19. Lennon
Chapter 19
Lennon
Just Ten Minutes
S aturday night was a hell of a lot wilder than Friday.
It was date night, and the mild weather let us open up the big back doors to the patio, leaving people to drift in and out with their drinks.
Kain had changed up the menu to more of a pub version of the Irish food. Strong stew by the bowl with plenty of brown and soda bread to go around. Sliders with spicy mustard and corned beef were the hits of the night along with a twist on our disco fries. Instead of bacon, Kain charred up the corned beef to add to them.
But it was the drinks everyone was there for. My taps were working overtime to keep up with the patrons. There was no time for fooling around between the bartenders. The wait staff was working double time, as well.
The good thing was everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Kain did a walkthrough in his green chef’s jacket to make sure people were enjoying the food. Even he was pushed back into the kitchen, thanks to the crush of people.
Bells and Helena came and went. The mood of the evening was more revelatory than chill.
I didn’t mind, since it made the night go by in a blink.
Ronnie stopped at the end of the bar with a tray of empties. “I need six Cider Car Bombs, three Hot Honeys, and one of those Four-Leaf-Clover things.”
“On it.” I took her empties and quickly shuffled them into the rack to be cleaned then pulled down new glasses to fill. “You look shot.”
Ronnie tightened the knot on her green bandana in deference to the holiday instead of her usual red. “If one more jackass pulls my hair or pats my ass, he’s gonna get a face full of cider.”
“I didn’t think we’d need a bouncer tonight, but maybe we should think about it.” I piled up her tray with drinks and added the shot glasses in the center. “Let me know if you need help out there. I can have Dean knock some heads together.”
“Thanks. I can handle it.”
“Handle what?” Justin slid around Ronnie behind the bar, a keg on his shoulder. “Figured you needed a new Hot Honey. I heard lots of people talking about it.”
“My hero,” I said, stepping back so he could change it out.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he frowned toward us.
“Just some handsy guys.” Ronnie shrugged. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Yeah, but we don’t go for that.” He swapped the taps and held the empty by the handle. “Who do I need to kill?”
She fluttered her thick lashes. “Appreciate the threats of violence, but I’m good.” Then she disappeared.
“This place is nearly at capacity. We’ve never had to turn people away.” Justin grabbed a can of water from the mini fridge and killed half of it.
“Jess pushed the socials on this one—pretty hard.”
“Yeah, but we’ve done promo before, and it has never been like this.” He leaned against the counter as we both surveyed the room.
My crew was on it with drinks, and we kept up with the demand. The secondary bar was as busy as the main and I even sent CJ out to work the small outside bar to keep the flow going.
“Maybe we need to add a bit of security if it’s going to be like this.”
He nodded. “I’ll talk to Kira about it.” He finished the can and tossed it in the recycler. “I’ll do a walk around and see if I need to put a little fear of God into some.”
I laughed. “Don’t start a fight just to start one. I’ve heard about you at Lucky’s.”
He grinned down at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I would never.”
I rolled my eyes as he slipped back into the crowd of people. Impromptu break over, I joined the fray and made a dent in the backlog of orders.
The register and card machine were doing a whole lot of work tonight too, and Kira would be happy with the results.
“I’m loving the tips, but holy shit, is this place rocking tonight.” Annette dropped a tray of empties on the end of the bar.
“It is. Not sure why, not that we mind the busy.”
“No, but this is beyond.” She offloaded her glasses. “Six Hot Honeys, Clover times two, and one of those Irish Mules.”
I nodded and set up my glasses to fill. “How’s the patio? Does CJ need a break?”
“Yeah, probably. I haven’t been able to check in on her.”
“Okay, I’ll do a walk-around.”
“Thanks.” She blew a curl out of her face and filled her tray. “I’ll be back.”
Kira pushed through the crush of people to the bar. “What the heck is going on tonight?”
“The question of the hour.” I nodded to Kevon and motioned that I was going out to the patio. He flashed me a thumbs up. “Want to walk the patio with me?”
“Yeah.”
Kira’s longer legs made me pick up the pace as we threaded our way through the thick crush of people. When we got to the stairs, I dragged in a deep breath of the cool night air. The patio wasn’t nearly as busy, but all the chairs were full and there was a good mix of couples and some on the make.
Kira sighed when a couple of guys started shoving at the edge of the patio. “It wouldn’t be an Irish night without a punch being thrown.”
Justin and Griffin moved quickly, and my girl parts did a quick pulse when Griffin caught one of the drunk guy’s fists in a tight grip.
“We’re all here for a good time,” he said easily. “Why do you want to add some blood to your whiskey, guys?”
Justin rolled his shoulders, obviously ready to back him up. “Don’t make us toss you.”
