Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
So there’s no chaos, a few girls run the bar on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I’m in charge of managing it all. Things are still comped with the understanding that tips are required for the staff.
It can be a bit odd for a girl my age to be managing a bar, especially when it’s filled with women older than me, but this place is a second home to me. Hell, it was an actual home at one point when Carter and I had nowhere to go after our dad passed. I know everyone here. Jason and Archer are pretty much big brothers to me at this point.
“You good?” I ask Nelly, seeing her about to head out herself.
“Yeah, tonight was crazy, but damn we made out good.”
“It was a good night. I want you to leave out the front and have Ink or Van walk you out to your car.” Nelly has only been here two weeks. Jason actually brought her on as a favor to a friend. So far, things have been good, but we don’t click as well as I hoped we would. I’m not sure what it is.
“I was thinking about hanging. Are we allowed to?”
“If you want.” I shrug.
“Cool. My boyfriend is out with his friends, so no point going home.” She leans in close to me. “Is Ink single?”
“Ahh, I’m not sure at the moment.” Ink is girl crazy. Actually, it’s more like he’s crush crazy. He loves the high of a new relationship, but as soon as the newness begins to fade, he’s out trying to find that fix again.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You told me that you're single, but I saw you with Mr. Thick.” I would laugh at her calling Kane that, but a pang of jealousy stops me.
“That’s Ollie’s brother.”
“That mean he’s off limits or something?” The hell? Thought she had a boyfriend. “Oh, he’s coming over,” she whispers.
Kane walks right up to me, draping an arm over my shoulder. Again, with the touching. This must be a record for him. He always smells of soap and honey. I know it’s because he sucks on some kind of hard honey candy. The smell of honey is my absolute favorite scent.
“You want me to help knock something out that you need to get done before you head out?” he offers, always the gentleman.
That’s the thing about Kane: While he always seems so stern and a bit of a hardass, he’s also a gentleman and does what he thinks is the right thing. That’s part of our problem. He lives in a world of black and white while mine is filled with every shade of gray and of course streaks of pink.
“That’s so sweet of you,” Nelly drawls. That Southern twang she has is surprisingly more pronounced now. She gets some of the men to eat out of the palm of her hand with it. I swear that accent makes as much money for her as her tits do. She’s got a bubbly personality and reminds me a bit of Jessica Simpson when she was in The Dukes of Hazzard. “I actually need someone to walk me to my car.”
Okay, I don’t like her. We’re not clicking. Ever. That’s my final answer. Glad I got that cleared up for myself. I know Kane is going to walk her out ‘cause it’s the right thing to do, but damn that jealousy that starts to bubble up inside of me. I hate that I feel that way.
I don’t want to be that girl who doesn't like another girl because of a man. It’s not as if Kane and I will ever actually be a thing. He’s not going to date the twenty-year-old with pink hair who works at a bar.
He’s going to end up with the pretty blonde with long legs and blue eyes. Who will probably be a teacher or something. Ironically, that’s what I’ve always wanted to be.
“Ink and Van are working the front door. One of them will walk you out,” he tells her. Nelly’s bottom lip puffs out.
“All right, sugar. Maybe next time you can walk me.”
“Kane,” he responds.
“Kane?” Her brows pull together.
“My name. It’s Kane, not sugar.”
“Right.” She looks utterly perplexed that he’s not eating out of her hand. “I’ll see you all later.” She turns and leaves.
“Not your type?” I cock my head back to peek up at him through my lashes.
I don’t know what it is about Kane that always makes me feel shy, which I’m typically not. It might be this schoolgirl crush I can’t break that I have on him. One that I know is going to lead to heartbreak.
“Nope,” he answers. “You ready?’ He brushes a piece of my hair back from my face. “You need sleep.”
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I find myself leaning in to him as he guides me back to get my stuff from Archer’s office. It’s totally because my feet hurt. It can’t be because of anything else.