Chapter Six

Mikah

Tyler was the best hire we'd made in years. Other than ten minutes of register training, the guy took one look at the shelves behind him, reviewed the day's special, and he was off. I leaned into the bar—with a straw in my mouth, sucking down a soda—and watched him manage the entire bar without a hiccup. Every mixed drink ordered was a no-brainer for the guy who self-admitted to learning to walk in a bar. He wasn't joking. He made me appear amateur. Which was fine, because now I was going to have time to pursue other tasks I had in mind for Mulligan's. And I needed to have this plan ironed out and foolproof, because presenting it to Ollie was going to be a tough sell. My brother had his own vision of what the place should be.

The training documents for Tyler were tossed into the trash. Other than working a closing shift with the new-hire, I felt confident in letting him run the show while in Mexico. It wasn't as if we would be completely off the grid. I would remain a phone call away if any troubles arose with the bar.

"So, when is this wedding?" Tyler asked as he slid two screwdrivers across the bar to a couple waiting on their food.

"Next week. Think you can manage? Do you have questions? I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to pick up on things this fast."

"Other than bussing a bar, tending one is the only other job I've ever had. It's not a skill you forget," he said.

I agreed. The movements of grabbing bottles, glasses, and garnishments were a skill similar to riding a bike. Once you got the hang of where things were located, so long as they remained there, you were good. Luckily for Tyler, I was incredibly organized for restocking and inventory. The setup was ideal for the workflow to remain smooth.

"You said your bar closed shop?"

Tyler's wet rag hit the bar top, and his eyes only briefly shifted towards me. "Yeah." He swiped the towel across the bar. "Customers stopped showing up when our family trouble started. The bar was there for almost forty years before that. I tried to keep it going, but we had weeks with no customers. It was ruining me financially."

"No one else in the family could take it?"

It was a no. His face said it all. Whatever happened back home, his family wasn't on good terms. Been there and done that. Thankfully, Ollie's and my relationship had mended. Running from it to ignore it would not help Tyler any. And just as I thought of telling Tyler this little piece of advice I'd learned, Shelby's arrival through the doors of Mulligan's reminded me I hadn't learned a damn thing.

"Shit," I muttered, wishing I had the time to hide.

Tyler looked in the same direction as me to see with the curse was for. "Who's that?"

"My ex. Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"It's a long story," I mumbled as she walked our way.

Shelby approached the bar and took a seat. She laid a credit card on the bar and slid it in my direction. "You left this at my place last night."

"Ah." Tyler patted my back with a knowing grin, now understanding the term kinda ex-girlfriend. He moved to the other end of the bar to offer refills to his customers, giving Shelby and me privacy.

I pulled out my wallet and slid the card back into it. I knew I'd forgotten it there after attempting to get coffee this morning. It was fine; I carried cash, but it was a stupid move for this reason. Shelby hadn't stepped foot into Mulligan's since I'd fired her nearly two years ago—after I'd ended our engagement. Now she was making herself comfortable and reaching for a menu.

"You shouldn't be here," I said, glancing over my shoulder at the door to the kitchen.

"Why?" she asked, observing the appetizers.

"Ollie is working."

"So?"

She accepted the challenge of my stare. It was a dare to tell her how I felt about this situation. Shelby would claim until she was blue in the face that she no longer had feelings for Ollie. And while I truthfully believed Ollie had no feelings for Shelby, my gut told me it wasn't her truth. It was the hurdle setting us back from repairing our relationship, if it was possible anymore. The sleeping together in private was taking a toll on Shelby. It may have been a dick move, but for two years of our relationship, she lied to me. To hear from Ollie that Shelby went to him on the night of our engagement still sickened me.

I hated that I still loved her and missed what we had.

"What if Sloan stops in?"

Her menu was tossed back to the bar. "I have no issue with Sloan. And I have never given her a reason to have one with me. I never pursued Ollie after he announced his relationship with her. She's good for him. He looks healthy again and incredibly happy."

"He is," I bit. "Their wedding is next week."

Shelby sighed. "Mikah, you tell me that all the time. My answer will not change. I'm happy for Ollie and Sloan. I didn't come here to talk about them, or to see Ollie. You were in my bed all night. I can't come visit you, bring back your debit card, and have lunch with you?"

