Pulling away from me, Red straightens his shirt. “Sure, Hero. Whatever you say, man. But you should probably know that the blonde with her is Ricky’s girl. I doubt you want someone that lives with Twisted Tribe's property. Rumor has it he uses Ricca to deal cocaine for the club.”
Ratchet straightens up in his seat hearing the club’s name. He starts out of the booth, and I know he’s going after the girl to use as bait for our revenge. Grabbing him by his arm, I stop him from going any farther. “Ratchet, we can’t do that shit in here, and we sure as shit aren’t going to use a woman as bait. Get your fucking head on straight, man. This isn’t the way our club operates.” He jerks away from me and charges out the door.
“I guess playtime is over, gentlemen,” Red says, watching Ratchet leave.
“I think you’re right, Red. Doubt you want innocent blood spilled on your floor tonight. By the way, I’ll look into what you mentioned earlier,” Voodoo says as he leads the rest of the group away from the booth. Following along behind them, I search the crowd to see if she emerges. I can’t believe she’s likely tied up in the Twisted Tribe bullshit. I guess I dodged a bullet by not acting on my earlier ideas, but tell that to my aching dick. He wants the taste of the forbidden just as badly as I do, but even I know not to fuck with another club’s women. It’s not worth starting a war over a bit of new pussy, even if it’s beautifully wrapped. Just wish I’d have known that before I set my sights on her because my dick is pissed it’s not going to sink deep into her pussy later. Flipping my phone on, I dial the club and let Ruby know to be in my room in twenty minutes. I guess she’ll have to be my release tonight, but even as I fuck her, she won’t be who I am thinking about. Why do I get the feeling my life is about to spiral even more out of control knowing she’s around Upland? Fuck, I’m screwed.
“Order up, Dani,” yells Rick, the bar’s head cook. Scuttling back to the dirty kitchen prep area, I grab the plate of loaded cheese fries and head out to my table to deliver them. It’s been three weeks since I started working at Red’s, and I’m finally getting in the groove of working at a dive bar. The hardest part of this job is avoiding Red and the inappropriate sexual remarks of the sleaze ball regular customers. At first I thought telling the grabby patrons I batted for the other team would deter them, but I soon discovered that made them even more interested. I don’t know how many times they asked if they could watch. Fucking creepers.
Most days, Ricca and I get to work together. By the second night here, I realized why she comes home drunk every night. Every single man in this bar tries to buy her shot in hopes they can get into her pants after closing. Why refuse a good drink if they offer the expensive hooch as an incentive? She never says no. I, on the other hand, always say no. I don’t need to chance getting slipped a roofie and date raped. No thanks, not in the cards for me. I’ll stick to my glass of ice water Bobby keeps behind the bar for me. At least I don’t feel like I need to worry about him drugging me since his boyfriend would kick his ass for hitting on a woman.
The part of this job that has disappointed me is that the man I drunkenly danced with hasn’t returned. I think deep down I was hoping that he would have been a regular here and that I would get the chance to not only see his face, but to catch his name. I’ve never had a man affect me like that before with just a single dance. It’s as if my body was already familiar with his without ever saying a word. Every time I hear a motorcycle pull up, my eyes excitedly watch the door, only to be disappointed when an overweight, geriatric biker walks through the door. Maybe he’ll come back some day but with the way my luck has been, I’ll never see him again.
After dropping off the fries to a group of drunken frat boys, I saunter up to the bar and deposit myself in a seat. Tonight has been pretty slow and there’s no use checking on my two tables since they are so blitzed right now, I doubt they can find their own feet.
“Tough night, princess?” Bobby asks while wiping down the bar.
“Yeah, you could say that. Those frat boys have spent two hundred dollars in drinks tonight, but I can tell already they won’t be leaving me a damn tip.” I sigh and spin around on the bar stool to fully face Bobby. “Remind me why do I do this again?” I say, planting my face on top of my arms.
“You need the money, D,” I hear Ricca say from behind me. She sits on the stool next to me and lays her head on Bobby’s nice clean bar. Swatting her off the freshly cleaned wood with a bar towel, Bobby slides two glasses in front of us.
“I think it’s time to celebrate, ladies,” he says while pouring two shots of tequila and then one for himself. “Dani has made it three whole weeks in this shit hole and hasn’t stabbed anyone with a rusty fork. Cheers!” We all three laugh as we slurp down the shot. The heat from the tequila travels down into my stomach before I can even set my glass back onto the bar for Bobby to refill. He looks at me with an inquisitive look before pouring another.
“Oh, definitely must be a bad night, Ricca. Dani’s having two shots of tequila.” He laughs before corking the bottle and setting it back under the bar. “No more for you tonight, princess. We don’t want you to lose focus on how to avoid Red while trying to grab your pay from the office.” Tipping back the shot, I flip Bobby off as I stalk back to my table to check on my customers one last time before he makes the last call announcement. Thankfully, they don’t stick around and the bar is finally empty fifteen minutes later.
After I finish sweeping up my table area, I head back to the office. Creeping as quietly as I can, I peek around the corner to Red’s office. Thank fucking god, he’s not in here. Slipping into the room, I pick up the envelope on the desk with my name on it and quickly turn back to exit the room before Red gets back. Unfortunately, my plan fails because I run literally right into the pervert trying to escape.
“Well now, Dani baby, looks like you were trying to give me the slip,” he utters as I quickly try to backpedal away from him, his hand sliding across my ass as I back away.
“Oh, hi, Red,” I stammer, “Didn’t see you standing there.” The way his eyes are watching me sends uncomfortable chills down my spine. Waving my pay envelope in the air, I stuff it into my back pocket. “Well, I got my last week’s pay, so I better get out there, or Ricca may leave without me,” I say as I try to get around his figure looming in the door. His hot, smelly breath oozes down my chest as I attempt to squeeze past him. He rotates just as I am about to make it back into the hallway and away from him, pinning me to the door frame with his beer belly.
“You know, Dani. You could be making much better money if you would agree to be my secretary,” he whispers, inches from my face. I try to turn my face away to avoid him but he grabs my chin, pulling it back to face him. “Your pretty face and nice ass is bringing in new customers for me left and right, but I don’t like sharing you with the world. Maybe I’ll just chain you to my desk instead of letting you waitress I think I’d like watching your sexy ass swaying around the office, helping me with the bar’s paperwork. Every boss needs a sexy play thing in his domain. You’d like being my baby doll, wouldn’t you, my beautiful Dani?” The idea repulses me just as much as the touch of him on my body does right now. He must notice the fear in my eyes because he lets out a hearty laugh.
Shoving against him one last time, I break free of his grasp. I rush out the door and into the hall, hearing his laughter echo off the walls. “Remember my proposal, Dani. I’ll make it worth your while,” he yells before closing his office door. God, that man is a sick son-of-a-bitch.
Making my way back out to the bar seating area, everyone but Kellen, the bouncer, has gone. I’ve never seen a man built as big as he is outside of a professional football field. He may look scary, but he’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met. Every night he waits for me to leave before locking up. “You ready to go, Miss Dani?” he says with his thick southern drawl. Nodding my head, he opens the bar door and walks outside with me.