CHAPTER FIVE: Olivia

“There he is,” Mona said as we stood at the bar waiting for the bartender to fill our customers’ drink orders. Her usually apathetic tone suddenly had a panicky ring to it.

I turned to find her pointing at a proverbial tall, dark, and handsome man who was following Rusty to the VIP table on the upper level. A tall blond man with an effeminate air followed close behind. I had seen Cain Bohannon’s pictures online, but they did not do the real thing justice.

He looked like a Greek god striding through the crowd, which parted to let him pass. He was wearing a dark designer suit that fit him like a glove and crisp white shirt that contrasted with his dark skin and jet black hair. He exuded poise and confidence and sex appeal. He walked with his shoulders back and his chin up, like he was king of the world. I almost expected him to extend his hands to the crowd so they could kiss his rings as he passed them by.

“You’re up,” Sherry said, bumping me with her elbow. Sherry had agreed to let me take BEG’s table in exchange for whatever tips they left. She reached for the tray of drinks the bartender had ready for my regular table. “I’ll take this order to your table. You get up there and see what he’d like.” She grinned at Mona and then back at me. “Stick out those big boobs and shake that bubble butt, honey. I hear he likes that.”

“Hey, speaking of big boobs,” Mona said, reaching behind the bar to pull out a pair of scissors. “Hold still.” Before I even knew what she was doing, she tugged the collar of my T-shirt away from my neck and used the scissors to cut a slit down the center of the shirt, from the collar to just below my breasts, exposing the front of the black lacy bra I’d packed my round cleavage into.

“What the fuck, Mona?” I asked in horror.

“Just hold still,” she said, doing two more cuts. I was horrified as I felt the cold metal of the flat side of the scissors slide over my skin.

She took a step back to survey her handiwork. I looked down to see that she had cut a large V from the front of my T-shirt so my cleavage and a good portion of my breasts would show.

She then tucked up the tail of the shirt and knotted it under my breasts so the T-shirt now looked like a homemade halter top. Thank god my tummy was toned (more from not eating than exercising), or else I would have been totally embarrassed.

I was already wearing a black leather miniskirt and thigh-high boots. When I caught her eyeing the miniskirt with the scissors still in hand, I took a step back.

“That’s enough, Vera Wang,” I said, holding out my hands.

“Much better,” Mona said with a satisfied sigh.

“Totally,” Sherry agreed, taking my tray of drinks and handing me an empty one. “Now get up there and take his order.”

* * *

Cain Bohannon was sitting at the VIP table with the blond guy who had followed him in and three other men who I assumed were also from BEG. I kept an eye on them as I made it up the steps to the upper level. I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, and then strode over to the table with as much cleavage and confidence as I could muster.

“Good evening,” I said formally, standing with the big round tray clutched to my breasts. I glanced down and remembered that I was supposed to be sexy. Or was it slutty? I couldn’t remember. Anyway, I lowered the tray so my big boobs would show and asked what I could bring them to drink.

As the others ordered, Cain Bohannon sat with his head down, focusing on his cell phone. He didn’t look up until Blondie bumped him with his elbow and asked what he wanted to drink.

Suddenly, it was like the world had been thrown into slow motion, like a scene from a cheesy romance movie. Cain Bohannon’s beautiful brown eyes slowly drifted up my body, starting at the leather miniskirt, then up my belly, then up, around, and over my big boobs, finally reaching my face.

I sighed.

Or I think I did.

Or maybe I had been holding my breath and had to let it go.

I didn’t remember. I just knew that the moment his eyes met mine, my knees gave a little shake.

Like I said, cheesy romance bullshit. Go figure.

He blinked at me a couple of times and his lips curled into a slow smile. His eyes burned into me. I could feel the heat coming from them, like little lasers that were burning me up from the inside, making my nipples hard and my lady parts damp.

