Chapter 3 #2
Deciding he had a few hours to kill before going to the bar, he headed home, needing to work off some of the food he’d just consumed.
3
Karter was going through the condiments they kept in the back. She was making a list of what needed to be reordered. It was an hour before the bar opened. So, she figured she would use that time to inventory the things that were used often.
Eva, another waitress, and Ilia, a part-time bartender, were in the front of the bar, rolling silverware. Saturday night would be even busier than Friday had been. She knew they would need an ample amount of silverware.
“Are you okay in here, Kaere?”
Karter turned around and found Creed leaning against the doorframe of the supply closet.
He was wearing a short-sleeved gray V-neck, his tattoo sleeves on full display.
She would be lying if she said she didn’t find them attractive.
She didn’t have any tattoos herself but always found them sexy, and was especially a fan of his.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just making a list of things you’ll need to order soon.”
“You know you don’t have to do this, right? I planned to do it after we closed.”
Karter turned back to what she was doing. “You tell me I don’t have to every time you find me doing it, but I don’t mind. It gives me something to do to kill time before we open.”
She didn’t hear Creed push off the door, nor did she hear him approach her. It was only when she felt his chest against her back that she knew that he’d moved.
“Do you have plans on Monday, Kaere?”
“Um, not at the moment,” Karter responded, looking over her shoulder at him. “Why? Did you need me to come in and help inventory the liquor?”
It wouldn’t be an odd request. He’d asked her to come in several times to help him or Nico with inventory when one or the other couldn’t make it.
“No. I think it may be time for some new bar stools, or maybe even look at some new tables.”
Karter turned completely around and looked up at him. There were only a couple of inches separating them. Her body was heating from the proximity, and she hoped it didn’t reflect on her face. She was excited that he asked if she wanted to help him pick out new furnishings for the bar.
She hoped they would go to the flea market or a second-hand store. She knew it sounded silly, but she enjoyed repurposing old furniture and knew that Creed did as well.
While she was more into repainting and upholstering, Creed liked to do a lot of woodwork. He’d made a coffee table, a small dining table, and four chairs for her apartment.
She often liked to repurpose furniture on her days off and sell it. She didn’t need the extra money because Creed paid her well, and she always made great tips. She just enjoyed doing it. Though admittedly, no one would ever complain about extra money.
“Are we going to the flea market?” she asked.
“If that’s where you want to go, Kaere. We may find some things that will fit the bar.”
“Okay,” she responded. “What time do you want me to meet you?”
“I’ll pick you up. We’ll take my truck,” he told her. “How about noon? We can grab some lunch and then check the second-hand stores.”
She nodded at him before turning back to finish her inventorying. “Sounds like a plan.”
“It’s a date then, Kaere.”
Karter stilled for a minute at his words as she heard him heading out of the room. She let out a deep breath and willed her heartbeat to slow down. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t gone out with Creed by herself before. It was simply that this was the first time he had called it a date.
She knew well that it was often just a figure of speech that people use, but for a moment, it sent her heart rate racing.
Finishing up her inventory, she went to the order sheets and filled one out for everything she expected they would need within the next week.
Going to the bar area where Eva and Ilia were, she planned to help them roll silverware if they weren’t finished. When she arrived, she found they were. Eva was out on the floor filling the napkin dispensers while Ilia was wiping down the bar.
“Hey, Ilia. Do you need some help?”
“No, I got it. I’m just killing some time. Thank you, though.” The other woman smiled at her.
Karter looked out over the floor, preparing to help Eva restock the napkins, but saw that she only had two tables left, so she sat at the bar.
“How’s work going?” Karter questioned.
While Ilia worked at the bar on Saturday and Sunday, she worked for a couple as a nanny during the week.
“It’s going. I’m about to look for another family to work for.
I don’t normally believe in bad kids, just bad parenting, but both are happening in this case.
Those little monsters keep getting worse, and their parents act like they don’t see it.
Not to mention that all the parents do is argue.
