Her Dirty Bartenders (Men at Work #5) - Mika Lane Page 0,53

making frou-frou drinks was the least of my worries. I needed to talk to the guys and set in motion a plan to get that asshole Vaughn off Stell’s back.

And my shit mood was getting shittier by the moment. Stell was at her yoga teacher class, so I was stuck with a busboy helping me out behind the bar. He was a good guy and worked hard, but he didn’t have the eye for anticipating things like Stell did.

It was funny. A congressman’s daughter who turned out to be a top-notch barback, lugging ice and washing dirty cocktail glasses. And never complaining about it. Instead, she just worked harder. I doubted Congressman Kline had any idea. Knowing Stell, she’d probably not told her parents a thing about her latest job.

In fact, she’d probably not even told them she and I were back in touch. I knew from Marni that when I left town at my father’s direction, Stell was upset and because of that, so were her parents.

They probably hated me just like she did. Thank god I’d turned that situation around. All those years of guilt might someday be erased by the opportunity to treat Stell with the respect she deserved. If I could forgive myself. I wanted to, but wasn’t sure I didn’t deserve to hate that part of myself. I’d done a terrible thing and I’d do anything for redemption.

Since I couldn't get her off my mind, I shot her a text.

hey. why don’t you come by the club to say hi when you’re done with yoga?

sure. I might be sweaty, though

Sweaty? Bring it on. I didn’t care how sweaty she was, as long as she was close by. The closer the better.

Now I had something to look forward to as I made probably my fiftieth Sex on the Beach shooter of the night. Concerns about my father and the jerk-off Vaughn certainly weren’t gone, but they took less out of me knowing I’d see Stell soon.

35

Cab

And like clockwork, my girl breezed in, her hair piled on top of her head, her face red from the exertion of class. She radiated happiness, and was more stunning than ever.

“Hi,” she said when she’d squeezed up to the bar and finagled a seat.

I leaned over and kissed her. I couldn’t help it.

“What can I get you, beautiful?”

She blushed. She actually blushed.

“Club soda would be great, thanks.”

I delivered her beverage and got back to work making twenty dollar muddled drinks for a couple women, and pouring a round of beers for the frat group. They’d attracted the attention of one of our bouncers, which didn’t bode well for them.

I finally had a minute to breathe. “Stell, I heard Vaughn is back in the picture. Marni filled me in.”

Time to put an end to this bullshit once and for all.

She rolled her eyes and nodded. “I don’t know what to do. I actually considered for a split second caving and going back with him. You know, the path of least resistance.”

My stomach dropped. Holy fuck. That was the last thing she should be doing.

“So what are you going to do?” I asked, trying to sound casual, the words strangling in my throat.

“I hate that guy. I'm not going anywhere with him.”

Whew.

She waved her hand as if it would make thoughts of him go away. “Hey, different subject. I saw Annabel outside in the parking lot. She was crying, saying she missed Maze.”

Oh, shit. She was worse off than we’d thought.

“Were they ever together, like she claims?” Stell asked. “Like as a couple?”

“No. Maze says they kissed once, and that’s when it started, her imagining there was more going on than there really was.”

I felt for Annabel. The woman clearly needed help. But I was also a bit concerned about her mental stability, or lack of it.

“Cab, I think I know how Vaughn got the picture of me dancing,” she said, pushing wisps of hair out of her face.

The wisps I wanted to be touching.

“I thought he just sneaked in somehow.”

She nodded. “Yes, that’s what I thought initially, but I talked to the security guys. They had a picture of him, so were on alert. He couldn't get in unless he could walk through the walls. I think he got Annabel to do it.”

Holy shit.

“When I was talking to her earlier and she was going on and on about Maze, she asked when I was going back to Philly. There’s no way she would know that, unless he told her.”

So, two people