Shane
Plopping down on my couch, I think about the fact that I haven’t talked to Katie in over a week and the last time we spoke it was over the phone. I’ve called and texted her, but she won’t answer the phone. She sent me one text asking for some space but hasn’t responded since. Slipping on my boots, I grab my keys and phone from the end table by the door, before I head out to work. Maybe I should send her some chocolate-covered strawberries.
I smile thinking about the fun we had with the last strawberries I brought to her house. My cock actually twitches as I remember how sweet she tasted after eating one. I can’t help but wonder if she’s mad that I’m being so gentle with her.
Checking my phone one last time, I slip it into my pocket and start my truck. It nearly broke me when she cried and told me she’s tired of everyone babying her over Collin’s passing. I shake my thoughts away and focus on the road. The last thing either of us need is for me to get into an accident on the way to work. I can’t wait to see Sky at Thrive tonight. I want to ask her if she’s heard from Katie, or if she has any idea what’s going on.
I need to get to work so I can occupy my mind. The night Skyler was attacked, Logan caught Troy stealing. He fired him and promoted me to assistant manager a few days later. He’s also made Jonah head bouncer. Even though he knows I can handle it, I still feel the need to prove myself. I pull up to the back of the club a short while later, parking my car in my reserved spot. I notice that I’m the first one here, but that’s no big deal. I use my key to open the front door and make my way to the bar so I can see how the place looks. The cleaning crew Logan hired has been in, and they do an awesome job keeping this place clean. I notice the glass is spotless and there are a few wet floor signs left out from them mopping up. The floors get pretty nasty in here from people spilling drinks. Logan has them come in before we open on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, so the place is always clean when we open.
Last night was Singles Night, but I didn’t work, so I have no idea what kind of shape the place is in and I want to be prepared. We can get pretty busy on Thursday nights, and tonight I’m the runner. Slipping my keys into my pocket, I get busy checking out the two bars, preparing a list so I can sign out the bottles from the back. Logan still insists we sign bottles out so he can ensure no one ever steals from him again. We go through a lot of beer, vodka, and rum. The girls tend to order fruity drinks, and the guys mainly drink beer. Once in a while our VIPs will order scotch or bourbon. We don’t need a ton at the bar because Singles Night sells a lot of wine, but I jot down what we do need.
“Hey, Shane,” Sky says, walking up to me at bar one.
“Hey, Sky, what’s up?”
“Not much. Making your lists already?” she questions with a smile.
“Yeah.” I look down, not sure if I should mention Katie. What if I did something stupid? If she tells me now, it’ll be on my mind all night.
“Shane, what’s wrong?” she asks, clearly reading the worry in my face.
I sigh. “I haven’t talked to Katie in a week and I’m worried I did something wrong, but have no idea what. I’ve texted her, but she just responded that she needs some space.”
“Hmmm, what happened the last time you saw her?”
“We had dinner at her place. I brought some chocolate-covered strawberries over.” I pause for a minute. “She was upset because she says everyone has been handling her with kid gloves and I said I didn’t want to rush her, but I didn’t think it would stop her from talking to me.”
“Want me to talk to her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to piss her off more.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.” She gives me a small smile. “I’ll be in the office.” She starts to walk away when I hear her gasp. She turns to me and all I see is pain on her face.
“What is it, Sky?”
“Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary,” she says with a look of concern.
“Collin?”
Her brows shoot up. “You know?”
“Yeah, she told me the first night we met. I don’t think she meant to, but it came out when I asked her how you guys met. She didn’t give me specifics, but told me that he was killed in an accident and it’s how you two met.”
“Yeah, it was quite a tragic night. She never thought we would talk again, but I called to check on her. Meg and I even went to the funeral.”
“That was nice of you. Where is he buried?”
“Morton Cemetery. She probably just needs to deal with this,” she says before strolling off to her office, obviously sad for her friend.
I go about my business of getting the bars ready. I need some stuff from the back, and the staff should be getting here soon.
When I’m done stocking the bar, Jonah and Kelly walk in together. Kelly is one of our best bartenders. “Hey, guys,” I say, wiping down the bar.
“Do I have the pleasure of working the bar with you tonight?” She slips behind the bar with me.
I smile. “No, I’m runner tonight. You’re working with Trevor.”
“Seriously?” She growls.
“What is it with you two?”
“He’s arrogant and…” she trails off. “I don’t know. He just bugs me.”
“He’s really not a bad guy and he works hard.” I want to laugh. She’s making this disgusted face, but is almost smiling at the same time. “Tonight, he is your partner in crime. You two work well together, and I don’t like having two women on the same bar. Not with the men we have coming in here. It prevents any issues.”
She rolls her eyes. “Whatever you say.”
Trevor comes strolling in with Shawna, who is working the VIP sections tonight. “Shawna, you have a full house tonight, so be prepared,” I tell her as Trevor takes a seat in front of Kelly.
“I was hoping to be working with you tonight, but apparently not.”
“No, you’re working with her. I was just stocking the bar.”
He grins at her, and she walks off to the other end of the bar. I look at her and then back to him. “Is there something I should be worried about?”
“Nah, no worries. She won’t give me the time of day.”
I shrug and walk off to check in with Sky and Logan.
I knock on Logan’s office door. “Come in,” I hear him shout from the other side. “Hey, Sky, you’re on bar two tonight with Nolin.” Sky started working the club with us as soon as she recovered from her attack. She didn’t want to step foot back into the other bar, and since she had already given her notice, it wasn’t a big deal to her.
“That means Kelly is working with Trevor.”
“Yes, what is going on with them? Kelly doesn’t want to work with him, but he’s excited to work with her and now you have a curious look on your face.”