I’m around them for maybe two hours when they’re home, and it’s nonstop yelling. ”
“That sucks,” Karter responded. “I’m sure you’ll find something. You’re good with kids, after all.”
Ilia smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m hoping I can find another family pretty quickly.”
“I’m sure if you wanted to leave there and pick up more hours here until you found another family, Creed would let you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Ravage is a good guy like that. Even though he looks like he’d snap someone’s neck without question.”
The two women laughed, and it was only when he spoke that they realized he had entered the bar area.
“Is that so?” Creed asked, arms folded over his chest, eyebrow raised.
“Yes, that’s so,” Karter told him, still laughing.
“You have to admit, you look pretty intimidating, Ravage,” Ilia threw out after both women had stopped laughing.
“I wouldn’t be much of a bar owner if I didn’t. I have to keep the riffraff in check. Speaking of riffraff, we’re opening in about fifteen minutes. You both have everything ready?”
“Of course we do,” Karter responded.
He nodded at her. “Ilia, Nico won’t be here for another three hours. I’ll be out here to help you if you get overwhelmed. Do you think you’ll be okay for the most part?”
“I should be good, Ravage,” Ilia responded. He then nodded to her before walking off.
Karter rose from the barstool but stopped when Ilia spoke. “Hey, I’ve always wanted to know something.”
“What’s up?”
“Everyone around here calls him Ravage, but you’re the only one who calls him Creed.”
“Yeah,” Karter responded, not knowing what Ilia was asking.
“He told me when he hired me that everyone called him Ravage, and it was what he preferred. I was just wondering if you were doing it to mess with him,” Ilia concluded with a smirk.
Karter laughed. “No, that’s not why I do it. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s been friends with my dad for a long while. I’ve just always called him Creed.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
Karter finally slid off the barstool. “I’m going to grab my apron and get ready to unlock the front door.”
Ilia smiled at her and nodded as Karter walked off.
Ravage stood behind the bar, helping Ilia.
They had only been open for an hour, but the place was already packed.
He chalked his busy times up to the fact that his bar was one of the few in town that served food.
Some of his patrons were there for the dishes his cooks whipped up.
The food orders comprised about thirty percent of his revenue, while the other seventy percent came from liquor sales.
That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have a few of his regular rowdy drinkers in already.
So, he made a note to monitor them, as well as keep an eye on Karter and Eva.
He knew the men could get a little handsy when they had too much to drink, and Ravage ensured that never happened to the women, especially not on his watch.
A woman sat down on the empty barstool before him, and he brought his eyes down to her. He placed his hands on the bar as she looked up at him.
“What can I get you?” he questioned.
She thought about it for a moment. “I’m honestly not a big drinker. What would you suggest?”
“Depends. When you drink, what are you partial to?”
“Something sweet, I suppose.”
Ravage nodded. “I can work with that.”
Turning his back to her, he made her an Amaretto sour. It would taste like juice, but if she had enough of them, they would eventually make her feel loose.
Once he had finished making and garnishing the drink, he gave it to her. Ravage watched as she took her first sip of it. Her eyebrows lifted, and she took a bigger drink.
“Careful,” Ravage told her. “It’s sweet, but it’ll sneak up on you.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks for the warning.”
“You’re welcome.”
With that, he walked over to the order drop-off, where Eva had just laid a ticket. Picking it up, he looked it over before making the two drinks. Once finished, he placed them on the pickup side with the ticket.
For the next fifteen minutes, he and Ilia made drinks for the patrons at the bar, as well as those that were dropped off. He had just finished serving another customer at the bar when the woman he’d made the Amaretto sour for flagged him.
He walked over to her, noticing that her glass was now empty. He assumed she wanted another one, which was proven correct when she spoke.
“I have to admit that was delicious. I think I’ll have another one.”
“Coming right up,” Ravage responded, grabbing the ingredients for the drink. Once it was made, he traded out her glasses, placing the newly made drink on the coaster where the empty glass once sat.
“I have to say, you make a good drink. Have you been bartending for long?”
