restaurant that had been his unspoken dream he was too afraid to chase for years. 

"Not anymore," he finally told her. "If it ends up being something you really want, we'll figure out a land contract." David shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair, and let out a heavy breath. "I can't keep living that life, Meggie. It might look like a good fit for me, but I just changed who I was to fit where I was. I don't want it anymore. I wanna be the kind of guy that deserves the kind of girl standin' next to me."