Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
“Y ou’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
At the harshly growled words Millie glanced to the back of the room where the bar was. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the very last person on earth she wanted to see right now. Acehole himself. Standing behind the bar with his trademark look of disapproval aimed at her. Jeez, would it kill the guy to smile?
Probably.
Crap! This was not a good way to make a first impression…second impression.
“Of all the bars in all the world I walk into yours,” she said with a forced laugh.
Ace’s scowl deepened, brow furrowing with confusion. “Huh?”
“It’s from a movie, I…never mind.” She cleared her throat, reaching for her friendly mask and gave Ace a bright, warm smile. “Nice to see you again.”
“Again?” The question came from one of the men sitting at the table a few feet in front of her. A man who, now that she looked closer, was the spitting image of Ace, but with longer hair pulled up into a bun on the top of his head.
“Oh shit,” exclaimed a younger man who sat to the right of Ace’s double. His eyes widened as a gleeful smile curled his lips. “Ace is this the blue haired spitfire you were talking about earlier? I figured you were talking about some old biddy with the blue hair comments. I didn’t know you meant actual blue hair.”
Millie reached up to touch the strands of her bright blue hair—her favorite color. She’d fastened it into two space buns on the top of her head. Professionally out of the way, but still fun, the perfect hairstyle to garner lots of tips. She should know. She’d been in the food industry for years. Since she tended to work trendy places and not the stuffy black pants white shirt eateries, her hair color had never been a problem. In fact. It’d been an asset. People were always asking her about it, awing over it, heck, she’d even garnered a few marriage proposals because of it. “Blue haired beauty” was a moniker she’d been gifted a time or two, but not—“Spitfire?”
Did people actually use that word, in real life? She hadn’t heard it outside a classic movie marathon.
“I didn’t say that,” Ace grumbled.
“You most certainly did, bro,” the younger man said.
Bro? Bro as in slang or were these two real life brothers? She’d bet Ace and his long haired identical were twins, but were all the men related? And what about the woman at the end of the table, staring at the ceiling muttering under her breath, was she one of their spouses or just a business partner?
“I heard you,” the younger man insisted.
“Only because you were spying,”
“I told you I came back to get the—”
“Boys!” The woman with dark brown hair slammed her hands on the table with enough force to rattle the clipboards on the surface. “Stop acting like children or you’ll scare away…”
The woman looked over to her and lifted a hand in the air.
“Millie.”
“Millie,” she shouted back at the men. “Cut the crap and get it together. You’re supposed to be adults, not first graders.”
Ace and the other man’s cheeks turned slightly pink as they complied with the woman’s demand. Millie rolled in her lips to hide a smile. She took back her guess of a spouse. This woman was definitely related to these guys. A sister, she’d put money on it. As a sister herself, she knew how annoying and frustrating siblings could be.
“I apologize for my brothers, Millie.”
Bingo! Called it.
“I promise you this is a professional workplace.” She glanced at her brothers with a frown. “Most days.”
Ace muttered something under his breath she couldn’t hear, grabbing a hose and filling a clear plastic pitcher with water.
“Allow me to start the introductions. Welcome to Jacks. We’re the Jackson’s, hence the name, and this is our place. I’m Charlie. I handle the bookkeeping, payroll, and most of the back of house things. This is Delta, Del for short,” she pointed to the man on the other side of Ace’s look alike. “He runs the restaurant side of things and fills in for bartenders when needed.
Del gave her a friendly smile she couldn’t help but return.
“Next to him is Bravo, we call him BJ. He does the scheduling, works with our distributors, and fills in where needed with staff.”
BJ nodded with a smile. It was a bit odd seeing such warmth coming from a face that she associated with nothing but grouchiness.
“And it seems you know Alfa. Ace oversees everything and thinks he’s in charge even though we’re a team.” She said that last part louder, but Ace just rolled his eyes at the chastisement.
Millie started to respond when something Charlie said clicked in her brain. “Wait, are you telling me you’re siblings and your names are Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta?”
Every single Jackson groaned in unison.
“Our dad was in the military,” Charlie explained.
“And he had a weird sense of humor,” Del continued.
“Our mom loved him,” BJ said.
“So here we are and now you know why most of us use nicknames,” Ace finished.
That was…kind of sweet. She also noticed that the siblings used the past tense when referring to their father. Sadly, she could relate to losing a parent. She missed her mom every day. Losing a parent was like losing a part of your soul. It changed a person. Her gaze wandered to Ace, a bit of the ice he shielded himself with becoming clearer to her now. Didn’t excuse his shitty personality, but it did explain some of it.
