Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
MIA
“What do you mean you don’t want to talk about your secret man meat?” Sofie asks, taking a sip of her drink.
“That is not okay,” Grace agrees.
“Did you just look at the camera?” I ask, turning around to look at the red light over my head.
“Yes. Because when you watch this back later, which we all know you will, we want you to really listen to what we’re saying.”
“That’s kind of fucked up, you know that, right?” I frown at the women in front of me.
“It’s only because we care,” Nola calmly states. “We don’t want to see you fall into another bad situation. One a lifetime is plenty.”
“It’s not a bad situation,” I quickly tell them. “Just something I can’t talk about right now, okay?”
Grace sits up straighter, her eyes boring into me, trying to break me. Out of all of them, she’s the only one who can. “Mia,” she quietly says. “Are you in trouble?”
I look at the room of patrons, all out enjoying their night. Carefree, having fun, just living their lives. The couple in the corner who have been playing footsie under their table all night while making goo-goo eyes at each other. The brothers ribbing each other at the pool table over who sucks more while they bitch about their fantasy teams and who’s going to win the season. A few other people dot the tall tables and booths. And the woman Brodie called as his the moment she walked in the door, sitting alone with a glass of wine, reading something on her phone. At least, that’s what she was doing the last time I looked at her. Now she’s staring directly at me. Her eyes. Crystal blue. Just like Demitri’s.
“Grace.” I smile like nothing is wrong. “I’m going to ask you to do something for me, and I need you to do it without any question. Nola, Sofie, I need for you to really try not to act like anything could possibly be wrong. Talk about your latest book or the gossip from the hair salon. Please.”
“Okay,” Grace quietly responds while the other two do exactly as I request. “What do you need?”
“I need for you to go into the office and tell the person that we aren’t talking about that’s sitting in there that he needs to look at the cameras and the single patron on the right wall, please.”
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Grace announces, almost too loudly, as she stands from her stool. “Be right back.”
One of the dude-bros comes up to order another round of drinks and I get to work making their beers. I look toward the woman every few seconds, unable to keep my eyes off of her. She hasn’t moved. She’s still staring at me, her blue eyes telling me she knows. She knows I know Demitri.
Grace comes back to the front and takes her seat at the bar again, her face pinched with a hint of fear. Once the dude-bro goes back to the pool table, I go back to the corner with my friends, wiping down the bar like it owes a debt.
“He’s calling someone,” Grace quietly tells us. “He said to not do anything stupid, and he’s watching.” Surprisingly, she grins. “He also said to tell you he’s got the volume up, so you shouldn’t talk about how hot he is.”
“Jackass.” I can’t help but laugh. “He didn’t say who he was calling?”
She shakes her head. “No. Just to maintain the status quo.”
“Well, this just got hard, didn’t it?” I ask.
“Probably. And you have a lot of talking to do later.”
“I’m sticking around for that.” Nola raises her hand like she’s in class.
“Me, too!” Sofie grins. “This sounds like something exciting. Don’t want to miss it!”
“You are all way too happy about this.”
She opens her mouth and looks behind me, closing it quickly. I turn around and the woman is standing at the bar.
“What can I get you?” I ask as unaffected as possible.
“I’d love another glass of red, please.” She smiles, but it’s forced. Practiced. It doesn’t reach her eyes, which are fucking with my head. But beneath that, it seems like she’s here for a reason that maybe isn’t necessarily to kill me? I hope?
“Sure thing, beautiful.” I smile and pull a fresh wine glass from overhead.
Equal opportunity flirting. A compliment is a compliment, doesn’t matter who it comes from. And let’s be honest, women are better tippers as long as you aren’t flirting with their man.And I’m trying to act like I normally would in case this isn’t her first time in here.
“Are you visiting Rock Hill?” I ask, trying to figure out what her plan is.
“Just driving through,” she quietly replies. “Visiting the campus tomorrow in Briar Mountain.”
“My alma mater. It’s a beautiful campus.”
“That’s what I hear. Never been there myself. Have some friends who used to be there, though.”
I hand her the glass and a napkin, taking her cash. No card. No name. No trace. But I put it in the empty drawer of the register. I’ve watched enough true crime shows and SVUs to know fingerprints are important.
“Let me know if you need anything else.” I turn back to her, but she’s already retreating to her booth.
I look at the girls, who all have faces ranging from shock to concern. I shake my head and move down the bar to help someone else, keeping my eyes on the woman as often as I can.
It takes about twenty minutes, but the door opens and two men walk in. Only these aren’t two strangers, they are two of the ANON guys. They grab seats at the bar and I make my way to them when I’ve finished helping the person in front of me.
“What can I get you?” I smile.
“Two drafts,” big guy one replies. I wish I could remember their names.
“Coming right up.”
I pull their beers from the tap and slide them across the bar.
“You guys getting into trouble tonight?”
“No, but we’re always up for some fun,” big guy two grins at me.
