Love at Purgatory

Chapter 1

Karter raised the tray of food she was holding over her head as she sidestepped the man who had just fallen out of his chair.

It was after midnight on a Friday, and he was sloshed to the point of no return.

She had been at work for the past five hours, and time seemed to fly by, but then, it always did.

She served the tray of food where it was supposed to go before going to the bar area to pick up some drinks that another table was waiting for. She had almost made it when she saw a man stumble into another man. She was sure they were both utterly drunk.

There were no words between them. The man who had been bumped into swung at the other one. Then they were all out fighting. This wasn’t anything new to her. Fights broke out all the time at Purgatory.

She tried to get by them quickly, but wasn’t quick enough. One man knocked into her, and she stumbled into an unoccupied table. It seemed as if the men had every intention of following her onto it, and Karter knew it would hurt like hell.

However, she was pulled out of the way and into a hard chest. She looked up to find Creed, and he moved her out of the way as he grabbed the two men by the shirts and pulled them apart.

It was a simple feat, really. Considering her boss, who was also her father’s friend, was much larger than the two men. He could handle anything that broke out in the place. It was probably the reason he only had one security guard. Though Nico, a bartender, wasn’t a small man either.

Once he had the two men apart, each going in a different direction. He turned to look at her.

“Are you alright?”

Karter nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Creed studied her for a moment, then gestured for her to lead the way.

She turned and continued towards her original destination. She retrieved the drinks and headed to drop them off at the table.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” she questioned.

One of the men smiled at her and winked before responding. “There is, actually. Your number.”

Karter smiled politely, laughing lightly. “Let me know if you need another drink. I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.” With that, she turned and headed towards another table to check on them.

When she returned to the bar, Nico was making a large drink order.

Even though it was after two, they were still busy, and she knew they probably would be until the sun came up, but her shift was almost over.

Once the kitchen closed, which it was about to, she would only be there another hour serving drinks.

So, she helped Nico with some of the simpler orders. He and Ilia had shown her how to make a few drinks, and she was considering attending bartending school. There was something about it that appealed to her. It was like an art form.

She served up a couple of beers before Creed came behind the bar and leaned against the back counter.

“Karter,” he called when she had served the last beer. “Can you come into the office with me?”

She turned to look at him before nodding. She dried her hands from the condensation of the chilled mug and walked past him, heading to the office. He walked in behind her and closed the door.

Karter watched as he went to the other side of the desk and retrieved a bank bag. He held it out to her.

“Will you drop the deposit off for me?”

“Sure,” she responded.

She figured that was what he wanted when he asked her into the office.

He didn’t like to talk about money in front of customers, and Creed had told her he didn’t want anyone to know that she was carrying large sums of money.

Also, it wasn’t unusual for him to ask her to drop the deposits since the bank was on her way home.

Taking the bag from him, she walked over to where she had set her purse when she came in and placed the bag in it.

“You’re free to leave for the night,” he told her.

“Are you sure? Nico is still pretty busy out there.”

“Yeah. I’ll be out front for the rest of the night, and Eva can handle the next couple of hours by herself since she didn’t come in until right before midnight.”

Karter picked her purse up. She had no problem leaving early. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Creed.”

“Vi ses, Kaere,” he responded as she headed out of the office.

Ravage watched Karter leave his office. It took everything in him not to stare at her ass as she did. Granted, he could admit to having done it often. He was trying to get out of the habit of it, especially since he’d started catching himself doing it when other people were around.

He locked up all of his desk drawers and headed out, locking the office door behind him. Though he was sure none of his employees would enter without his express permission, and the bathrooms weren’t close to his office.

Each person who worked for him had their own locker to store their belongings.

Everyone except Karter. She kept her belongings in his office and even had a key to it.

When he had given it to her, he told her it was because her father would have his ass if anything happened to something that belonged to her.

The truth of the matter was that he wanted to see her every chance he got. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was a bit obsessed with her. At least he could admit it to himself.

Walking behind the bar, he helped Nico make drinks for the still-present patrons. It was like every other night. The bar stayed packed when it was open, which was only Thursday through Sunday. The place did such good business that he didn’t feel the need to do anything else during the week.

Though from time to time, he would help Demetri, Karter’s father, with whatever he needed done.

The older man was like a mentor to him. He had taught Ravage all he knew about running a successful business without all the stress and headaches, even though their businesses were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

To be honest, he was sure his business could run just fine in his absence because he had such a fantastic staff, Karter included. Which didn’t surprise him, even if it was her first job.

While most people began working in their teenage years, Karter had started working right after her twenty-first birthday and had been at Purgatory for a little over two years. Her parents had wanted her to focus on school and then on college, where she studied hospitality.

Ravage had known her father had been against her working in his establishment. Not because he didn’t trust having her work for him. It was because of the rowdiness that took place there each night.

However, after he had assured Demetri that Karter would be fine and there was no one better to trust her with, and that not too many other people wanted to hire someone with no work experience whatsoever, the older man was convinced.

While the bar was open for the rest of the morning, Ravage helped serve drinks and broke up two more fights. He helped clean up and close everything down before getting on his motorcycle and heading home.

He pulled into his garage fifteen minutes later, closing it behind him. He walked in through the side door, locking it.

Placing his keys on the hook by the door, he went through the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom.

Ravage stripped off his clothes as he went to the bathroom.

Starting the shower, he stretched while he waited for it to heat.

To say he was tired was an understatement.

He had broken up more fights that night than he was sure he had on any other night.

Stepping into the shower, the steaming hot water soothed his muscles as he washed. Once he finished, he stepped out, grabbed a towel, and dried himself off.

He went back into his bedroom, over to his dresser, and pulled out a pair of boxers. Slipping into them, he turned his television on before turning the lights out.

Ravage got into bed, knowing that he wouldn’t make it through one episode of anything that was on before he would be asleep. He was proven correct ten minutes later when he drifted off as the peeking of the sun streamed through his curtains.