“I’ll have a Grey Goose, straight up,” he said. He tucked his phone inside his jacket and leaned toward me. His eyes bounced from my tits to my eyes. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Liv,” I gushed like a silly schoolgirl. I almost curtsied. For fuck’s sake. Who curtseyed anymore? I cleared my throat and gave my head a little tilt. “I mean, Olivia Poole. My friends call me Liv. Or Olivia. Whatever.”

The little voice inside my head was going ballistic, screaming, Christ, girl, will you just shut the fuck up?

“Nice to meet you, Liv,” he said, holding out his hand for me to shake. “I’m Cain. This is Drew. And these are…” He frowned at the others sitting with them, as if he had no idea who they were. “The rest of the group.”

“Um, hi,” I said, bobbing my head at the group while shaking his hand. His fingers closed around my hand and held on for a minute. A little tingle crept up my arm. I had a lump in my throat that refused to go down. He smiled again and let his fingers drift away from mine…sad. His teeth were perfect, white. How lucky they were to be so close to his lips… Shit!

The blond guy named Drew leaned in to interrupt our little flirting session. His timing sucked.

He said, “So, Liv, be honest with us.”

He gestured toward the stage below. The first act was getting ready to start. It was a band called the Dead Dudes who mainly played covers of Iggy Pop songs. They were zero competition for the Flakes. I mean, Iggy Pop was like a hundred years old and never even had a hit song. Nobody gave a shit about Iggy Pop. What the heck were these losers thinking?

Drew asked, “Are any of these bands any good?”

I narrowed my eyes, mocking deep thought, and tapped a finger to my chin. I noticed Cain had not taken his eyes off me. I could feel his eyes scanning my body like one of those machines at the airport.

“Most of them are shit,” I said with a shrug. “But there is a group called the Flakes that I think you’ll really like.”

“The Flakes,” Cain said. “Why do you think we’ll like them?”

“Well, they’re an all-girl group and they play all original songs,” I said slowly, with a serious frown, like I was explaining the fucking theory of relativity to a dog. “And they’re singer is really, really talented. And hot. I mean, you know, hot in a rock and roll sort of way. I’m not like a lesbian or anything…” Shit.

“She’s really, really talented?” Cain mocked, giving me that smile again. I finally felt the lump slide down my throat. I resisted the urge to lick my lips while our eyes were honed in on each other.

“Yes, really, really, really talented,” I said, throwing in another “really” and playfully bouncing a little on the balls of my feet. My boobs bounced, which made the other three guys glance at each other. Cain didn’t take his eyes off mine.

“What’s the singer’s name?” Drew asked, cutting the others a hard look. I got the feeling he was number two on the pecking order, with Cain being the solid number one.

“Her name?” I blinked at him and licked my lips.

“Yes. Do you know the singer’s name?” Drew asked.

Rusty suddenly appeared from behind me, saving me from embarrassing myself further. He gave me a “what the fuck are you doing in this section” frown.

He rubbed his hands together and said, “Okay, Cain, we’re about to start. Liv, are you taking their drink order? I thought this was Sherry’s section.”

“Um, we sort of swapped,” I said, leaning in to speak quietly in his ear. “So I could, you know, schmooze a little.”

Rusty glanced down at my mutilated T-shirt and frowned for a moment. Then he made an “aha” face and smiled. “All right then. Get their drinks and let’s get this show on the road.”

“Yes, sir. Right away,” I said, forcing a smile.

I looked at Cain and this time curtsied for real.

I fucking curtsied.

I’d never curtsied in my entire life.

The little voice inside my head was laughing its ass off.

I quickly walked away so Cain wouldn’t see how red I had turned.

My one chance to schmooze Cain Bohannon, CEO of BEG and Mr. Fuck List himself, and I freakin’ curtseyed. I could only hope my performance onstage would be more impressive than my waitressing.

As soon as I dropped off their drink order at the bar, I rushed into the bathroom and puked my guts out. The night was not starting out as smoothly as I had planned.