Chapter 3
Chapter Three
BLUE
Every day, I told Dad I was headed to the job I loved.
Every day, I lied.
And every day, I moaned as I drove to Fiddlers with the weight of that lie pressing harder with each passing mile.
It wasn’t that I hated Fiddlers. Honestly, it was the best bar in the county, and had given me more stability than I ever expected when I made the hard decision not to go off to college. I just wished it was mine, so I didn’t have to answer to people like Jeff.
But I stayed and worked because I’d have to leave town to find something more lucrative, and leaving town wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Dad liked to say it was, that it came down to a single choice and the courage to make it. But that was what my mother had done to him, and I’d never aspired to be anything like her.
My dad was the only parent who ever gave a damn about me. The only one who showed up and stayed. And when he got sick after I turned eighteen, I canceled everything I had dreamt of doing and stayed where he needed me to be. I’d never leave him. That was the one choice I knew I couldn’t live with.
So I once again spent my Friday evening at Fiddlers, flirting with the guys who passed through town and making sure the ladies felt safe. Tips were always higher when they knew I cared, and I truly did care about everyone that came through those doors.
Almost everyone.
“If the Murphy brothers come in tonight, don’t call the cops,” Jeff barked at me, jabbing a finger in my face.
The owner of Fiddlers only cared about the money they spent getting drunk. He didn’t give a shit about the employees, or how hard it was to deal with those overgrown pieces of shit.
“I’m not letting them tear this bar apart,” I snapped back.
“They ain’t committed no crimes,” he growled, his voice dripping with irritation.
“It’s more than that, and you know it.”
Jeff leaned closer, narrowing his eyes. “You’ve lost whatever power Miles Brooks, and his badge gave you over those two, but here’s the thing…no one else in this town gives a damn. So why should you?”
He turned around and marched down the hall. He was only there to empty the safe and then he’d leave. I stared at the back of his head, wanting to yell “I quit.” But when he was finally out of sight, reality sank in. There was nowhere else to go, not yet anyway.
“It’s better when he’s not here anyway,” Tuffy huffed.
“Yeah,” I sighed, as anger coursed through me.
“And stop thinking about quitting,” she laughed. “I know you deserve better, but you can’t leave us.”
I smiled, knowing that everyone else I worked with made that job tolerable. I’d been stashing money into my savings account every week just hoping that eventually I had enough to buy Jeff out.
Owning Fiddlers would be satisfying. So much of my blood, sweat, and tears had gone into that place, and if I could run it my own way, it wouldn’t be such a miserable place to be.
The thought had me smiling again as Tuffy and I started serving quickly with the Friday crowd getting bigger and bigger.
By ten o’clock, I let myself believe that the Murphy brothers weren’t coming in that night.
I was even looking forward to Aiden coming in.
He had sent me a text letting me know he’d be there by midnight for a few beers, then we’d head to his place after I got off.
Maybe it would be enjoyable. Maybe he’d be able to find my clit.
My mood had shifted in the best way, and I was letting my guard down, thinking that the night wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be when I was driving in for the day.
I should’ve known the night wouldn’t stay quiet, though. The moment I heard that smug, grating voice behind me, I knew peace was off the menu.
“Two beers, baby girl.”
Shivers of hatred ran down my spine and I felt like I was going to be sick. I turned toward the bar, and without even looking at him, I put my head down and pulled on the draft. “Coming right up.”
“Aw, don’t be shy," the voice crooned, closer now, as if he’d leaned over the bar. The sour tang of cheap cologne and desperation hit my nose. "Give us that pretty smile."
I slid the beers across the counter without a word, resisting the urge to wipe my hands on my jeans. Silence was safer.
Of course, he didn’t take the hint.
"What's the matter, baby girl? Cat got your tongue? Or maybe you’re just playin’ hard to get." His laugh grated like nails on a chalkboard.
I forced a smile then, tight-lipped and paper-thin. "Don’t start with me. I’m not in the mood for y’all’s bullshit.”
He slapped a twenty on the counter, but his fingers lingered, drumming just close enough to mine to make my skin crawl.
"Keep the change," he said, his smirk widening as though he’d just handed me a winning lottery ticket. "And keep in mind that you’ve spent way too long making our lives hell. You’re not from around here.
Working at this bar doesn’t make you a local, and while Brooks may have been wrapped around your finger, the captain is wrapped around ours. ”
As soon as his back was turned, I exhaled.
"Hey, you good?" Tuffy, appeared at my side, her brow furrowed with concern.
"Fine," I lied, shaking it off. "Just need to focus on the next order."
For the next hour, I managed to avoid any more confrontations. They ordered more and more through the server on the floor, but not directly from me. Shit, I missed the days when they would show up around lunchtime and be gone by four. When they were more of a nuisance than a menace.
“Hey,” Tuffy nudged me with her hip, “Who's the new guy in the corner?”
I looked over, past the pool tables toward a booth by the window. One of the waitresses was talking to him, blocking my view of his face, but I could tell by his cufflinks that he wasn’t from Harmony Haven.
Before I could get a better look, I smelled the stench of the Murphy brothers approaching and I backed away from the edge of the bar to give myself some space.
“Two more,” they growled, clearly having way too much already.
“Maybe it’s time to go home,” I suggested. If history repeated itself from last weekend, if they drank anymore, they were going to start breaking glasses and pool sticks. Jeff took that out of the staff’s earnings, and even though it was completely unfair, there wasn’t much we could do about it.
“Maybe it’s time you got on your knees and sucked my dick like your sister used to,” the older one growled. His name was Buddy, or that’s what everyone called him. I didn’t care enough to ask for clarification.
“Hey,” Tuffy tried helping, “You boys need to stop causing trouble. For once, just go home.”
As if tempting us to lose our fucking minds, the younger one, who everyone called Huck, picked his empty glass from the bar and dropped it onto the floor. “Oops.”
Taking several deep breaths, I tried to control myself, but something in me finally snapped. Probably the fact that he brought my sister into it, which was another subject that made me ready to fight. Not for her honor, but because she pissed me the fuck off.
Rounding the bar, I threw the towel I kept on my shoulder down to the floor and slammed a hand down on the old wood.
“Out!” I yelled. “Get the hell out of this bar. You’re not welcome here.”
“You don’t get to decide where we aren’t welcome,” Buddy hissed, leaning close to my face.
It took everything in me to not slap his cheek and kick him between the legs. I had to physically hold on to the rail that was attached around the bar just to keep myself in place. He saw my struggle though, and started to laugh as he dropped his glass next to his brother’s.
“Damnit,” Tuffy muttered from behind the bar.
Before I could think better of it, I raised my fist, ready to punch his teeth in, even if it might break my hand in the process. I no longer cared, and I knew there was a good chance I’d be bailing out of the local jail later for assault.
I barely registered the movement, though. One second my hand was mid-air, the next, a strong grip caught my wrist.
In a blink, an arm wrapped around my waist, hauling me back against a solid wall of muscle. I stumbled, crashing into the hard chest behind me, and before I could even curse, I was shoved gently but firmly behind him.
All I could see now was a clean, white dress shirt stretched across broad shoulders and Tuffy standing off to the side with wide eyes. They were flickering between me and the stranger like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
I craned my neck, peeking around him… and my breath caught.
Buddy, the cockiest of the two brothers, had gone pale, staring up with wide, terrified eyes.
Because standing between me and them, looking like he was about to burn the whole damn place to the ground, was none other than the oldest Brooks brother himself.