Chapter 19
“Well, that sucked,” Lucius said as the three of them entered his office three hours later.
They had gone down to the bar to get something to eat, and while Ann had waited on them initially, once they placed their order, she seemed to disappear, leaving Misty to do the lunch rush by herself.
Not that twenty people in the bar was a lot, but it was a lot for one person.
The only time, after eating, they saw Ann was when Luc went into the kitchen to talk to the cook and she was washing dishes.
When Luc asked what she was doing, she ignored him.
Bandit looked up from his phone, and nodded toward Luc. “Look at your e-mail.” He stood and went to stand behind Luc as he did so. There was a report from the person Bandit had called to do the background check. Luc shook his head and looked over at Lilith.
“You’re right, Sally and Ann are one and the same.”
Before anyone could say anything, there was loud knocking on the closed office door, and Lucius called out for them to enter. It was Misty the regular bartender.
“What’s up?” Luc asked.
“I want the new girl reprimanded. She left me high and dry to hang out in the kitchen. You saw how busy it was, and lunch hour hasn’t even started.
As soon as she came back out of the kitchen, I yelled at her, and she only shrugged, had some sort of grin on her face, and said, and I quote, ‘my bad’.
Luc, I can’t work with her if she’s going to disappear like that. ”
“I know,” Luc said, and because Misty was dating one of the patch holders, he told her what was going on, and showed her the evidence.
“Shit, do you think she planted herself here to get to you or Lilith?”
“We don’t know. The question now is, do I fire her now, or wait?”
“Now.” Misty didn’t hesitate in her answer.
“Why do you think that?”
“First, she lied on her application. If the proof says she’s Sally, and posing as Ann, that’s the first lie.
The second one is where she lied about taking care of her ailing mother until she passed.
She was working for Lilith at the library.
The third reason, now that I know she can lie about things like that, what’s to say she won’t lie about any liquor that might come up missing?
Or her taking more from the tip jar than she is entitled to. ”
“Your tips are your own. Yours are yours and hers are hers. It will be the same with any other bartender we hire. You keep your own tips, you do not share with anyone else. Not even the kitchen staff. I pay enough they don’t need tips.”
“Thank you, but I had to yell at Ann twice since she started when I caught her taking tips from my jar. When I questioned her, she said she put it in the wrong jar. Because I keep a running number in my head with each tip, I knew how much should be in there. It was my exact amount. Again, she only said, ‘my bad’.”
“How long can you continue to run the bar by yourself?”
“If it stays the same and the new place isn’t open, indefinitely. Once that opens, I’m going to be up shit’s creek without a paddle. I have interviews coming in tomorrow for both locations.”
“I’ll sit in on them with you,” Luc said as he scrubbed his face. “Would you be okay at the bar if I had you send Ann or Sally, or whatever the hell her name is up here and I fired her?”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I can’t serve alcohol,” Lilith spoke then. “Only because I don’t know how, but I was a waitress years ago, I can take orders for you from the people at the tables and run them into the kitchen.”
“If you’re willing to do that, than I should be fine.
I can handle the bar orders.” They discussed the logistics for the next ten minutes and when Misty left, she looked between Luc and Lilith.
“I don’t know what that chick has planned, but if she’s in cahoots with Brenda Smith, then you need to watch your back.
I know I have nothing to do with the club, other than dating Vampire, but I think if you fire Ann, then you need to call a church meeting. ”
“Why?”
“Something doesn’t sit right with me here. My gut is screaming that those two women are up to no good, and the guys need to know what’s happening so they can keep a heads up, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
“I agree,” Bandit said, and pulled his phone with a raised brow. At Luc’s nod, he sent a group text about the church meeting that night, and he made it mandatory. He made sure Luc had his approval before he sent it.
Less than ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door and when Bandit went to open it, Ann stood there. She had a cocky attitude and asked snottily. “You rang?”
“Nope,” Bandit said, and stepped back, inviting her inside the office with a sweep of his hand.
As soon as she stepped inside, he closed the door and stood before it.
