Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“I am not serving drinks. And it’s her schedule. Her fault.” Lucy strode away, leaving an icy wind in her wake.
Or maybe that was just Effie’s overactive imagination. What she wouldn’t give to have some snappy reply to wipe the smug look off her face.
“Effie? Effie, you still with me, darlin’?”
She jolted and looked over at him tiredly. “Sorry, I was thinking.”
“Yeah. Here’s the drink, but you stay there. I’m going to take it to that ass. There was plenty of Jack in his Coke.”
She glanced around at the number of people waiting at the bar for him to serve them and shook her head. She smiled big. “I got this, Nate. But thanks, that’s really sweet of you.”
“Never been called sweet before, darlin’.”
“Well, I think you are. Everyone here is so nice. Except for Satan’s mistress.”
Nate just winked at her as she took the drink as well as a couple more drinks for her other tables.
Serving was hard work. She was going to do something nice for all the servers.
She walked toward the crotchety old man first, putting his drink down with a smile but not saying anything. She didn’t trust herself not to tell him that he was a nasty old man who needed to learn to use his manners.
Then she moved to her other tables, giving them more sweetness. One of them even tipped her big. Bonus.
“Hey, girlie!” the man yelled over the music again.
Smile, Effie.
You look prettier when you smile.
With a sigh and without glancing over at Nate, she made her way to the old man.
“Yes, sir?” she asked politely.
“I told you, more Jack in my Coke!” He reached out and grabbed her arm.
Effie froze. She wasn’t used to being grabbed. He shook her arm, making her jolt. A stab of pain went through her back. It probably would have been all right if she wasn’t already in pain from lugging drinks around for three hours. Those trays got heavy after a while.
A squeak of pain escaped her. Damn. He was strong for an old guy.
“Let me go!” she said quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself.
Suddenly, someone stepped between her and the old guy, grabbing his arm.
“Let Effie go. Now.”
She looked up, surprised to see Lex standing there. She hadn’t even seen him move over here.
“Everything all right here?”
She glanced over to see Nate standing there, scowling at the crotchety old guy. Had he come over to help her as well?
“This asshole had his hand on Effie,” Lex said.
“You okay, darlin’?” Nate asked.
“Yes, thanks.”
“No, you’re not,” he countered.
Um. She didn’t know what to say to that. Especially since he was right.
“She cheated me! There was barely any booze in that drink!”
“Asshole, I made that drink,” Nate said. “There was plenty of whiskey in it. You wanted a triple, then you should have asked for it. Now, you don’t get anything since you’re banned.”
“Banned? Nate, you don’t have the ability to ban anyone,” Lucy said, coming up to them.
Great.
“Actually, I do,” Nate replied quietly. “I’m in charge of the bar, you’re in charge of the servers, even if you think you rule the whole place. Lex, get rid of him.”
“With pleasure,” the bouncer replied.
“Effie, you come sit down,” Nate ordered. “You’re off shift.”
Whoa. Was every guy that worked here so dominant and bossy?
“She can’t go off shift,” Lucy said with frustration.
Nate just shot Lucy a look and gestured toward the bar. Effie moved slowly behind him. Sitting was probably the last thing she should do with the way her back felt.
Moving was likely better for it. Although she wasn’t sure she was capable of doing much of that. What she really wanted was to take some of her heavy duty painkillers and lie down.
And sleep.
But she dragged herself over to the bar.
“What do you need, darlin’?” Nate asked.
“My handbag. It’s in the office.”
“Lucy, go and get her handbag,” he ordered.
Lucy scowled. Effie opened her mouth to say she’d get it. She really didn’t want to be beholden to Lucy. But when she tried to move, her legs nearly gave in on her.
“Sit,” Nate ordered. “I’ll get you some water. Lucy.”
“I’m going. But I will be speaking to Damon about this.”
Great. She was probably going to get fired. Vanessa hadn’t turned up and Effie had made a mess of serving drinks. Then she’d made a scene.
She sipped at her water as she waited for Lucy. What the heck was taking her so long?
Finally, the other woman returned with her handbag. There was a look of sympathy on her face.
Yeah, she wasn’t going to trust that look.
She’d worked here for over eight weeks now. And what she knew without a doubt was that everyone detested Lucy. And the feeling seemed to be mutual, since Lucy seemed to think she was better than all of them.
“Here you are, Effie.” Lucy handed her bag over.