“I’ve been licensed for quite a while,” Ravage responded, not remembering the number of years.
She nodded at him. “How long have you been working here?”
“Since it opened,” he answered. He found no reason to tell her he owned the bar.
“Ravage,” Ilia called, gaining his attention. He turned to her. “I’m going to head to the back to grab two more bottles. I’m running low on rum and gin.”
He nodded at her before she exited from behind the bar. He scanned the bar to ensure that there was no one he needed to attend to while she was gone.
“So, your name is Ravage?” the woman questioned.
He turned his attention back to her. “That’s what they call me.”
“I’m Ashley.”
“Nice to meet you, Ashley.”
Ravage made himself busy wiping down the back counter of the bar.
Ilia came back a few minutes later, and he looked up at the clock.
There was now just over an hour before Nico would be in.
He decided to check with the kitchen to ensure everything was going fine with them so far.
He had just put the towel down and was about to head that way when Karter called his name.
“Creed.” He turned to look at her.
“What’s up, Kaere?”
“Good Time somehow snuck in,” she told him, nodding to a table in the corner.
Ravage looked in the direction she indicated, and sure enough, he found the scumbag sitting at a corner table. He looked over to the door and found that his security guard wasn’t there.
Ravage headed from behind the bar to his table.
The man’s real name was Allen. He had been banned from Purgatory for making all the women uncomfortable and telling them he could give them a good time, hence the nickname.
Ravage had warned him once before he was banned.
The final straw was when he had the audacity to smack Karter on the ass.
Ravage wanted to kill him right there on the spot.
Don’t get him wrong; he would have had him trespassed had he also done it to any of the other women.
However, putting his hands on Karter had Ravage seeing red.
He’d yanked the man from his chair and thrown him out on his ass. That had been a few months ago.
“Allen,” Ravage called.
The other man’s eyes widened as he saw Ravage standing there. Allen began to stutter, but he didn’t care to hear anything he had to say. Grabbing him by the shirt, Ravage yanked him out of the chair.
“Didn’t I tell you not to enter my bar again?” With that, he dragged the other man to the door and threw him out. “I’m calling the cops next time I see you.” He didn’t stay to hear a response and went over to where Karter was coming from another table.
“Did he try something with you?” he questioned.
Karter shook her head. “No, I didn’t even go over to his table. I just noticed him from the one I was waiting on. He hadn’t been in here but a minute or two.”
He was going to look for his security guard when he saw him coming from the back, drying his hands. Ravage figured he’d stepped away to use the bathroom, and that was when Allen snuck in. He would let it go since it was the first time anything like that had happened on the man’s shift.
Going to his office, he noted down the date and time Allen snuck in. If he did again, he would make good on his threat to call the police and tell them that Allen had violated the trespass notice.
Once he had finished writing it down, he returned to the bar. Ashley perked up when she saw him, and he exhaled silently. He figured she was interested in him, but he was not interested in her.
“That was some exciting action, huh?” she questioned when he got back behind the bar.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“So, Ravage, or should I call you Creed?”
“No, you should not call me Creed,” he told her. No one other than Karter called him Creed, well, and Sora occasionally, and he wanted to keep it that way.
“Right. Ravage it is, then. I was wondering if I could see you outside the bar setting sometime.”
Ravage had to give it to her; she was confident, and he liked that in a woman, but she wasn’t the woman he wanted.
“Sorry, but I’m taken,” he told her. He wasn’t lying to her; he was. It was simply that the person who had him didn’t quite know it yet.
Ashley smiled at him. “The handsome ones are always taken. Let me guess. I’m assuming she’s the only person who gets to call you Creed.”
“You would assume correctly.”
Ravage watched Ashley look behind herself, finding Karter before turning back to look at him. “She’s really pretty. I suppose you’re both lucky.” With that, she downed the rest of her second drink, then placed thirty dollars on the bar. “Thanks for the drinks.”
Ravage watched her go before turning his attention to where Karter was. Ashley was right. He was indeed lucky, but he would be even more fortunate when he got her to be his.