They all watched as Ann entered with her nose so far in the air she could barely see, and when she spotted Lucius sitting behind the desk and Lilith behind him, her steps faltered.
“Have a seat, Ann,” Luc said coldly, and didn’t wait until she sat before he asked his first question. “Or should I call you Sally?”
The three of them watched Sally stumble and sit heavily in the chair before the desk. “Who?” She tried to act dumb, but her expression threw daggers at Lilith.
Luc took the application she’d filled out, and the copies from Lilith and laid them side by side.
“According to your application here, you said you didn’t work for five years because you were taking care of your ailing mother until she passed.
I dialed the number on this application and had a nice conversation with your dead mother. ”
“You can’t use that against me.”
“Yes, you lied on your application with me. I don’t like liars and I will not allow them to be in my presence.”
“What about Lilith, she’s a liar, yet you’re fucking her.”
“Who I take to my bed is none of your business. I was having a professional conversation with you, but you just made it personal. Based on that alone, you’re fired.
In case you didn’t understand that, you no longer work here, and after the stunt you pulled when we had our lunch, then I consider your last hour when you took our order and disappeared into the kitchen and left Misty doing everything.
You abandoned your duties you were hired for.
Bandit will walk you out and get your things, and escort you to your car.
Oh, and in case you didn’t grasp the concept of this firing, you are now barred from this establishment.
Your photo, along with Brenda Smith’s will be added to the list of barred people. ”
“Brenda has nothing to do with this.”
“Tell me, what is this then?” Luc picked up the photos Richard had taken and stared at Sally when she saw her and Brenda together.
“You fucking bitch!” Sally screamed as she jumped to her feet and lunged toward Lilith. Before either Luc or Bandit could react, Lilith throat punched her, and they all watched as Sally grabbed her throat, trying to catch air.
“What the hell did I ever do to you?” Lilith asked with clenched teeth.
“You took my job away from me, you denied me unemployment, you ruined my life.”
“How? I did nothing like you just said.”
“You fucking fired me?”
“No, after our conversation at our last brunch together, when I told you that until you apologized to me for being a two-faced bitch, I wouldn’t be your friend.
I would only be your boss. You were the one that called Megan and the others to cover your shift so you could use your PTO.
You used it all up because you were butt hurt that I called you out on your double standards.
You were the one that didn’t show up for the following two weeks.
You were the one that lied to the unemployment office.
This is all on you, Sally, not me. If you’re such a crappy person that you can’t even own up to your own mistakes, then you deserve what you get in life.
You brought all this on yourself. If you still feel that way, and that I had a hand in having Lucius fire you, that’s on you, but I’m going to say this right here in front of witnesses, and one of them is a police officer. ”
“What’s that?”
“If something happens to either Lucius or myself, I will come after you. Everyone says that Lucius takes revenge on the people who have done him wrong, well, bitch, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Oh, and if you go crying to anyone about me throat punching you, good luck in a court of law.
I defended myself from an attack from a deranged woman.
I felt threatened.” Lilith stared so coldly at Sally that Lucius even shivered, but his respect and love for the woman rose several degrees.
“This isn’t over,” Sally said as she stormed toward the door, and screamed in frustration when she had to wait for Bandit to move out of the way before she could leave. As soon as Bandit followed her out, Lucius turned to Lilith, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into his lap.
He felt her trembling and just wrapped his arms around her until she calmed. When the trembling stopped, he looked at her and nodded. “You good?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never resorted to violence like that.”
“She had it coming, and if you had done something wrong, Bandit would have cuffed you. It was exactly as you said, you felt threatened by a deranged woman trying to attack you.” He looked at her with his signature scowl. “It’s all on video.”
“Really?”
“Yes, so if she tries to come after either of us with lies, or wrongful termination, I have it all on video. That was one of the things I wanted with the new building, in house surveillance. The only room that doesn’t have it is the patch room.
What goes on in there is no one’s business.
From the hall, you can see who goes in, and who comes out, but not what goes on in there. ”
“Good, so you’re not mad at me for pointing out that Ann and Sally are the same person?”
