Zandra
The doors hadn’t even opened yet, and Mynt already felt electric.
“Damn, did you see that line? It goes all the way around the block!” Taylor asked me as we hurried to help the bartenders get ready for the onslaught of patrons who would soon be inside the club.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the manager, Rob, staring at me. I wasn’t sure if that was because he wanted to see how I handled my first big crowd, or if he just liked watching me. Either way, it made me feel more than a little bit uncomfortable.
Taking a deep breath, I settled into my waitress attitude and turned to look at Rob. With a wave of my hand, I broke his silent stare. “Hey, boss. Don’t worry about me. I’m used to busy Saturday nights.”
Jerking his head toward the entrance, he shouted, “Let them in!” His eyes still on me, he added, “Let’s see if you’re up to a Charleston Saturday night, Chicago.”
He’d nicknamed me that from the first night. I’d only worked three shifts so far, and they’d been easy enough. Rob got a kick out of trying to intimidate me with what he called “the largest crowds in history” that graced his club on Saturday nights.
From the line I’d seen outside when we came in, I was sure that the place would be packed, and we would have a hard night coming our way. But it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. “I’ve got this, boss.”
With the doors finally open, the place filled up in record time. I helped people find tables and got their drinks to them before helping more patrons. It was a fast pace, but I liked to be busy rather than bored.
On the other side of the packed room, I caught sight of a couple waitresses up on the bar, dancing. People cheered as they watched the two shaking their asses.
Taylor came up behind me as I took a moment to watch. “We should show those girls a thing or two, Zandy.”
Being no stranger to ass shaking, I nodded. “Okay. As soon as I get these three tables set up, I’ll meet you at the bar on this side.”
“It’s a date,” she said with a smile as she went to serve her customers.
The club had barely opened, and already I was forced to head back to my locker to put away the cash that filled my pockets. In this business, Saturdays were always the most profitable nights, but I was already on track to have one of my best nights ever.
When I left the locker room, I found Rob standing in the doorway of his office. He seemed to have been waiting for me. “How’s it going so far, Chicago?”
“Not bad at all, boss.” I made sure to keep calling him that, as the way he kept looking me up and down made it clear that he wouldn’t mind taking our relationship into something more personal than employer and employee. And I was not interested in that at all.
Taking a step back inside his office, he offered, “You want something to help make the night go better? A little boost?”
“The night’s already been pretty good so far. As a matter of fact, the tips I’ve already gotten tonight are enough to cover my car payment this month. I’m hoping the rest of the night will pay the rest of my bills.” I laughed as I kept walking. Going into his office alone didn’t seem like a great idea to me.
“Come on,” he said as he reached out, taking me by the arm.
I didn’t want to overreact, but the way he tugged at me had my alarms going off. Taylor’s appearance did much to ease my anxiety. “Hey. They’re playing our song, Zandy. Come on.”
Rob’s hand left my forearm. “You two going to dance on the bar?”
With a nod, I took off. ‘Yep.”
To my disappointment, he followed right behind me. “This, I’ve got to see.”
Normally, tension didn’t mess with me too much, and with Rob eager to watch me dance, tension had definitely settled in. By the time I got to Taylor, she had noticed my body language. “Maybe a shot first, then we dance.”
Nodding, I couldn’t think of a better way to help me chill out. Except if Rob would stop watching me, of course. “Yeah, how about a tequila shot?”
Rob’s warm breath moved past my ear as he shuffled in close behind me. “I’ll get you the good stuff,” he whispered.
Slipping behind the bar, Rob poured two shots that Taylor and I downed.
My heart was pounding in my chest as Rob offered me his hand to help me up on the bar. People were already crowding around the bar, watching me and shouting words of encouragement as Taylor was helped up by one of the bartenders. She made some sign to the DJ and the music changed to something sexy and slow.
Ignoring Rob and his gray eyes that bored into me, I looked at Taylor as I moved my body in slow, sexy waves, undulating toward her then toward the crowd, who was cheering us on.