My mind said no. I didn't want her here. The bedroom was different. I didn't have to overthink the way she'd look at the door that swung into the kitchen, wondering if she was waiting to catch that brief glimpse of Ollie. Maybe she wasn't. But maybe she was. Regardless, I would not tell her no and have her leaving here in tears. I was, however, stepping back from our sleepovers. I wasn't ready for this yet—doing relationship things. If we rekindled this, my family would never let me hear the end. Shelby needed to be worth it, and she hadn't proved to me yet that she was.

Begrudgingly, I pulled the order pad out of my pocket and clicked the pen that came with it. "What can I get you?"

>><<

From left to right, I tilted my head, feeling the relieving pop of my neck cracking. My back hurt from working a double shift while training Tyler—who was still going strong and not appearing remotely tired. In less than a week, my ass would be on a beach, and someone else would pour my drinks. That was getting me through this shift right now.

It was only nine. That meant we still had another hour until Mulligan's was closed for the night and another hour until my exhausted ass would climb the stairs to my bed. There was a band practice tonight, but it wasn't happening. If I wasn't enjoying the music currently going for the crowd, I would not enjoy any I had to make myself.

This had been a day from hell after having Shelby spend the afternoon at the bar. As soon as she placed her annoying custom grilled cheese order, Ollie knew not to leave the kitchen. He looked at that damn order, back at me, and then handed it off for someone else to make. It was likely Ollie was now catching on to Shelby and me still speaking. Why else would she come to a place where two of her exes worked and where she was fired from? She wouldn't. Now, just to prove to Ollie and myself that I could keep my distance, I was vowing to do so. It wouldn't be that hard. On many nights, I had my choice of women who were looking to hook up with the bartender. Especially one who owned the place.

Even tonight, one such woman had caught my eye. She was with a few friends, but she kept ditching them to come back to the bar and flirt. I had practically dived at the chance to serve her before Tyler got to her. With Tyler's good looks, there was bound to be some competition—even if he didn't seem interested in any of them yet. I placed another cran-vodka on the bar top beside her empty glass before she requested another, and the kink to her lip as she wrapped her lips around the straw told me she liked this flirting.

"Are you reading my mind?" she yelled over the loud music, keeping her smile playful.

"I'd have your name by now, if I could." I winked at the blonde and moved on to continue working.

"It's Sarah!"

Without turning around, I grinned. I may have been too tired for band practice, but I was not too tired for a few rounds with her. My first night going cold-turkey off my ex was going great. I would not text Shelby; I would not call Shelby; I was going to fuck this girl and not compare it to nights with Shelby. I took a shot of tequila as I told myself all of this. Then, taking my brother's advice, I promised myself I wouldn't kiss these girls anymore. Just sex. Anything more led to unneeded complications in my life.

"What do I have to do to get one of those?" The voice that came from behind was enough to pour another. And I did. It burned worse than the first one, and my head shook as if that was going to take the edge off. Hallie, sitting at the bar, was not what I needed tonight.

"A free one?" I turned to view my roommate. "Move out and you can have the entire bottle."

Hallie's nose scrunched. "Hilarious. I'll be a paying customer tonight." Her debit card was pushed in my direction. "I had a horrible day. Start me a tab."

I slapped the bar, catching the card and dragging it to take along to the register. Her day couldn't have been that bad. She was with Kit and Sloan all afternoon, according to Ollie. Then I remembered that Sloan and Hallie were not on speaking terms. Obviously, that was still going, because Sloan hadn't returned with her. Any other night, Sloan would have stopped in to see Ollie. After returning the card, I watched Hallie fumble with the zipper of her wallet for a good minute, telling me this wasn't her first stop of the night.

"Someone isn't feeling any pain," I observed.

"I'm two bottles of wine in. It wasn't helping."

"Looks like it's doing just fine, Tipsy." I was in for a good hour of her over-sharing, minimum. Hallie's mouth never stopped once drunk. "What are you ordering? Make it something easy."

With her smirk, and the way she leaned into her stool, I knew I'd messed up with that last demand. She was put on this earth to make my life miserable. No one could convince me otherwise. I waited for her to order some ridiculous drink she'd seen in some viral social media post.

"Hey, new guy!" Hallie barked at Tyler. He looked her way and waited. "What drink do you hate making more than anything?"

"Uh." Tyler peered over his shoulder to observe the wall of options. "Long Island Iced Tea. Especially if they are flavored. They're sticky and take forever."

"Great!" Hallie's smile grew as she turned back to me. "I'll take two. Strawberry, please."