“Then tell this asshole to stop looking at my wife.” The guy with the swinging fist pulled away from Griffin.
The blond woman tried to hide a smile as she sidled up to the guy. “It’s fine, Jason. No harm.”
“No harm in the attention,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth with a similar breathy voice.
Kira snickered. “If she pushes her boobs out any farther, she’ll pop a button.”
“She came onto me,” the other guy said and backed up, hands up in a gesture of my bad .
Jason turned to the girl. “Did you?”
“Of course not.” She wrapped her hands around his upper arm. “Let’s just go.”
Griffin gave Jason an easy smile. “How about you guys get a drink on me?” He pushed a bill into Jason’s fisted hand. “No harm no foul.”
Mollified, Jason nodded and led the blond away.
“Thanks, man,” the other guy said. “She hit me up for a drink at the bar.” He gave him an unrepentant shrug. “She’s smoking hot.”
“And trouble.” Griffin slapped him on the arm. “Try the brunette near the swing. She’s looking very third wheel-like and annoyed at her friends.”
“Yeah?” The guy looked toward the swing. “Thanks, man.” He moved through the couples to the hill.
“Playing matchmaker?” Justin grinned at him. “Where’s mine?”
“As if you need help finding a woman.”
I laughed as Kira and I stepped forward. “Thanks for diffusing,” I said to Griffin. “It’s been a busy night.”
“I know. I barely could get into the parking lot.” Griffin frowned down at me, pushing a strand of hair out of my face. “Did you get a break?”
Kira spoke up. “No, she hasn’t.”
“I’m out here to check on things.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“I know. So, walk around and get away for a few.” I was about to push back when Kira put her mom face on. “Nope. You need a break.”
Griffin settled his hand along the back of my neck. “I’ll keep her out of trouble.”
Justin snorted. “Sure, pal.”
I tried to shake Griffin off. “I’m working.”
He stroked his thumb along the space between my neck and shoulder. “You’re on break.”
“He’s got you there.” Justin glanced over his shoulder as another fight warmed up. “And I guess I’m the bouncer tonight.” He took off. “Hey, guys!”
Kira craned her neck, but soon, she relaxed. “He’s got it.”
“We might want to think about bouncers for Saturday nights if this keeps up.”
Kira nodded. “Already ahead of you. I’m going to put some feelers out for anyone looking for work. We’ve never had to worry about it before, but it looks like things might be changing.” She waved us off. “Now go on before we need you back.”
“I don’t need a break.”
“You do,” Griffin interjected. “Just ten minutes.”
“Fine.”
Kira disappeared toward the outdoor bar where CJ was working, and I relaxed even more. At least Kira would get her a break too.
Griffin pulled me into his chest. “I couldn’t get near you all night.”
Giving up on the pretense, I pressed my cheek against his chest. “I didn’t even know you were here.”
He led me away from the patio. The overhead string of Edison bulbs lit the way into the maze of privacy trees that created quieter areas for people to sit or enjoy the music when the concerts were going. He sat in one of the Adirondack chairs and pulled me into his lap.
“Don’t get any ideas,” I said as I swung my legs across him to rest on the wide arm of the chair.
“I always have ideas.” He draped his arm over my thighs, then peered down at the deep vee I’d cut in my T-shirt. “I don’t think that’s part of the original uniform.” He tucked his finger into my cleavage with a grin.
“Helps when you’re the assistant boss. And last time I have to wear it.”
Shameless, he dipped his hand in and cupped my breast under my bra, lightly grazing my nipple.
“Excuse you.”
“Just a touch...” He lowered his mouth to my neck and stroked until my nipple hardened. “Salty,” he whispered as he dragged his lips up behind my ear.
“I’ve been working.” I tried not to react, but the lazy touch stirred me up. He found the skin of my knee showing through the rip in my jeans and kept up the easy touch until I melted into him.
“Watching you kick ass behind the bar makes me a little crazy.”
“Oh, yeah? Why is that?”
“I like a woman who’s in charge.”
“So, you want me to give you orders, Griffin?”
He pulled his mouth away from my neck. “I do enjoy figuring out my own roadmap.” He tugged on my nipple until I hissed out a breath. “But if you want to tell me what you need, darlin’—I’m at your service.”
The fact that he didn’t flinch at the idea made me bolder.
I glanced around. I could hear laughter and voices in the distance, but we were as alone as possible in the busy night.
“I only have five minutes.” I swung my leg off the arm of the chair and straddled him. “Think you can take the edge off?”
His green eyes burned as he nodded, dragging at my shirt and shoving away my bra for him to get his mouth on me. One hand gripped my ass, as he circled me on the active participant behind his zipper. “I think my favorite pastime is making you come.”