I swear I hear something break in the back. So do the guys, their eyes flickering to the hallway. Big guy one has a smirk on his face. He makes eyes at the camera above us and sticks out his tongue. Ahh, boys.
“Behave.” I point at the man who winks at me. Smartass. “You’re nothing but trouble. And those dimples get you away with it, don’t they?”
“Absolutely.”
I roll my eyes before I retreat to my girls. Grace has her eyes on me, but Nola and Sofie look like they are two breaths away from drooling.
“Who are they?” Sofie asks, her voice all breathy, her face flushing.
“Dunno, just two beers.”
I know they’ve seen them in here before. There have been plenty of nights the ANON guys have stopped in for a drink when they’ve been here. And this is pretty much the response every time.
“You’d find out their names if you went and talked to them, you know.”
“Not going to happen. I’d never have a chance with someone like,” Nola waves her hand in their direction, “that.”
“Fuck off with that nonsense. You’re a beautiful woman. You just need to accept it and grow a pussy,” I tell her.
“I thought it was ‘grow some balls’?”
“What happens when you hit balls? They go down like a sack of potatoes. What happens when you pound a pussy?”
“What?” Sofie asks, fully invested in the scenario.
“If done right, they orgasm.”
“Huh.” Grace purses her lips, trying not to laugh at me. “So, you’re balls then? Because last I heard, your orgasm was M-I-A.”
“Shut up,” I grin, slinging my hand towel at her.
“Just pointing out the obvious here.”
“I can’t believe you don’t think they’re hot.” Nola looks at Grace. I’m amazed that she can even tear her eyes away from big guy one.
“Grace has her eyes stuck on someone else. And he’s not in the room with us right now.”
We all know I’m talking about her boss, James Covey. She’s been head over heels in love with him for years, but she’ll never do anything about it. Trauma, am I right?
“True.” She doesn’t even try to argue. “They are objectively handsome, I guess, but they lack that something that I like.”
“Yeah,” Nola snorts. “Tom Ford suits.”
“Hush.” Grace waves her off. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Even if he does look good in his suits.”
I’ve officially lost them all. Two are drooling over the guys at the bar and one is lost in her head, dreaming of things that’ll never be if she can’t find her way out of the darkness we all still live in. Yes, I realize that makes me a hypocrite. We don’t judge around here.
When I turn back for another sweep of the bar, the woman’s seat is empty. I look around the room to see if she’s moved, but she’s nowhere to be found. Her empty wine glass sits on the table.
“Fuck,” I whisper to myself. “Did she go to the bathrooms?” I ask the gang, who shrug in response.
My phone vibrates under the counter, and I pull it out.
Demitri: She’s gone. Slipped out the door. Is it time to close up?
I look at the clock on the wall. It’s only eleven thirty.
Mia:Not yet. Thirty more minutes. I’ll make it last call in ten.
Demitri: Need everyone gone.
I pace behind the bar, the clock mocking me with minutes that seem to last hours. At eleven forty on the dot, I call out my favorite words of the night.
“Last call!”
The dude bros groan and rush the bar, as expected. Nothing like sucking down a pitcher of beer twenty minutes before getting in your car to drive home. Idiots.
“Who’s your designated driver?” I ask before handing over the pitcher.
“Loser in the corner. He lost the first game tonight. Quit drinking after two,” dude bro one says.
“You know he’s military and can kick your ass, right?” dude-bro two replies.
“Not a chance. I’m still his big brother.”
The two grab their beer and continue bickering on the way back to the table. A few other people come up to either pay their tabs or get one more drink, and thankfully, no one seems too sloshed to make it home safe. At midnight, I walk the last customer out and turn the lock on the door while flipping off the open sign. I turn and face the people still remaining.
“I’ll go get our boy,” big guy one says, standing from his stool. “He in the office?”
“I’m right here,” Demitri answers, appearing from the hallway. “And I think I need a drink.”
“And then we all talk,” big guy two and Nola say at the same time.
Without a word, I flip over two shot glasses and grab the bottle of Beluga Gold Line and pour. We take our shots and I pour another while filling two cups with ice for water.
“I guess it’s time,” Demitri says after taking his second shot. “Aunt Linda is going to be so pissed off.”
“Boy, I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep your trap shut. Guess it’s a good thing these are the people you surround yourself with.”
Aunt Linda appears from the back hall, and I’m stunned into silence. How the hell did she get in here? When Brodie sticks his head out of the kitchen window, I have my answer. He looks at me with a guilty expression before turning to Aunt Linda.
“Good to see you again, Auntie. Mia, I’m done and gone. I don’t need to know what all this is about. See you tomorrow.”
I wave to Brodie and wait for the back door to slam closed. That boy can never leave anywhere quietly, but I guess it’s good to know he can open things with no sound.
“Well, let’s get this shit show on the road,” Aunt Linda tells us, sitting on a bar stool. “And make me a beverage, will you?”