Del leaned forward with a knowing grin. “And now that you know a little about us, tell us how you know Ace and why he has his boxers in a bunch over it?”
“Delta, I swear,” Ace sighed, grabbing a stack of plastic cups and moving out from behind the bar.
Millie’s heart sped up as he walked closer. She told herself it was just interview nerves and not because he had the most piercing blue eyes and sharp cheekbones she’d ever seen. He wasn’t even her type. He was rude, grumpy, and wouldn’t know what fun was if it hit him on the head. She preferred people who smiled every once in a while, at least.
Didn’t matter. She wasn’t here to date the guy. She needed a job. This job, preferably. The flexible hours and ability to make bank in tips was just what she needed to help her achieve her dream of opening her very own aerial studio. She had everything in place; her business license, the equipment, a website and payment system, pending a loan at the bank. She even had a rental space all picked out. Now all she needed was a flexible side hustle to keep herself afloat in the first year of business. It was perfect!
But first, she had to get the job.
“Funny story,” she said, smiling at Del. “I kind of accidentally tried to break into your brother’s car this morning.”
Del’s jaw dropped open. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Yeah,” Charlie added, leaning in and beckoning Millie closer. “Run that by us again.”
Ace groaned, but she ignored him. His siblings were much more cheerful than he was. Maybe the fun gene skipped him or something. She pulled out the chair in front of the table the siblings were seated behind and spared a little smirk at Ace before diving into her story of how they met this morning.
“So you see,” she said after going over the events of the morning. “I didn’t realize it wasn’t my car because they look so similar, an honest mistake anyone could have made. Of course, if I had looked on the back and seen how boring and bare it was, I would have known it wasn’t Little Blue right away.”
“You named your car Little Blue?” Charlie’s eyes lit up. “Mine’s Turbo.”
“I love it!” She grinned at the other woman, her eyes sliding toward Ace. “Some people think it’s silly to name a car, but those people have no personality.”
Del let out a bark of laughter. “Dude, I think she’s talking about you, Ace the Iceman.”
“Iceman? I like that. I’ve just been calling him Acehole.” Millie slapped a hand over her mouth as the words escaped. Shit! She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Insulting your future boss was no way to get a job. Sure, she hadn’t technically called him an asshole, but the implication had been there in her wordplay. She held her breath as the room felt silent for three full seconds before Del, Charlie, and BJ let loose with uproarious laughter.
“Acehole?” Charlie said between snorts of laughter, “Oh I love it. I usually call them the Jackassons, but I think I’m going to have to add Acehole to the rotation.”
BJ chuckled, giving his twin a sympathetic look. “It does fit you, man.”
Del couldn’t say anything because the man was laughing too hard to speak. Tears streamed down his face which had turned a slight shade of red as he wheezed out fits of laughter.
“I thought we were supposed to be conducting a professional interview,” Ace said, zero amusement on his stone-faced expression.
The hilarity died down as the siblings got their laughter under control. Millie let out a sigh of relief. At least Ace hadn’t kicked her out of the bar after her comment. She really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut sometimes.
The next fifteen minutes passed by much calmer as the Jackson’s asked her about her work experience and what she was looking for in a job.
“So that’s about it,” she said after she went over the past jobs on her resume BJ held in his hand. “Over ten years in the food service industry has given me training on all the positions from busser, to dishwasher, to server, and even a few years bartending.”
“And you’re good working nights?” Del asked, his teasing demeanor gone, replaced with determined focus. “Like after midnight late?”
“Always been a night owl,” she smiled. Once her studio was running, most of the classes would be during the day anyway.
“I love the flexibility in your hours,” Charlie added. “You look like a perfect fit to be honest.”
Yes! It was happening. She was going to get the job. Her dreams were in sight after years of hard work she couldn’t believe it was finally—
“Hold on,” Ace demanded.
Shit!
Here comes Acehole to ruin everything. Maybe I shouldn’t have called him Acehole. She shook off the thought. Too late now. What’s done was done. She had three of the Jacksons on her side. All she could do now was cross her fingers and hope the siblings operated as a democracy and not a dictatorship.
“Before we make any decision, my siblings and I need to discuss some things. If you’ll excuse us.”
Ace stood and headed to the back of the room and through a swinging door. BJ gave her a soft smile and followed his twin.
“Ignore him,” Del said with a sympathetic pat to her hand. “He just likes to be dramatic.”
He also stood and followed Ace through the door.
“Men,” Charlie snorted. “Can’t live with them, can’t shoot them.”
She gave Millie a wink before following her brothers leaving Millie alone in the empty bar with nothing but her racing thoughts and a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach that she’d just set something in motion that was going to change her life forever.