The drinks were flying as men took advantage of grabbing the alcohol-filled glasses from between our legs. The female waitresses all had to wear short black shorts with hot pink shirts that were tied up between our tits, which overflowed from the low-cut tops. Our bellybuttons were to be exposed at all times, and any customer who ordered a body-shot got one.
As the song and our dance came to an end, the men in the crowd started calling out the different shots they wanted to drink from our navels. Rob once again took my hand, this time to help me to lie on top of the bar. He filled my bellybutton himself, watching closely as men took turns slurping the liquid off my body.
Body-shots were just part of the territory of serving in these kinds of clubs, and never once had I felt an ounce of the shyness that had plagued me as a teen. But tonight, that shyness seemed to be coming back, and at lightning speed, too.
My cheeks heated as one hot guy after another took their turn. Turning my head, I looked at Rob. “I think that’s enough. My tables are waiting, and I bet they’re thirsty.”
“You’re right.” Rob announced the end to body-shots, much to the dismay of the men who were waiting for their turn. Groans of disappointment filled my ears as I got off the bar, once again assisted by Rob. “If you need a boost, just come to my office, and I’ll make sure you get one.”
Following Taylor back out to the floor, I asked her, “What’s this boost that Rob keeps going on about?”
She winked at me. “Blow.”
“Cocaine?” I shook my head. “I’m not doing any of that. You know I’ll drink just about anything, but drugs? No way.”
“I know.” She bumped her shoulder against mine. “I’ll tell him to leave you alone. He’s just totally crushing on you, that’s all.”
“I can tell. And I don’t like it.” I looked over my shoulder to see him leaning over the bar, talking to some young girl who was making sexy eyes at him. “He’s got plenty of tail available to him. He can do without mine.”
“He can,” Taylor agreed. “But will he? That’s the real question now, isn’t it?”
Squaring my jaw, I wanted to make sure Taylor knew I wasn’t about to roll over for that guy. And if he even thought about pressing the issue, I’d hit him with a sexual harassment suit that would make his head spin. Since being on my own, I’d never been one to take much shit out of anyone. Not after everything I had taken from my very own parents.
“Over here, Zee,” some woman called out to me. I’d made sure that only Zee appeared on my nametag. I didn’t want anyone to use my real name. Zandra wasn’t exactly a common name, and I didn’t want anyone who knew me from before to realize who I was. I knew there would be loads of questions. And I didn’t want to answer any of them.
For only a split second, that tiny baby’s face filled my head again and it stopped me dead in my tracks. “Zee?” Taylor asked as she came up behind me. “You okay?”
Am I?
Shaking my head to clear it, I said, “Yeah. Just a little lightheaded is all. I guess that tequila shot finally kicked in.”
“Be careful, girl.” Taylor took off to deal with her own customers as I tried to focus on the task at hand, forcing the memories as far behind as I possibly could.
Reaching out to take the empty glasses off the table full of young women who’d called me over, I asked, “Do you girls want more of the same?”
“How about we go with something different this time, ladies?” the girl who’d called me over, the apparent leader of the pack, asked her friends.
The group agreed and then they all looked at me for some suggestions. “You were drinking mojitos, so how about trying cable cars? They’re both rum-based. The key to avoiding a killer hangover is to drink same-base liquor all night, but you can mix up what you drink it with.”
The leader gave me a huge smile. “Aren’t we lucky to have you as our guide for the night? Cable cars it is, then. Thanks, Zee. With age comes wisdom, right?”
A curt nod answered her question. As I left their table to get their drinks, it occurred to me that my twenty-six years seemed to be years apart from the early twenties of seemingly everyone else at the club.
Not even the blue streaks in my hair are making me look younger!
But did I really want to be a young twenty-one or two-year-old? I’d learned and grown a lot in the last few years, and I wouldn’t go back for anything.
My expression must’ve given my inner thoughts away. “Feeling a little overwhelmed, Zee?” the bartender asked.
“No.” I wasn’t about to tell him that I was feeling old. “Five cable cars, please.”
I put the dirty glasses in the washer while I waited for him to make the drinks. He eyed me while he made them up. “You’re doing well tonight. I’ve got to admit that I thought this might be harder for you than it is.”
