20. Chapter 17
Mari
“ G ’day, Mari!” Rocco shot me a beaming smile from behind the bar where he was simultaneously pouring someone’s beer and making what looked to be a gin and tonic.
“Rocco!” I squealed, stepping up on one of the nearby bar stools and hopping over the old, sticky wood.
He put the drinks down in front of two patrons before waving them off when they tried to pay. I recognised them instantly as Gina and Bobby, parents of little Jacko—a short, stocky kid who trained in one of our junior classes a few days a week.
Rocco was good like that—generous but fair and fiercely loyal.
The old man had owned Rock-It’s for over half my life.
He’d been behind the bar for even longer.
He had never been the owner or manager who sat out in the back room, tapping away on his computer.
In fact, he’d hired Nan for a while to do that for him.
Rocco was a Soggla original, someone who loved the town as much as the people in it. Despite missing two front teeth from one of the countless games of footy he’d played, he was always pouring drinks with a smile and a good laugh.
Though his hair was now wispy and grey, he used to have the town’s most renowned dark, long, curly mullet. It was iconic to the pub that was known as the Soggla Hotel.
Though half of the sign’s lights had rarely worked, I could still remember the place clear as day.
Dad would take me in with him every Friday after a hard night’s training.
We’d sit with Rocco at the bar, who would pretty much abandon his other patrons to have a beer with Dad and me with a fire engine.
Even before my mother passed, that tradition had always belonged to just the two of us.
I had been about nine when Rocco took over the old pub and turned it into Rock-It’s.
The grand opening party was one of the last things we did together as a family before Mum’s accident.
The pub was in shambles when he bought it, literally .
Holes in the walls, pool tables missing half the turf, tables surviving on only three legs.
He threw everything he had into Rock-It’s, and all his hard work and dedication had paid off.
The now-old man pulled me into a warm hug, just as he always did. Same as he had the day JJ and I admitted my father into an assisted living facility. He’d been here for everything, right behind this counter.
“Good to see you, kid,” he said, beaming proudly down at me.
He turned and pulled a glass from the rack behind him, filling it with half a scoop of ice. I hopped back over to the other side of the bar while he made my usual, with the fingers on his right hand tipped in the same inked patterns of my own.
“I’m sorry it’s been so long,” I replied, a rush of guilt hitting me like a brick wall.
He waved a hand in dismissal. “Don’t apologise. I know just how busy you are these days.” He smiled, putting a double version of my usual on the bar in front of me.
I raised my eyebrows in question.
“There’s a certain someone and their rich, fucknob father out back in the big corporate room. Figured you might need this,” he said, picking up my glass and gently shaking it so the ice hit the sides with a gentle tinkling.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I replied, guzzling the drink quickly as Rocco got to work on another. I downed the next just as fast.
“How’s your old man doing? He coming tonight?” he asked the questions smooth and casual, but the longing in his overshadowed eyes was enough for my heart to crack in sympathy. He missed his friend.
“He’s doing good. Nan spoke to his nurses this morning and today wasn’t a good day, so …” I trailed off.
“There’s always next year.” He smiled softly, though it was impossible to miss the disappointment in his drooping his expression.
“I’ll take you out there one day soon,” I promised. “He’d love that, I reckon.”
“I would too.” Reaching over the counter, he put my next drink in front of me and squeezing my hand gently. He nodded his head towards the corporate rooms. “Sing out if you need me. I care about havin’ you in here more than those snobby pricks in there.”
I chuckled — he truly meant it. I’d seen the lengths he’d gone to for my family and I before, and I didn’t doubt it for a second.
But I could suck it up, play nice, dumb girl for twenty minutes while Camden McLarry used me as a pedestal to stand on in front of his little-dicked, suck-up friends.
I could deal with Jayden and the actions his insecurity brought down on me for twenty minutes.
I could do it for Rocco, and I could certainly do it for Knock’s.
Leaving Rocco with a mock salute and a deep gulp of my perfectly made old fashioned, I made my way over to the corporate rooms. The rumble of male laughter got louder as I got closer, could practically smell the money in that room.
