Chapter Sixteen
Jenna stepped into the ladies’ room, leaned against the door, and sighed.
She hadn’t even been here an hour and already Mason had started in with his cutting remarks.
She was sick of it. She was more than half tempted to pull her apron off, throw it at him and tell him exactly where he could shove it.
But she didn’t work like that. She didn’t want word of her doing something so…
disrespectful to get out. Especially with getting ready to start a new job.
Papa Smurf might hear it and have second thoughts about hiring her.
She didn’t think he seemed the type, but she hadn’t thought Mason would be so difficult either.
She quickly used the facilities, and made sure to wash her hands before going back to work.
“About time. You spend more time hiding in the bathroom than you do actually doing your job,” Mason sniped from behind the bar.
Jenna ignored him and reminded herself this was her last day.
Instead she went to the first occupied table, checked on them then moved to the next.
She didn’t even notice they’d come in until she moved up beside the table, plastered an exhausted smile on her face, and looked at the new customers for the first time.
“Oh. I didn’t know you were coming in today.” She said to Roadkill, then glanced over at the man sitting across from him. He’d been in a couple of days ago, when she’d worked her last shift. She looked back to Roadkill. “A friend of yours?”
“Darlin’, this is Slide. He’s one of my brothers. And before you ask, yes, he was here at my request.”
She blinked, not sure how to react. Did she want to tell him off? To tell him that she was a big girl and could take care of herself? Of course she did. But she’d also worked so hard at keeping a pleasant face, trying to make more in tips, that she was able to keep a smile on her face.
“Good to know. What can I get for the two of you?”
She took their orders back to the bar and waited while Mason pulled the bottles from the cooler and set them on the tray unopened, as she’d requested. She took them back to the table and set them in front of Roadkill and Slide then left them to check on her other tables.
Jenna spent the next hour either waiting on the few customers that were in the bar, or working her way around the room with an industrial strength cleaner, cleaning empty tables, seats and all.
She swore no one else bothered, and if she didn’t do this every shift then before long, the few customers they had would be sticking to the seats and tables.
She glanced around the room, checking on her tables and making sure no one else had come in, then she went back to work. It was back breaking and left her sore and exhausted, but at least it helped her shift pass faster.
The front door opened and she continued working.
She usually gave them a couple of minutes to decide if they wanted the bar or a table, then she’d go check on them and take their orders.
She finished the bench seat she was working on scrubbing then looked up and felt her eyes go wide when she spotted three Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies in full gear standing in the middle of the room, another standing at the bar.
Her heart sped up until it felt like it thundered in her chest.
Jenna frowned then froze as she watched the deputy at the bar say something, she was too far away to make out what.
Mason’s face went white. He glanced around and Jenna got the feeling he wanted to run, but even if he did, where would he go?
She turned to look at Roadkill, he was watching her, not the deputies, not what was happening right there.
Movement drew her gaze lower, where his hand under the table was motioning her to him.
Since she didn’t have to pass the bar or any of the deputies, she inched her way toward him and his friend.
When she got close, he slid out of his seat, touched her arm, and told her to get in.
Jenna glanced around once more then slid into the seat he’d just vacated, and kept going.
She stopped moving when her side hit the wall, by then, Roadkill had sat back down and was between her and the rest of the room.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
“Just watch,” Slide said, his voice soft, she assumed so they could hear anything that might drift this way.
The deputies in the rear moved around to either end of the bar while the one in front continued to talk to Mason.
None of the men in uniform had their weapons out, but she could tell by the way they stood, the tension in their shoulders, one hand hovering over their pistols, that they were alert and prepared for however this might go.
Jenna twisted in her seat so she could lean back against the wall. Wiggling her butt into the seat, she got comfortable. This looked like it would be entertaining. She’d love to see her boss get smacked around a little and she hoped he resisted whatever they were going to do with him.
It wasn’t that she wanted to see him hurt, not really but she wouldn’t mind if he got to feel a bit of how he’d made her feel over the years.
Mason’s eyes went wide, he glanced around, as if looking for a way to escape. Jenna could read his thoughts as they crossed his face and knew when it occurred to him to take off through the back of the bar, and she hoped the cops had put someone out there, just in case.
But before Mason had a chance to move for the door, the deputy at the open end of the bar moved in.
She bit her lip, wondering how desperate Mason might be to pull one of the weapons she knew were under the bar.
