Nova
NOVA
W hen returned from her nonsmoking smoke break, Dale caught her attention before she slipped back behind the bar.
“Hey, , you mind taking this round over to Croon’s table first? He wants to see how you’re getting on here.” Dale arranged some mugs and shots on the tray. “Guess he didn’t trust me when I said you’re the best damn bartender we’ve had, and the customers love you.” Dale smiled at her with that flirtatious, but not line-crossing, grin.
He’d been absolutely respectful as her boss. Matter of fact, he was her only boss to date who didn’t attempt to corner her or play grab ass before the end of her first shift. She really liked working with Dale.
“No problem. I’ll tell him you’re the tits as far as bosses go.”
He placed the hand with the bar mop on his heart and donned a proud papa look on his face, swiping at his eyes. “Awe, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. Go on before I start blushing.”
When she applied for the job, she’d expected the biker—who didn’t look very bikery, by the way—to type her name into whatever service they used for background checks and tell her to pound sand.
When she sent Brent packing, she thought she and her daughter would get on with their lives, and that would be that. But she’d soon discovered he’d left her with a mountain of debt and no assets. Except for the piece of shit minivan, which she thought was paid for. She found out otherwise six months ago when she went to hock the title to keep the lights on and pay rent.
Of course, in hindsight, it made sense, otherwise, he wouldn’t have left it. He’d taken out a loan on the title for a ridiculous interest rate. A loan that was also months in arrears.
On paper, she looked like the most irresponsible person on the face of the planet. So, to expect the notorious Royal Bastards MC—or any other respectable business—to hire her was a long shot.
In her defense, she hadn’t known it was an RBMC bar when she’d applied, or she would’ve kept driving when she saw the HELP WANTED sign.
She wanted to cry when Dale called her to come in for the formal interview. He’d hired her on the spot. had been selling her plasma just to feed June, and the day before Dale called, their power got cut off for non-payment.
Since then, she’d accumulated a stack of yellow, orange, and red stamped notices about overdue this and past due that were enough to wipe out an entire forest and displace all the cudawy, cudawy, cweatures who lived there, as June used to say.
smiled at the memory.
June hadn’t talked that way since her teeth came in. She missed those days. When everyone said they grew up too fast, she had no idea how true it was. She’d only wished her father had been a different man, one who loved his daughter with the fierceness other fathers did.
shook herself out of her own thoughts. She couldn’t think about that anymore. Brent was gone, and he was not coming back. had to keep going and remind herself that her first paycheck was just days away. She prayed her check, coupled with tips, would be enough to satisfy the power company at the very least. She could worry about the rest later.
Plastered with her most pleasant and believable smile, she approached the table where Croon sat. He didn’t look at first. Instead, his eyes were boring holes through someone, or multiple someones, toward the back pool table.
Before she could turn her head to see who was drawing his scowl, a hand shot out across the table toward her as she was setting the mugs and shot glasses down.
“I’m Heidi, you must be . It’s nice to meet you.”
When looked up, she found herself staring at a beautiful woman tucked under the arm of a man who was equal parts intimidating and welcoming. He inclined his head but didn’t speak.
“Um, yeah.” She shook the woman’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“This is my ol’ man, Zombie.” Heidi smacked his chest with the back of her hand, and he turned a megawatt smile on her. A smile that toned down his earlier intimidation factor tenfold.
“Hi, , how’re you getting along here? All good?” He spoke to her but shifted his gaze to Croon, who still hadn’t acknowledged her.
“It’s great. I really appreciate the opportunity, and everyone has been just great.”
God, , could you maybe use another word?
He smirked at her. “That’s…great. Ain’t it great, Croon?”
Croon finally looked up at her and smiled. “, how the hell are you? Dale giving you the shit or what?” he asked jokingly.
“Not at all, Dale is just?—”
“Let me guess, great?” Zombie quipped, and Heidi shushed him.
“Ignore him, he’s feeling a little snalty today.”
“Snalty?”
“Yeah. Snarky and salty, snalty.” lost her battle not to laugh out loud, and thankfully, so did Zombie. wasn’t in the culture, but she was pretty sure laughing at an MC president was bad form.
Zombie’s hand disappeared under the table, and Heidi jumped. “I’ll show you snalty, Rabbit.”
turned to go, but Croon gently grabbed her wrist. “Do me a favor. When that ass weasel orders a drink.” He nodded in the direction he’d been staring earlier. “Spit in it for me?”
