Chapter Four
Parker
I take time to familiarize myself with the bar’s setup while Brew and Audrey have their little tête-à-tête. I knew there was a chance she wouldn’t be exactly thrilled to see me this morning. I probably should have given him a heads-up.
The woman is an enigma.
Most of the time, I think my presence doesn’t affect her in the slightest. But there are times, like just a few moments ago, when she walked in the door and her eyes locked with mine, I see it—that flicker of something still alive between us.
My mind drifts back to the conversation I shared with the fellas and Donnie Dale on the drive to Wilmington the night of Sebastian’s bachelor party.
“When you meet the right girl, you don’t do shit to screw it up,” Sebastian said.
I grunted in response, bringing their attention to me.
“Yeah. I met the right girl once, and I did everything to screw it up,” I muttered.
“That’s true. He did,” Anson agreed.
“Who?” Donnie Dale asked.
“Just someone I used to know,” I replied.
Donnie Dale nodded. “Is she still single?” he asked.
“Sometimes,” Anson replied.
“Then, you know what you need to do,” Donnie Dale declared.
I looked up at him. “What?” I asked.
Anson interrupted by throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Meet a nice stripper and screw her out of his system?”
Donnie Dale’s eyes met Anson’s in the rearview mirror. “No, asshat. Apologize.”
Anson scoffed. “My suggestion sounds more fun.”
Sebastian cut in, and he looked me in the eye. “Look, I don’t know what happened with you and Audrey in high school, but I agree with Donnie Dale. We’re adults now. We all made mistakes. Just tell her you’re sorry for whatever it is. Grovel if you have to.”
So, here I am, ready to do just that and whatever else I must do to finally get her to listen to me.
I’m on a knee, inventorying the selection of chilled wines in the coolers beneath the shelves of spirits that line the wall behind the bar, when the tips of her black velvet boots appear at my side. I glance up to see her standing with her hands on her hips, glaring down at me.
Her long red hair falls in loose waves like a curtain, enveloping her beautiful face. The beautiful face that is currently scowling at me.
I chuckle to myself at her attempt to intimidate me and slowly rise to my feet. Her eyes follow my ascent until she has to throw her head back to look up at me. At six-three, I tower over her five-foot-six frame. I cross my arms and lean a shoulder against one of the shelves as we continue our staring contest.
“Well?” I ask.
“Well, what?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are we good?”
Her scowl deepens. “Why wouldn’t we be?” she asks, as if she didn’t just drag Brew down the hallway to pitch a fit.
“I don’t know, Audi. That wasn’t exactly the warm welcome I had expected.”
A frustrated growl escapes her, and though I know it’s meant to be menacing, it’s sexy as hell, and I can’t help but smile.
“Did you really expect me to be happy about this?”
I shrug. “I am helping you out of a bind, am I not? That’s worth a little appreciation,” I say, knowing I’m ruffling her feathers.
Her eyes flare in anger, her big, beautiful chestnut eyes.
“Relax, Tiger,” I taunt, enjoying riling her up.
She takes a step back. “This is temporary, and if it’s going to work, drop the nicknames and that stupid smirk. You’re here to do a job,” she snaps. “Not flirt. Not reminisce. We’re not friends. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly.”
The employee door opens, and a large man in a white uniform comes bounding in. He walks over to us and raises his chin.
“Sup?” he greets.
“Calvin, this is Parker. He’s going to be helping around here for a bit,” Audrey explains, then turns to me. “Calvin is the cook. He runs the kitchen.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say.
“You too, man.”
He looks at Audrey. “Glad to see you got some backup, boss lady.”
He grabs a glass from the bar, fills it with ice and Coke from one of the taps, and then walks through a set of swinging doors to the left of the shelves.
Brew appears from the hallway, and he takes Audrey and me in.
“Everything all right?” he asks.
“Everything’s great,” Audrey answers over her shoulder.
“In that case, I have some paperwork to review with Parker.”
“Okay. I’ll go help Calvin prep the kitchen,” she says.
Once she disappears behind the doors, I join Brew at one of the tables by the stage.
Thanks to the renovations our buddy Wade did on the place a little over a year ago, the stage is twice as large as it was initially, and the dance floor was expanded as well. There are elevated tables and seating in roped-off sections to the right and left of the stage. Pub-style, high-top tables are scattered around the central area and mixed with regulation round tables with four- or six-person seating options. A set of stairs to the right of the bar leads up to a loft that overlooks the dance floor. It holds four pool tables, a few standing-only high-tops, and a smaller bar with limited service of bottled or canned beers. The open space that stretches under the loft has more casual seating, large leather couches, and a newly installed mechanical bull. A DJ booth stands between that space and the staircase for nights when there is no live music and for band breaks when there is.
It truly has been reimagined into a premier venue.
“You could have told me you and Audrey have a history,” he says as I settle in the seat across from him.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I mutter.
“Is it something I should know?”
“We dated in high school. It didn’t end well,” I say.
He sits back in his seat and assesses me. “There’s got to be a hell of a lot more to the story than that. I thought she was going to kick both our asses when she walked through that door.”
I shrug. “I might have summarized a little.”
“Look, Parker, I love ya, man, and I appreciate you stepping up for me, but if Audrey says you gotta go, you’re out of here. So, for God’s sake, please don’t do anything to piss her off. Behave and mind your manners.”
I chuckle. “I can do that.”
“Good. Now, read over these and sign on the dotted line,” he directs as he slides a contract in front of me. “The code for the employee entrance changes every two weeks, and Van sends it out to everyone via our company messaging app. Audrey will get you a link for that. If you have any problems or need anything, she’s your go-to. She manages the bar and the waitstaff. Van runs everything else—the kitchen, security, front end, and musical acts. They are your bosses. I’m just the one who signs the paychecks.”
After we finish, he gives me an apron and a set of keys to the safe tucked under the bar.
“You can get change from here when needed, but there’s never more than a couple hundred in small bills. The rest of the money drops through this trap door in the bottom and goes into a fireproof box below, which can only be opened by me and Van. That way, if anyone is ever stupid enough to rob you, they won’t get much. There are security cameras inside and outside of the property. They run continually, and the footage is stored off-site for six months before it’s destroyed. The only places that aren’t visible to the cameras are the restrooms and my and Van’s offices. Employees have private facilities, and they are located down that hallway.”
“Got it,” I say.
Audrey appears again.
“We’re all set if you want to open the doors,” she tells Brew.
He looks back at me. “That’s everything for now. You start tomorrow. I know you have a charter in the morning, so I have you on the schedule for the dinner shift at five.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Come in around four if you can, and I’ll run you through procedures and how I like things done before it gets busy,” Audrey adds.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Come on. I’ll walk you out,” Brew says.
I follow him to the front, where he flips a switch to illuminate the Open sign outside and unlocks the door.
“I leave for Charlotte in the morning so I won’t be here for your first day, but if you need me, just call,” he says as he holds the door for me.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
He nods.
“See you in a few weeks,” he says, then adds, “If Audrey doesn’t kill you.”