She really knew how to grind my gears. I grabbed a bottle of triple sec with one hand and gin with another and got started. Tyler passed me with an apology that was anything but apologetic. He laughed as Hallie thanked him for the drink advice. Instead of pouring out two separate drinks and creating the mess that came with every Long Island Iced Tea order, I dumped it all into a pitcher and tossed her a paper-wrapped straw to use with it. Hopefully, it would shut her up for a bit while I continued working the blonde at the other end of the bar. One quick look back assured me she'd stuck around.

With my attention back on her, Sarah stretched her body over the bar and pull a cherry from the garnishment canisters. Any other time, I would have lost my shit over someone stealing from the bar, but my head cocked, taking in the sight of cleavage threatening to burst its way out of a little black dress. She popped the cherry into her mouth and plucked the stem from between her teeth as she sat back down.

It was on. It was just a matter of my place or hers.

"Gross." Hallie let up on the chewing of her ice—a noise I hated more than anything she did—to voice her opinion. "Get a room."

I turned on my heal. "I have a room. And she is going to visit it tonight. I'm taking Ollie's advice and ditching the kissing. Just sex. She's a one and done. Neither of us will see her again."

Hallie dropped her mouth open and pretended to gag.

That answered the question of where the deed was being done. "I'll go to her place to avoid you. Don't wait up."

"Never do."

Right. That was why her light was always still on when I got home. Whatever. She had her drink and, hopefully, would leave me alone for the rest of my shift. I had a feeling I was going to help her up to the apartment before taking off with Sarah. As I looked back to Hallie, she was practically falling off her stool without realizing; while the guy beside her was now taking up conversation with her. He looked like a total douche as he leaned into her space. But Hallie seemed to catch the same vibe. While still flirtatiously tucking her long hair behind her ear, she tapped his wedding ring and then motioned with her thumb behind her, telling him to get lost.

That made me smile.

"Do we have more napkins?" Tyler finally asked his first question of the night. "The stash below the bar is depleted."

"Yeah." I saw they were almost gone and had forgotten many times throughout the day to refill them. "I'll grab them."

I left the bar area and walked across the restaurant. Normally, extra restaurant stock was kept in a storage room off the kitchen, but we'd found a lot of overstock in Dad's office. I had made a mental note to grab from there first to save ourselves from moving it later. I ripped them out of their plastic packaging and tossed them into one of many empty boxes we'd been using to clean the place out—in this case, an old Toys for Tots box that was used for toy drives during the holidays. Our dad really kept everything. It still felt weird being back in the room where my dad spent most of his time. I was in and out as quick as I could, flipping off the light behind me. Once I'd returned, I tossed the box over a stool to a place on the bar top that wasn't being used and moved back behind the bar.

"Mikah!" Hallie squealed, nearly knocking over her drink as she pointed at the box. "You're a fucking genius!"

I looked at the box and back at the drunken girl with raised brows. That was the first compliment I'd ever received from her, and I had no clue what for. Maybe I should have cut her off at one long island. "I am?"

"You just named my sex toy blog!" She reached over the bar and grabbed the pen from my chest pocket to write on her hand.

I glanced at the box again. "Toys for Tots?"

"Toys for THOTs!" she cheered with her fist in the air before losing her balance and falling from the stool. She quickly reclaimed herself and the stool, brushing her hands through her hair as if it had somehow gotten messy during the spill.

I, with interest piqued, laughed as she leaned into the bar. This was the part of the night where she spilled more from her lips than she normally would. "Tipsy, tell me more about this sex toy blog of yours."

She leaned in close and grinned. "I am a sex toy expert. You don't even know all the naughty shit that happens in our apartment when you're not there."

"Oh, yeah?" I grinned, not hating the visual in my head. I knew she wasn't lying after seeing all the drawers filled with toys in the closet.

"Yeah. This pussy"—she pointed towards it—"fears nothing. Oh! Except for that dragon! Mikah!" Her hand landed on my wrist and grabbed it for dramatic effect, with her head shaking. "Did you see the size of that thing?"

"Yes. I saw it." It was hard to forget. It was thicker and longer than my forearm. "So did my date."

"Like, how do you even get it up there?" Her eyes were wide. "That's just not right. Some bitches be crazy. My kitty was shookth. So was your hoe."

I mentally forgave her for sticking the dragon dildo to the countertop. Because Hallie was giving me fuel for a lifetime with news of this blog. I would never let her live this night down. I made her another long island, on the house, before ending my shift and preparing for a night with Sarah.