8. Deacon
DEACON
“Are there any other questions?” I asked.
I looked around at the strained, tepid faces that filled the bar in front of us.
Chef had his arms crossed over his chest and that firecracker, M.J.
, glared at us with a look that could have turned us to stone had her hair been made of snakes.
But, I didn’t give a shit. I gave them every answer, provided every failsafe, and they were still pissed.
Getting paid not to work? Who the hell didn’t like that bullshit?
Them, apparently.
“Then, if there aren’t any other questions?—”
“Actually, I have a question.”
Groans and eye rolls trickled through the small crowd as a young man with black hair swooped across his forehead raised his hand from the back of the crowd.
His inquisition fueled me. Their terror filled me with glee.
Their fear. Their uncertainty. All of it, intoxicating.
It was like a drug being injected straight into my veins.
I drew in a sobering breath as a grin spread across my face.
Watching their attitudes slip from their features was something that would keep me company at night for weeks to come.
Holding people’s future in my hands was the ultimate high. Making decisions that forever impacted how things ran threatened to tug a genuine smile across my face. God damn it, I loved being on top. Being in control.
“Your name?” I asked.
The young boy cleared his throat. “Mikey.”
I nodded. “What’s your question, Mikey?”
“Will our schedules for the next week and a half stay the same?”
“Good question,” Dallas said as he took the reins, “and the answer is yes. Until the renovations are done, we’ll ride out the schedules as they’re being crafted.”
I took control back quickly, however. “We won’t rework things like that until after the bar is updated and cleaned out.”
“Who’s in charge of making the schedules, Miss Lilly?” I asked as I peeked down at the top of her head.
“Char does them.”
A voice that wasn’t Miss Lilly’s piped up from the small crowd, and I gritted my teeth together.
“Is your name Miss Lilly?” I asked as I pinned the frightened, doe-eyed waitress with a look.
“No,” she said plainly, despite the worry behind her eyes, “I’m Raquel.”
I nodded. “Lovely. You’re fired.”
A collective gasp rose up from the workers as Raquel’s jaw dropped to the floor.
“Sorry, I’m what?” she asked flatly.
“Fired,” I said plainly.
Miss Lilly whipped around. “Technically, this is my bar until the end of the day. So, for now?—”
I waved her away. “I asked Miss Lilly to answer me, not you.”
Raquel scoffed. “And that’s grounds for being fired? Are you fucking serious?”
“Yes,” I said plainly.
Miss Lilly balled up her fists at her sides as she stepped toward her workers and turned to face us. “I must insist. Until such time as the transfer of ownership papers are still in limbo, this is my bar, and you won’t be firing any of my staff without a rational, and legal, reasoning.”
Raquel moved to stand beside her. “Thank you, Miss Lilly.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” Miss Lilly said as she took the woman’s hand.
But, as if the universe had decided to partner with us for once, Dallas’s cell started buzzing beside me.
“That would be me,” he said as he jammed his hand into his back pocket.
“Hmm, I wonder who that could be,” I said as my grin grew damn near feral.
Everyone’s faces paled as Dallas yanked his cell phone out of his pocket. He tilted the phone’s screen toward me, and I certainly didn’t recognize the number calling.
Which made it even that much better when he picked up the phone.
“This is Dallas. Yep. Uh huh. Perfect, we appreciate the rush.”
“The—the rush?” Miss Lilly asked breathlessly.
I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face. Not any longer. My God, these people were too easy.
This bar would be all too easy to flip.
“Thank you for your time,” Dallas said as he turned to me and nodded his head. “Uh huh. Yep. No no, we’ll come pick up copies, no need to mail them out. Yeah. The big guy, Gauge? I’ll send him.”
“Great,” Gauge muttered.
Dallas smiled. “Yep. You, too. Thanks.”
And when he hung up the phone, I drew in a deep breath. “Hey, Dallas.”
“What’s up, Deac?”
“Who was that calling?” I asked as I stared Miss Lilly down.
The woman rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Raquel, whose head dipped down to her shoulder.
“The courthouse. They’ve got the paperwork filed,” he said.
That’s when my face fell back to stone. “Raquel. Pack up your things.”
“Miss Lilly, please,” the young woman said as Miss Lilly’s gaze unfocused. “Do something. They can’t do this, can they?”
But, the old woman simply guided her away from the crowd. “Come, I’ll help you pack your things.”
“Miss Lilly, please,” Raquel said through her tears.
“It’s out of my hands,” the old lady whispered.
She shot us dirty looks as she walked by with the crying young girl, but it only served to fill me with utter joy.
Miss Lilly was helpless. Raquel was helpless.