“Not at all, thank you. The only worry I have now is who is this guy?” He pointed to the picture of Sally, Brenda, and an unknown guy sitting at a coffee shop.
“Maybe Richard can run his features or something.”
“No offense, but if he’s retired, I really don’t want to bother him.
I’ll have Bandit take this photo and do what he can at the police station.
” He cocked his head to the side and looked at her with a grin, because they both heard a bunch of bikes pull into the parking lot outside.
“Looks like I’ll be in a meeting for the next couple of hours. ”
“I’ll go down and help Misty. I only have one question.”
“What’s that?”
“When do I get to see the new building?”
“After the meeting, it’s done. I need to get Starr over here because Brad wants to do a run through, in full makeup, before the actual Bash. That’s four weeks from now. I thought we could do the run through in two weeks.”
“To be able to get all the bugs out?”
“Yeah, and Brad wants to know the size of the horns Starr’s going to give me to make sure the coffin is wide and long enough.” At his words, she did a little dance on his lap, and sighed heavily.
“I cannot wait for this Bash. Will you have room enough?”
“Yes, at last count, we’ve sold five hundred tickets.
That’s it, fire code occupancy is six hundred.
I figured with the sale of the tickets at five hundred, then the entire club and employees, it won’t add up to an additional hundred, but there’s room to move around, and we won’t be violating any codes. ”
“Good for you,” she sighed, then reached up and kissed him.
It was several minutes before they broke apart.
They left the office hand-in-hand, and when Lilith went to go downstairs, Luc kissed her again, then walked over to the patch room.
At the last minute he went back to grab the papers and his laptop to show them what they would be dealing with.
*****
Hours later, the patch holders of Hell’s Coffin went downstairs, and before they went over to the new building, Luc caught Lilith’s attention and asked if she could take a break.
When she said yes, he had cook take over running the bar so Misty could join them.
They walked through the old kitchen and into the new one.
Everyone took their time inspecting everything, and when they entered the main hall, it was almost pitch black.
Luc had them wait as he used the flashlight app on his phone to find the light switches.
He flipped them one by one, but he didn’t see what lit up, he watched the faces of his people, especially Lilith.
It was her gleeful laugh that rang out first. “I love it!” she said as she ran up to him and threw her arms around him, kissing him in front of everyone.
Because he was so comfortable with her, he didn’t bother ignoring her.
With his arm around her shoulders, he walked around and gave everyone the tour.
The same one as Brad gave him. When they looked to their heart’s content, then met back in the middle, Luc cleared his throat.
“I have yet to tell Starr, but dress rehearsal is in two weeks. Brad wants to see if I will fit in the coffin with whatever horns Starr gives me. We want to make sure we’ll be able to move and see in whatever they do to us, so we can interact with our guests.
Oh, speaking of guests, if your tickets are sold, then that’s it.
Last count was five hundred, and with all of us, our ole ladies, and the staff, I don’t want to go over occupancy.
” He looked around and saw the prospects and strikers standing there.
They had been in the bar and joined them when they went to tour the new building.
“You guys will be at the door. No ticket no entrance. I’m firm on that.
I’ll get you the stamp to put on their hands at the entrance.
” He looked at everyone. “The stamp will glow beneath these lights. If you don’t see a glowing stamp, they need to be asked to leave.
” Everyone nodded that they heard him, and they stuck around for a couple more hours, to discuss things, but Misty and Lilith had only stayed for about thirty minutes before they went back over to the bar.
At the entrance, Misty turned back and called out,
“Lucifer!”
“Yeah!”
“I get first dibs on working the new bar!”
“That’s a given.”
“Thanks,” she said with a grin, then ran back and gave Vampire a quick kiss before she went back to work over at the original bar.
Lilith didn’t stop taking orders until nine that night, and because she had the day off the next day, Luc invited her to come over to his house for the night, and she agreed to go with him.
She had a packed bag in her car, so she didn’t need to run to her house.
It was a good thing, because when she did return on Sunday afternoon, she was furious.