The UN Series Complete Box Set (81 page)

“You need to be more careful,” he taunts with a smile on his face.

I just narrow my eyes at him as he walks away, now laughing to himself. “You really hate him, don’t you?” Holly whispers as we walk down the hallway.

“There’s just something about him,” I muse, more to myself. Then I come to a stop and turn to face the girls. “Why is he even here? I checked the schedule yesterday. He was not on it.”

Holly looks down to the floor then back up at me. “Well….” She rocks back and forth on her feet. “I didn’t want you to work tonight. This is a surprise quitting party.” She shrugs. “Whatever you want to call it. So I had him come in to work your shift.”

I smile because I can’t be mad at her for that. “That is very sweet, Holly. Thank you.”

She lets out a breath with a little laugh. “I thought that was going to be harder.”

Holly then turns to Missy. “You can stay, but you can’t drink anything alcoholic. Okay?”

Missy nods with a smile on her face. “I don’t drink anyway. But thanks for letting me be part of the party,” she says excitedly.

“No problem. You’re one of the girls now,” Holly says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get Sam a shot. I plan on getting her a little tipsy tonight,” Holly taunts as she leads us toward the bar.

I roll my eyes as I follow after her. Holly goes behind the bar as Missy and I sit on the bar stools.

“When is Courtney coming up here?” Missy asks.

“Later with the guys. Josh’s father needed some help with something.” I wave my hand in the air, not remembering what Slade had told me while I was in the shower.

“Here you go,” Holly says, sliding a shot my way. I start to lift it to my lips but she stops me.

“I’m going to use the restroom real quick. Wait until I get back and I will take one with you.” She places her drink on the counter.

“Okay.” I set mine down as well. I turn to talk to Missy when my phone rings and I know it’s Slade.

I stand up and pull it out of my back pocket. “I’ll be right back,” I tell her as I walk away from the bar.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, Angel. I just wanted to let you know we are going to be here for about another hour.”

“Okay, the girls and I just got here, so I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Love you,” he says before he hangs up.

I turn around to walk back to the bar when the door to the women’s bathroom swings open and Holly emerges.

“Slade called.” I hold up my phone. “They are gonna be another hour,” I explain.

“Perfect,” she says cheerfully. “Gives us girl time.”

We make our way back to the bar. “Did he know I wasn’t working tonight?”

She looks over at me with a smile on her face and I shake my head. Of course Slade knew. He knows everything.

I sit down next to Missy as Holly picks up her drink.

“I told him I didn’t want it,” Missy announces, getting our attention.

“What?” I look over to her.

“That Jeremy guy.” She checks around for him before she looks down to the shot glass in front of her.

“He made you a shot?” Holly asks, scowling.

Missy nods. “I told him I don’t drink. That I wasn’t even old enough, but he said I needed to take one with you two.” She then pushes the shot over toward me. “You can have mine.”

I look down at it and see that it’s the same colors as ours, but looks a tad foggy. “What kind of shot is this?” I ask her while staring at it.

“He said it was the same thing you two had.”

I pick it up to inspect it closer. I look at the cloudy drink and frown. “This is not the same shot. This does not look anything like ours.” A repulsive thought hits me. “What if he put something in it?” I ask, setting it down in horror.

“Jeremy wouldn’t do that,” Holly states.

“You don’t know him, Holly. None of us really know him.” I push the glass away from me. “And none of us are going to take that shot.”

“I don’t think—” Holly begins and I stop her.

“What if we test it?” I question aloud. I’ve had a bad vibe about him from the get go. Do I want to think that he is trying to drug my friend? No! But something is seriously off and I’m tired of ignoring it.

Holly looks down to the shot as she bites nervously on her bottom lip. “How are we going to test it without drinking it?” she asks quietly, thinking out loud.

“I have an idea.” I smile, looking back down to the shot glass.

“What?” Missy asks.

I jump off the bar stool and go behind the bar. I make up another shot exactly the same as the others.

I then slide it over to Missy. “That is yours.”

She stares at it for a few seconds and then looks up at me with a frown. “I’m confused.”

“You have to take it.” I smile softly at her. “Or this won’t work. Can you do that? Just this one.”

She nods her head as if determined. “I can do it.”

“Great! Hand me the one that he made for Missy,” I instruct Holly.

I hold it up and look at it. The cloudiness is already gone and it looks normal. I take a deep breath, thinking how much I want to kick his ass. I know he has mixed something in that shot. How could he do that to Missy? I knew he was a piece of shit from day one.

“Hey, Jeremy,” I greet as he approaches us from the back bar.

“We are all going to take a shot to kick off the party.” I hold up the glass in my hand. “I made you one as well.” I smile sweetly at him.

He frowns at my friendliness. I’ve never been nice to the guy. I’m sure he’s wondering why the hell I am being nice now. “Never mind,” I say as I shrug, though I need him to drink it. If he takes it and it doesn’t have any effect, then he didn’t do anything different to it. “I’ll take both of them.” I start to lift the glass to my lips when he stops me.

“No. I’ll take one with you. We sure are going to miss you.” He gives me that sly smile and then he looks over to Missy. I have the urge to throw this glass at the side of his head.

“Here you go.” I set the shot down on the bar and push it over to him.

“Decided to take it after all?” he asks as he looks down at Missy.

She swallows nervously and her eyes shoot to mine. I give her a small nod and a big smile to play along.

“Uh.” She clears her throat. “Yes. Yes, I did.”