I straightened my spine, pulled my shoulders back, and lifted my chin.
My sleek black heels clicked on the floor, contrasting with the red Nan had insisted on painting my toenails earlier this afternoon.
Using my free hand to pull down my crimson miniskirt, I ensured it was at a respectable length before reaching the door.
“Evenin’, Mari.” The security guard, who’s name I couldn’t remember for the life of me, smiled sympathetically down at me. He’d been working for the McLarrys for a short time now, but that was enough to know how they treated the women around them.
I smiled in thanks as he opened the door for me. The laughter stopped, but it wasn’t because I had walked into the snake pit full of sleazy rich men. No, their attention was elsewhere. Everyone crowded around the middle of the room, listening avidly to the speaker.
“It’s been a wonderful … opportunity ,” they said.
Wait.
I knew that voice.
“I have to say, I’m surprised you’re here. Your last win against Doug Speddlehimer was nothing short of incredible,” Camden said.
I clicked around the edge of the room, regretting wearing heels. But no one seemed to notice, or care, about the sudden female presence.
I stood on the opposite side of their little huddle from Jayden, who also hadn’t noticed me yet.
And there he was. All six-foot-three of him, a metric fuckload of muscle, crammed into the velvet green chair, it’s high back facing towards me.
His newly buzzed hair was shining off the dim lighting, as if he had his own personal spotlight.
He went back and forth with Camden, brushing off any compliments the short, tubby businessman paid him as if they were of little importance.
Even from here, it was obvious the way Camden grappled verbally with him, trying to imprint some sort of significance through his opinions.
But Chance, swiftly and politely, brushed each and every attempt away as if it was a speck of lint on his navy blue shirt.
Camden’s eyes met mine and lit up wickedly.
“And I’m sure you’ve had ever the welcome from Knock’s owner, Mari?” He plastered a mask of pleasantry over his always flushed face.
“Mari has been nothing short of fantastic to work with,” Chance surprised me by saying. “As the daughter of Elijah Trevino, I’d already had high expectations for her. But what she’s done for Knock’s since his retirement is extraordinary.”
Thank the heavens and all of the angels above for makeup and dim lighting.
I prayed they hid my flaming face from Camden’s watchful gaze.
He narrowed his eyes on Chance, searching for a flaw, a lie, a bone to pick at.
But Chance didn’t flinch. His shoulders didn’t tense.
He just sipped from a glass that looked oddly similar to mine.
Surprise flashed over Camden’s face, and I wondered what Chance had done to cause it. Staring at the back of his head, I couldn’t make out anything different.
Camden looked up to me, feigning pleasant delight at my ‘sudden’ appearance. “Ah, Mari. We were just talking about you.”
Chance’s shoulders tensed under that dim, yellow lighting.
I stepped forward and extended a hand to Camden, who stood to meet me.
In my heels, I was taller than him by about an inch.
My tongue burned from sinking my teeth into it, swallowing the smirk that would kiss my gym goodbye.
My eyes involuntarily found Jayden’s. It had always annoyed him when we were dating that I was taller than him in heels.
There was no doubt in my mind that it was a genetic pet peeve.
“All good things, I would hope,” I replied.
Camden’s hand was clammy and firm when he finally shook mine. His expression faltered for a beat, telling me whatever he was about to say should be taken as inflammatory.
“It would appear so,” he grumbled before planting a fake smile on his face and gesturing for me to sit. “Please, join us.”
Whether it were true, or it was the two drinks I’d just downed, Chance’s gaze burned me as I sat down.
“Sunny.” He nodded.
“Riordan.”
His eyes lazily roamed up my bare legs. He swallowed the last of his drink before standing and walking to the bar—something people in these rooms didn’t have to do. Bar staff were typically summoned .
“I trust you’re taking good care of my little investment.” Camden gave his nearby associates a devious grin.
The crowd began to disperse, the men returning to their conversations.
My teeth ground together. ‘ My little investment ’.
“Of course.” I smiled sweetly.
“Good. Then we have some changes I need to inform you of.”