“It’s no secret that Trevor likes Kelly, but she won’t give him a chance. She says he’s a player.”
“Do I need to mix things up?”
“Nah, Kelly can hold her own and Trevor will behave,” Logan says, jumping into the conversation.
I chuckle. “I feel like this job is going to turn into a babysitting gig. Please tell me it won’t.”
Logan bursts out laughing. “It’ll be fine. I try to stay out of it and let them handle their own business. Unless one of them comes to you with a legitimate complaint, tell them to keep their personal business separate. Your job is to make sure they’re doing their job, and jump in to help as needed. You made the schedule, and now they have to stick to it and act like the mature adults they’re supposed to be.”
I nod. “Good. Anything I need to be aware of for tonight?”
“Nope, you already know the VIP sections are booked solid and Shawna is on it, so you should be good.”
“I’ll make sure she knows to grab me if she needs help up there, but she seems pretty good at handling that area.”
“I agree. I know I’ve put Kelly there in the past, but I like Kelly behind the bar and Shawna on the floor.”
“All right, well I’m going to get your club open. Are you ready, Sky?”
“Yup, I’ll be there in one minute.”
I nod and walk out the door to give them some privacy. When I get back out to the front, I check in with Jonah. “Are you good to open?”
“Yeah, there’s already a short line of people waiting.”
“Cool.” When I look up to the DJ’s booth, I see DJ Light already up there getting his stuff ready. “Hey, Light, you ready, man?” I shout up to him. He gives me a thumbs-up and starts the music. I’m about to tell Jonah to open the doors, when there’s a buzzing in my back pocket. I pull my phone out to see I have a text from Katie.
Katie: I haven’t forgotten you.
Shane: I’m glad to hear that. I’m about to open the club. Talk to you soon.
“Jonah, let’s get this place open.”
“You got it, man.”
He opens the doors and the ladies start to flow in. They usually get here early so they can save tables, and on some nights, if they get here before eleven, they have no cover. We don’t have a ton of tables, but there are some scattered throughout the club. Most of them couldn’t care less about a table, but those who do bring us money earlier in the night, so it’s worth it.
It’s almost midnight and the club is hopping. I jump in on the first bar with Trevor and Kelly because it’s slammed. “What can I get you?” I shout to one of the girls.
She smiles at me. “A night out with you, hot stuff.” I laugh.
“Sorry, I’m taken. Do you want a drink?”
She pouts at me and asks for a Cosmopolitan. When I go to hand her the drink, she slips me a note with her phone number on it. “When it doesn’t work out, call me.” I shake my head and throw the slip into the trash. It really is ridiculous how often bartenders are hit on in a night. That’s why I don’t like having two girls on a bar. If a guy gets out of control, I want her to have back up. We all have earwigs if we need security, but with the crowds it can take a minute or two for security to get here.
“Trevor, you guys good?”
He nods. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem. I’m going to check on Sky and Nolin.” When I approach the bar, Sky shouts she needs Absolut Vodka and Captain Morgan Rum. I take off to the back room, grab what she needs, and sign it out. When I get back to the bar, I jump in to give them a quick break as well. That’s when I hear Shawna on my earwig. She needs backup in one of the VIP lounges.
I press my button. “Jonah, meet me at VIP two.”
“On my way,” he responds, and I take off toward the VIP area. When I get there, Shawna is standing there with her hand on her hip, watching two guys brawl.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea. They came into the club together and when I came in to check on them, this is what I found.”
Jonah walks up behind me and we each take a guy, pulling them apart. “Let’s go, you two. You’re out of here,” Jonah says as we pull them toward the door.
“He started it,” says the guy Jonah’s holding.
“Fuck you, dude. You were hitting on my girl.”
“If you two don’t go quietly, I’ll ban you both from the club.”
The rest of the crew get up and follow their friends out. When we get outside there are already a couple of cabs hanging out, so they all jump into two cabs and take off.
“Thanks, Jonah.”
He shakes his head. “No problem, man.”
I walk back up to Shawna. “Are you good?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. They didn’t seem to be that drunk. I guess I should have cut them off sooner.”
“How many rounds did you serve them?”
“Four,” she says as I check my watch. It’s almost time for last call, so they weren’t drinking a ton.
I shake my head and say, “They were probably on something. Four drinks shouldn’t have messed them up that bad. They’ve been here for hours, and they were pretty big guys. Go finish your rounds and don’t worry about it.”
DJ Light announces last call, so I jump behind the bar to help them bang out one last round of drinks. I look over to bar two and I see Logan helping them out. It’s the first time he’s come out all night and we really didn’t need him to. My job is to keep him free for mingling with VIPs or working in his office, and tonight we nailed that.
***
The bar is finally closed and we’re almost cleaned up when Logan shouts, “Nice job tonight, everyone! You guys kicked some serious ass.”
Everyone raises their glass, whistling and cheering. Logan gives the team working one free drink at the end of every night. It was a brilliant idea. It’s brought the team closer together and most of us have become pretty good friends. “Jonah and Shane, nice job removing those guys from the VIP section. I was watching from the cameras. You did it swiftly and without disrupting the rest of the club.” There’s another round of hollering before we hear Logan say, “Now finish up and get the hell out of my club so I can take my girl home.”
Everyone laughs and poor Skyler is beet red. She smacks him playfully, and finishes cleaning the glasses from the employee drinks.
We all exit the club together because we like to be sure that everyone gets to their cars safely. As soon as I’m in my truck, I start it up and watch as the rest of the team gets to their cars and then I take off for home. It’s been a long night and I need to get some rest, since I have plans for tomorrow.