There were a pistol grip shotgun and a revolver under there, at opposite ends of the bar.
She’d assumed that had been so that there was something nearby wherever he was when trouble broke out, but in the three years she’d worked here, she’d never seen him pull one.
Then again, she worked afternoons, and most bar fights happened at night, when patrons were more drunk than she typically dealt with.
The deputy behind the bar reached Mason, his arms dropped to hang limp by his sides, and his chin hit his chest. The deputy, who was too far to be able to read his name, pulled Mason’s hands behind him and cuffed him. She heard bits and pieces as the deputy recited Mason’s Miranda rights.
Jenna watched as the deputy pushed Mason out from behind the bar. Then another moved up to stand on Mason’s other side, and escorted him outside.
The original deputy, the one who’d done most of the talking and who still stood in front of the bar turned around and spoke to everyone in the place.
“The Driftwood’s closed until farther notice. Is there anyone working here?”
Jenna raised her hand but didn’t move. She couldn’t get out without asking Roadkill to move, and she liked the idea of having him between her and the man in uniform.
“Everyone else clear out.” The deputy moved closer, he was a large man, but not as large as Roadkill, with dark skin and a deep voice.
“What’s your name, miss?” the deputy, whose name badge read ‘J. Price’ asked.
Neither Roadkill, nor Slide moved or acted like they had any intention of leaving. At least not without her.
“I’m Jenna. Jenna Hodge.”
“How long have you been working here?” he asked.
“About three years.”
He didn’t say anything right away, just nodded. “Do you know where the keys are? Can you lock the place up?”
“I do and I can.” She touched Roadkill’s back. She’d have to get out of here to do that. He didn’t move, or at least not right away. She noticed the deputy who hadn’t taken Mason out and wasn’t in front of them, working on herding out the few regulars sitting around the place.
“I’m going to need your information, so we can reach you if we need to.” Price pulled a small notebook and pen from one shirt pocket.
She gave him her phone number and home address. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t find either anyway just by looking up her driver’s license.
“If you can, I’d like to give you the keys when I finish locking up. Today was my last shift.” She didn’t tell him she hadn’t yet told Mason yet.
“I can do that. You leaving the area?” Price lifted one brow.
“No. I just got another job. I start there tomorrow.”
“All right. Can I ask where? Just in case we need to find you?”
“She’ll be working at Savage Service and Repair,” Roadkill spoke up for the first time since Price had approached. The officer wrote something in his notepad, then looked at Roadkill then Slide in turn.
“I take it I can find the two of you at the clubhouse?”
Slide nodded.
“I run Savage Iron,” Roadkill said. “So I’m usually there or at the clubhouse.”
The deputy nodded again. “All right.” He glanced around the place, and she noticed that other than the four of them, the place was empty. “I think we’re ready to lock up. Then I’ll take the keys for you.”
Jenna put her hand on Roadkill’s arm. He slid out of the booth and let her out. She went to the bar, where she picked up a napkin and sharpie, wrote
**TEXT BOX**
I QUIT - Jen
She left it her note on top of the register then paused.
“Please come watch me do this,” she said to the deputy. “The keys are in the register. I’d like you to be a witness that I didn’t take anything out but the keys.”
Price didn’t say anything but a moment later he stood beside her. She turned the key on the top and hit the no sale button to get the drawer to open. When it did, she pulled out the keys and stuffed the napkin she’d written her resignation on into the same cubby, then closed the drawer.
“The back door should be locked, but I’ll check it.
I’d hate to assume it was locked and then have the place robbed.
She pushed through the door to the storage room, tried to turn the knob on the back door, but found it locked.
She grabbed her purse from the locker she kept it in during her shift, then went back to the main bar, turning the light off as she did.
She’d been gone under a minute. “Give me just a moment to shut everything off,” she said as she checked both bathrooms to make sure no one was hiding in there, then turned off the lights.
When she was done, she went to the front door where all three men waited.
“Anything else?” Price asked.
She shook her head and pushed the door open. When she finished locking up, she handed the keys to Deputy Price then turned and looked at her car.
“Something wrong?” Slide asked when she didn’t move.
She didn’t respond as it all hit her. She never had to come back here again. Never had to deal with Mason’s cutting remarks in order to feed Lacey or make sure she had clothes for school. This was the end of a rough chapter in her life. She could only hope that the next one was easier.