They were all helpless to our assault. And they’d better start learning how to do exactly as they’re told, otherwise I’d turn over the entire staff.
Then, Gauge’s voice came out of nowhere as his shadow covered me. “We need to talk once you’re done here.”
I nodded and waved my hand in the air. “Meeting adjourned. If you have any other questions, forward them to Dallas over here. He loves answering questions. And Dallas?”
“What’s up?”
“Make sure Raquel is escorted off the premises.”
“You can’t do this. I won’t let you get away with it!” Miss Lilly yelped from seemingly out of nowhere.
If she could yell, I could yell back. “Enjoy your five-million-dollar retirement, Miss Lilly!”
That got everyone talking enough to drown out her incessantly annoying voice.
“I quit.”
I turned toward the hollow voice and found a young man with grease on his forehead handing me his apron.
“Are you sure about that?” I asked as I took it.
“I’d rather die than stay here if this is how you’re going to treat your employees,” he said as he held his head high.
I shrugged and tossed the apron toward the bar. “Fine by me. Pack up your things.”
The young man blinked. “Wh—what?”
I held out my arms. “What? Did you think you were going to change my mind by quitting? That somehow, this would all magically go away just because you no longer want to work here?”
“Well, no, but?—.”
I placed my hands on my knees and bent down, crouching so that my gaze leveled out with his. “Get your shit and get off my property, and maybe I’ll consider writing a decent enough reference letter when you go to start applying for other jobs.”
The ruckus that ensued filled me with pride.
People were yelling and pointing. Someone kept slamming their hand against the bar to demand attention.
Fucking hell, I loved chaos. I loved it when it rained down from the heavens and soaked the ground I stood upon.
It was as if the heavens themselves christened where I stood.
I relished the sounds before I drew in a deep breath.
“Sileeeeeeeeeeeence!”
My bellowing voice echoed off the dark corners of the bar as everyone came to a grinding halt.
Miss Lilly had Raquel and the young man that just quit beneath her arms as they paused just shy of the front door.
Dallas was hot on their heels, opening the door for them and ushering them out.
And as the bell dinged above the door as it opened and closed, I cracked my knuckles.
Before I gave my first command. “If there’s nothing else, let’s get this place ready to open tonight.”
Then, I turned to Gauge, who hadn’t yet budged from my side.
“Lead the way,” I said as my voice lowered.
Gauge turned and headed toward the stage, stepping up onto it as if he were walking up the goddamn stairs in our clubhouse.
I perched upon its edge before kicking my legs up, then followed him off-stage into the darkness beyond the threshold of the musty curtains that needed to be burned out back.
I wrinkled my nose at their mothball smell.
Gauge threw open a door concealed by the darkness we had found ourselves in, then slipped inside.
And when we both adjusted ourselves in the cramped space, Gauge slammed the door closed.
“The hell?” I asked as my arms flopped to my sides. “What gives?”
He slowly turned to face me like the lumbering mountain man he truly was. “I heard Char talking to someone outside earlier.”
I grinned. “Wanting to get an eyeful like Dallas?”
He scoffed. “Whoever she was talking to? She mentioned something about this job giving her a feeling of success. One that she hasn’t found since she put her father in prison.”
The grin slowly slipped from my face. “What?”
“Yeah.”
“Who’s her father?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she do to put him there?”
“She testified against him.”
Even I had to admit that the blood stopped rushing through my veins. “What did he do? What did she testify?”
Gauge shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I snickered. “Well, do you know anything except what you’ve just told me?”
He shook his head without another word, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Then, do what you know you have to do,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Call up Plug. Have him do that Google shit that he does. Get us that information. We need to know whatever we can about that situation.”
“On it,” he said as he turned toward the dressing room door.
As he exited the room, leaving me standing there in the darkness, I roared at the top of my lungs.
I swung my fist around, flying blind in the darkness before my knuckles connected with a hardened surface.
It gave way, sinking my hand through what felt like plaster and insulation.
And when I ripped my hand out, the pain focused my mind for a few seconds.
If that woman was known for ratting out her own fucking father over something stupid?
Then, she needed to be the next person fired.
But, if she had been coerced by an outside force to open her mouth, then maybe she could be coerced by an outside force to shut the fuck up.
After all, it was clear she had developed a small following of people who came to have her drinks, and that was a hard fucking thing to do in a small town like Layborn.
Then again, I didn’t know the whole story. I never did, until Plug did his digging. Maybe her father had done something to deserve it. Maybe she hadn’t had a choice. It was a thought I filed away for later, because right now it changed nothing.
If we fired her, we risked losing the very few customers that still came in.
Which meant I needed more information before I figured out what the fuck to do about what Gauge had overheard.