“And why is that, exactly?” I had to ask him, thinking I already had a few ideas of what he might say. My age. A lack of experience with large crowds. The shyness I’d overcome in Chicago, but that seemed to be creeping back in now that I was back in Charleston. Any one of those things could be the reason behind his words.
Pouring some Captain Morgan into the shaker, his lips pulled up into a cocky smile. “You’re new here. It takes most people about a month to get to where you are now. Impressive.”
“So, it was my lack of experience that made you underestimate me,” I said wryly, though truthfully I was happy to know it wasn’t my age.
And when the hell did I get so caught up with my age?
It wasn’t as if I was some dinosaur, after all.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I mean, I knew you’d been a waitress in Chicago, but I had no idea that you’d been such a good one.” He jerked his head at the big glass jar under the bar, which was filled with cash. “Those body-shots earned us a heap of tips. We’ll be splitting them at the end of the night too, like always.”
Dollar signs flashed in my head, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Hell, Saturday nights alone seem to be helping me meet my bills. The rest of the week will be gravy for me.”
Finishing the drinks, he placed them on a tray. “And you’ll get Sunday and Monday to recoup for next week’s fun. Have you made any plans for your days off yet?”
“Nah. I’m gonna just play it by ear.” I picked up the tray and headed off to make the girls happy.
The night just kept getting wilder and wilder with the tips coming at me left and right. Taylor came over to me as I walked up to the bar with a bunch of empties in my arms. “Hell, this is one hot night, don’t you think?”
“I’ve made enough money to do more than pay my bills, Taylor,” I said, leaning in so no one else would hear. “Thanks for calling me and asking me to come work here. This is a godsend.”
“I know, right?” she asked with a huge smile. “I knew you would clean up here.”
Laughing, I felt like I was on some kind of a high, knowing that the change I had made was definitely worth it. “I see a brand-new car in my future.”
With an exchange of high-fives, Taylor and I parted ways to tend to the club’s guests and see how much more cash we could attain.
On my third trip to the locker room to put away more cash, I passed Rob’s office again. His door wasn’t all the way open, just a bit ajar, but I tiptoed across anyway, hoping he wouldn’t hear the sound of my heels clicking against the tile floor. Unfortunately, my attempt to go unnoticed was in vain.
“Hey, Chicago, come here, will ya?” he called out to me.
A loud sigh escaped me. As I pushed the door open, I made sure I didn’t go fully into the room. Leaning on the door frame, I asked, “Yeah, boss?”
“Making bank, I see.” His feet were propped up on his messy desk, his hands linked behind his head as he rested it on them. He seemed to be relaxing after doing very little at all.
Back in Chicago, when the club was busy, everyone was busy, including the managers. But Rob didn’t work that way. It seemed he liked to sit back and watch other people work.
“I’m doing well.” Looking over my shoulder, I went on, “And I should get back to it. It’s busy as hell out there.”
“Yes, it is.” He sat up, taking a more managerial position. “You can take a half-hour break now. There’s a little café around the corner if you’re hungry.”
“I never eat when I’m working. It slows me down too much. I always eat after work.” Turning to leave, I added, “Thanks, but I don’t need a break, boss.”
“Take one anyway. I don’t want people thinking I overwork my staff. Catch some fresh air for a little while.” He chuckled. “That’s an order, Chicago. Take thirty and take it now. It’s eleven-thirty, and we always get another surge of people at midnight.”
“’K, boss.” I wasn’t about to argue with him.
After putting my money away and making sure it was locked up tight in my locker, I walked to the front to go outside and take in some cold night air.
Rounding a corner to go through the entrance hall, I stopped short when my eyes caught sight of a man I hadn’t seen in years.
Dark blond hair, longer on top than on the sides, caught my eye. Green eyes sparkled as the large chandelier’s light danced in his eyes. His tall, muscular frame moved with cat-like grace.
I faded into the wall, hiding behind several of the bouncers as I watched him walk through the hallway and into the interior of the club.
My breath caught in my throat as I whispered to myself, “Kane Price …”