“No can do, sir, against the bartender’s code of conduct,” she answered before looking at who he’d indicated. Once she did, she almost wished she’d agreed.
It was the ladies’ man from outside. The one who dared flirt with her with his girlfriend right there. If he flirted when his woman was on his arm, what the hell did he do when she wasn’t around?
Brent had done that, and had brushed it off as just his personality. Harmless flirting, everyone did it in degrees, right? But it wasn’t. Nine times out of ten, the women he cheated with, he’d met with right there too. Just like Tattooed Ass Weasel.
She liked that. From now on, he’d be TAW to her.
With a smile on her face, she headed back to the bar. Dale had just cut the music since the band was getting ready to start, and for a moment, the bar was quiet. A shrill whistle cut through the air. She dropped her head and silently reminded herself that dick punching the customers was frowned upon.
Turning toward where the sound originated, she realized that she held the attention of the customers in her immediate vicinity. She saw the table where the whistle had come from. It was the dude-bro-man table that had been relentless earlier.
The one who was snapping in the air, whom she assumed was the whistler, was also the one who wanted her number. Dale had to step in to get him to back off. He was going to send him and his buddies packing, but said they could stay. She quickly realized that was a mistake.
Before she even got to the table, TAW was there and lifting the guy physically out of his chair as if he were a stuffed toy. TAW was growling in his face. The closer she got, the more she heard—it wasn’t actual growls, it was words. They were just snarled menacingly as if a freaking grizzly bear had learned English.
“How dare you come here and disrespect women, especially one under our protection. Do you have a death wish, or are you just that fucking stupid?” TAW gave him a shake. “Don’t bother answering. I know it’s the latter.”
TAW was giving the whistler a lesson on respecting women?
Pot meet kettle.
He physically drag-carried the guy toward the door. When his friends jumped up in protest, Croon appeared. “Don’t do something I won’t regret. It’s time to go. You can follow your friend there, or I can give you the same escort service he has. Your choice.”
Whistler’s friends seemed to be smarter than him as they shuffled silently toward the door.
“Holy shit, you Bastards throw one hell of a party up here in Utah.” A smoky female voice echoed through the mic.
turned and saw a gorgeous red-headed woman dressed head to toe in leather standing on stage. She was over six feet in those heels if she was an inch.
“Now that that’s over with, are you guys ready for the real show? I want you screaming for Vengynce.” She drew out the last word before stepping behind the drum kit and pounding out a beat that had everyone cheering.
The rest of the band joined in, and the music vibrated through ’s body. She loved metal. That was half the appeal of the job. The other half was paying bills, of course. The crowd surged, and she was trying to cut through it when TAW’s girlfriend approached her.
Great, it was probably going to be a stay-away-from-my-man situation.
was not in the mood, but TAW was RBMC, which meant his girlfriend was connected too, and since her employer was also RBMC, she’d have to let the woman warn her off and be polite in her reception of the message.
Internally, she rolled her eyes when the lady leaned in to shout in her ear over the music. “I’m Devin, Croon’s sister.”
Fuck, so not only an ol’ lady-slash-girlfriend, but her boss’s boss’s sister. Great. She cringed at the word. She really needed to open a fucking thesaurus sometime.
Wait, weren’t there rules about sisters in an MC? So not only did TAW not respect his girlfriend, but it would also seem his respect didn’t run as deep for his brothers as she thought it did in that lifestyle. Admittedly, most of her knowledge came from documentaries and TV dramas.
“Hi, Devin, I’m . Did you need a drink? I’m working the bar, but I’d be happy to grab it for you.”
“No, I don’t, but Hook needs a shot. Do you think you could bring him one, but don’t tell him I ordered it? He’s a great guy, by the way.”
had to assume Hook was TAW. She didn’t know what game Devin was playing, but she wasn’t interested. “I’m sure he is. Does he have a preference?”
“You.”
“Excuse me.”
“His preference: you. I’m sure you saw him checking you out earlier. You’re beautiful and just his type. A lady could do a lot worse, that’s for sure.”
Okay, enough was enough. “I meant a preference for his shot. While I’m flattered, I’m not interested in whatever you’re proposing.” tried to be as nice as she could while being clear and decisive.