“If that makes me selfish to say hell yeah , then I’ll take it.”
The heavy beat of the Irish song piped out onto the patio helped drive me faster to the edge. He dragged his lips up my neck to my jaw as he dipped his fingers into my jeans.
“So wet for me.” He tucked two fingers inside of me and groaned. “Slick for me. If there weren’t so many people around who could see me fuck you, I’d be inside you.”
I tipped my head back and rode his hand as I pretended his fingers were his hard cock.
“I should take you into the workroom and use Ronan’s table. I’d fuck you until your teeth rattled. Then I’d turn you around and that sweet little cunt of yours would take me until you screamed. Until you were climbing on that table to take me deeper.”
“Jesus,” I panted as the Edison bulbs overhead turned into sparklers and I shook around his hand.
He growled against my neck, driving his fingers inside of me faster until I was a mere second away from screaming.
With his other hand, he caught me by the back of my neck and covered my mouth to take the moans and accepted the shivers of my body with a guttural groan.
I collapsed against him. “Dirty fucking mouth.”
He kissed my forehead. “You like my dirty fucking mouth.”
I buried my face in his neck for a second. “I guess I do.” Probably because he’d fucked a whole lot of women in his life. He was damn good at it.
The handful of men I’d been with had attempted dirty talk before and quickly, I shut them down.
Definitely not so here.
“So, was that prophetic?” I asked as I rearranged my clothes.
He laughed. “Ronan might kick my ass if I did.”
“Damn.”
He hugged me tighter and the quick spurt of happiness blindsided me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I gotta get back.”
“Yeah, I guess you do.”
He stood with me in his arms, letting me down slowly until my feet hit the ground. Just as he did, someone came tumbling through the privacy trees and rolled onto his back with a drunk snicker.
“Sorry, man.” He rolled to his feet in that rubbery way that only a drunk person can and instead of going around, he went back through the trees.
“Good timing.” I grinned up at Griffin. “Imagine if it was three minutes ago?”
“I’d have punched him.”
“Did you have to say it so cheerfully?”
He wrapped an arm around my waist and urged me back toward the patio. “No one gets to see you come except me.”
“Okay, caveman.”
I should be annoyed and more than pissed, but I wasn’t.
And I really didn’t know what to think about that.
Once I was back into work mode, I went to check on CJ, who still hadn’t taken a break. Griffin was following me toward the outdoor bar.
“Hey, didn’t you get relieved?”
“Kira was sending Dean over, but I think he got held up.”
“Go on. I’ll take over. Just stop in at the main bar and tell Kevon that I’m out here.”
“You sure?” She glanced over my shoulder. “Hey, Griffin.”
He smiled at her, his hands resting on my shoulders. “Hey, CJ.”
“Yeah, definitely. I can use the cool air, anyway.”
“Yeah, you must be overheated. Your cheeks are red.”
Since that was hard to do with my darker complexion, I muffled an internal groan.
Great .
“Go on.” I slid behind the bar.
“Thanks.”
“You need a hand with anything?” he asked when CJ ran off.
I slipped away from him, and behind the bar. I did a quick review of the bar. It was much smaller and didn’t hold much more than a few kegs and a mini fridge of our limited bottled ciders. “No, I’m good.”
“I’ll get out of your hair.” He dragged me over to him for a quick kiss.
“You can head out. I won’t be able to take another break tonight.”
“Nah, I’ll be around.”
“Suit yourself.” I nodded to a woman and a man waiting. “Be right there.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t hover.”
“I won’t. I’ll go find Justin.”
“Good.”
When he left, I was able to concentrate on my job. It was easy to run the outdoor bar with the limited offerings, but the cool night air definitely helped my mood.
By the time CJ came back, I was more than ready to get back to my station.
I checked in with Kevon at the main bar.
“I’m out of mixers. All of them, for God’s sake.”
“Guess they’re enjoying those Clovers, hey?”
“Yeah. I even made up a new one with what I have left—it’s working out well.”
“Good. I’ll go grab some from the kitchen.”
“Thanks.” He gave me a relieved smile. “Glad you’re back. It’s insane tonight.”
“Tell me about it.”
I ran for the kitchen. We only had an hour left of the night, thank God. The kitchen was closed, and we’d hoped that would clear some people out.
No such luck.
I grabbed what I needed, juices, and fruit. But there was no dragonfruit for the Clover.
“Dammit.” I ran out with an armful and set it on the end of the bar. “I’ll be back.”
“Thanks.” A harassed Kevon grabbed the mixers.
I ran to the secondary storage. I knew I had a few bottles of the dragonfruit that had come in with the last order I’d done.
I nudged the stopper under the door and didn’t bother to turn on the light. I knew right where it was, and it would only take a second.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut.
“Shit.”