“Oh, god. No. Shit, I’m fucking this all up. I’m not—” The rest of her words were lost to the heavy riff. watched Devin’s mouth moving, but her lip-reading skills were confined to mostly drink orders. The song’s intensity suddenly dropped, and she could hear again.
“So, you see, that’s what I meant.”
No, did not see, nor did she care to. The woman was just like she used to be—delusional as fuck. She justified and explained away Brent’s flirting until she was blue in the face.
While she didn’t hear many of the actual words Devin had said, her brain filled in the blanks. It was probably something like …so while you are his typical type, that’s why he looked at you, but he isn’t interested. He loves me, and it’s just harmless. That’s why I said a lady could do a lot worse. I am so lucky. He’s the best, blah, blah, blah.
blindly agreed. “Got it, Hook, great guy. Is tequila good?” She didn’t wait for Devin to confirm, stepping away and heading behind the bar.
She put the shot on hold. Dale was getting slammed at the bar, so she did her bartending job first. She couldn’t help but notice TAW, or Hook, but she liked TAW better, and Devin had their heads together talking almost the whole time. If it weren’t for TAW’s smile, she would’ve thought Devin was giving him the business about flirting.
Maybe that’s why she ordered the shot, to test him. See how he would react to a woman bringing him a drink he didn’t order. Well, she would not be the point of a fight. The bar slowed, and she poured three shots instead of one and made her way to where they sat with a huge dude.
Hook beamed at her as she approached.
“Guys, this is . , this is Squatch.” Devin indicated the big guy to her left. “And this is Hook.” Devin patted him on the shoulder like a buddy would. could only assume at that point she was setting him up for failure because she wanted a fight, either with her boyfriend or with . Or they were into something as a couple that she wanted no part of.
Challenge not accepted.
Hook gave her the same smile and wink he had outside. “It’s very nice to meet you, .” He spoke in a tone that was smooth as satin, while his voice was rough as cheap sheets. Not as rough as it had been with the whistler, though. She noticed his hand lift as if to grab hers, luckily, she was still holding the tray.
Instead of the nice to meet you she would normally spout, she simply nodded and smiled.
“I brought you all shots because, why not? Shots!” used her cheeriest voice and set them down along with a saltshaker and lemon wedges. “Enjoy.” Before she could make her escape, the big man at the table spoke.
“?” When she met his eyes, he smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.” He spoke so genuinely; it soothed her annoyance a bit. His vest, or cut, proclaimed him Sasquatch, Enforcer, but Devin had called him Squatch.
was just the waitress at their bar, she wasn’t RBMC adjacent. She wasn’t sure if it would be okay for her to use the shortened version of his road name or not. She decided to play it safe and not use either.
She noticed Devin was moving away from the table with her drink in hand, so she kept her gaze firmly on Squatch.
“It was nice to meet you too. Can I get you anything else?”
Squatch shook his head.
Hook piped up with, “I’ll take your number if you’re offering.”
She just couldn’t with that guy. His girlfriend was barely out of earshot.
“I wasn’t,” she said firmly but cheerily and strode back toward the bar.
Un-fucking-believable.
She could deal with the douchey dude-bro men who hit on her and the drunken proclamations of love, but Hook disturbed her on too many levels to process. Not least of all, she worked for his club. If she set him down too hard, would it jeopardize her job? She couldn’t risk it. Maybe she should just give him her number. It wasn’t like her phone would be in service for much longer anyway.
Both Dale and Croon assured her the bar didn’t cater to the club. Members were only around when certain bands were playing. So maybe by the next time she saw Hook, she would have an imaginary boyfriend all planned out. Let him down and not put her job at risk. With the problem solved, in theory at least, just had to avoid him for a few more hours, and it would be smooth sailing.
Anytime her gaze drifted toward the back of the bar, Hook shot her his best panty-melting smile. was jerking her head away so much she was going to have whiplash by the end of the night. Devin needed to usher her man out of there, and soon.
After a while, every time she glanced their way and Hook didn’t smile at her, he was frowning at Devin. If she thought Hook was the violent type, she would’ve intervened. As much as got the hit on every woman vibe from him, she did not get the hit any woman vibe from him.
was tired of constantly being aware of where she was looking. She needed the night to end already so she could get June from Mrs. Griffith’s and snuggle her daughter until the world felt right.
Vengynce announced their last song of the night, and released the breath she felt like she’d been holding all night. Well, the thousand breaths she’d held in rapid succession was more like it.