I lift my shot glass before he catches on to us. “To Larry’s.” I look around the bar. “This place changed my life for the best. And I’m going to miss it.” I lower my glass, knocking the bottom onto the bar and then shoot it back. Everyone follows including Missy. She coughs and gags as I smile over at her. I’m pretty sure that was the first drink she has ever had, but she had to take it or it would have raised questions from Jeremy.

“That was delicious,” I say, licking my lips.

Jeremy nods his head. “I have to go finish stocking the back bar.” He sets his empty shot glass down before he walks off to the cooler. “Thanks, ladies.” Then he pats Missy on the shoulder. She looks up at him, terrified and frozen. “Save me a dance later.” He winks before he walks off.

I look at Missy. “Are you alright?”

“How do you guys drink that nasty stuff?” she says with a sour look on her face.

“You get used to it,” Holly laughs out loud, before she turns to me with a serious look on her face. “Now what?”

“Now we go and find out if he did what I think he did.”

Holly and Missy follow behind me as I walk down the hallway and into the cooler where Jeremy is stacking boxes. I don’t know how long something like that takes to get into your system. I’m hoping it happens soon before the guys arrive.

“Perfect,” he says when he looks up at us. “I could use some help.”

“Feeling okay?” I tilt my head while I gauge his reaction.

“Yeah. Why?” He turns around to pick up another case of beer.

I stand behind him and cross my arms over my chest. “I figured that shot would make you feel…funny.”

“Like drunk?” He laughs. “Baby, it takes a lot more than one shot to get me drunk.”

I grit my teeth at the fact he just called me baby. “What about one that was roofied?”

He stands up and spins around. The look in his cold brown eyes has me taking a step back from him.

“What are you talking about?” he asks slowly as he looks down at me.

I square my shoulders. I have never liked this man and I’m not about to take his shit. “I gave you Missy’s shot,” I spit out.

“You what?” He looks from me over to Missy and then to Holly.

I take a step toward him. “I said, I gave you Missy’s shot. You know the one you drugged?”

Before I can even blink, he’s standing in front of me. He reaches out, placing his hand around my neck, and pushes me up against a bunch of stacked beer boxes.

Missy screams and jumps back, covering her mouth as Holly starts to run toward him. I lift my knee quickly. He releases me when it makes contact with his balls. He falls to his knees as he cups them in both of his hands.

I rub my neck as I take in a few deep breaths. I look down at him as he struggles to catch his breath as well, and tries to stand. “I always knew you were a bitch,” he rasps out. “That’s why I drugged you.”

I look at Holly and Missy as my heart pounds in my chest. I then look back down to him. “You’re lying. There was nothing in my shot.” Was there? I hadn’t even looked at mine or Holly’s after we noticed Missy’s shot. What if he had put it in all of our drinks? We left them on the bar when Holly went to the bathroom and I took Slade’s phone call.

He shakes his head slowly. “The first time I met you.” He takes in a deep breath and looks up at me. “That night I was your bartender.”

I remember trying to walk to our hotel room. How awful I felt when I woke up in the middle of the night. That next morning. “You son of a bitch,” I say between my teeth.

He lets out a small laugh. “I did Slade a favor. I’m sure that was the best night he has ever had with your uptight ass.”

“Slade is going to kick your ass,” Missy says, taking a step toward him as he continues to sit on his knees. Holly grabs her shoulders and pulls her back then chimes in, “Speaking of Slade.” She then produces her phone from her back pocket.

“What are you doing?” I ask, looking at her then to the phone in her hands.

“Calling Slade,” Holly says as she dials his number.

I walk over and snatch her phone out of her hand. “That’s not necessary. I do not feel like sitting up at the police station tonight as I once again tell an officer my statement while Slade sits in a jail cell because he killed Jeremy.” I don’t know if Slade would actually kill a man for me, but I know he would put a man in the hospital. I don’t want Slade to get in trouble with the law when I can fix this situation.

“What are you going to do, princess, call the cops?” he chides.

“That is a good idea,” I reply with a smile.

He looks up at me and blinks a few times. I can tell the shot is starting to affect him. “Can you imagine what will happen to you once you pass out in a jail cell with several other men?”

“You fucking bitch.” He’s up on his feet in one swift move and starts toward me.

I wait until he’s close enough and lift my leg, this time
kicking
him in the balls. He falls to the ground howling like a werewolf at the pain.

I dial up the police as he lies on the floor crying in agony. I explain our situation and then hang up. “They are on their way. We have less than forty minutes to get this taken care of before Slade and the guys get here.”

He closes his eyes and I smirk at the effect it’s having on him. “And, oh yeah. You’re fired,” I inform him, remembering when I told him that I would fire him if he ever pushed me.

He looks up, his jaw clenched tightly and eyes narrowed. He glares at me, Holly and then Missy. “You girls are going to be sorry.”

“Threatening my friends?” I arch an eyebrow.

“It’s not a threat. It was a promise.”

I walk back over to him. “Well, I promise you this. Next time you come around, I will let Slade in on what a fucking piece of shit you are, and he won’t be as nice as I was.” I hear the sirens and look to Missy. “Go and let them in the back. We’ll wait here.”

She turns and runs out of the cooler only to return in seconds with two cops.

“Miss Hall,” Officer White greets me and I hold in a sigh. This is the same cop that Slade is pissed at for not informing him when the homeless guy who lied about breaking into our house was released.

“They drugged me,” Jeremy whines as the other officer picks him up off the floor.

Officer White turns to me for an explanation. “He roofied Missy’s drink. When we had our suspicion, we just swapped them,”

“Smart,” he says nodding his head a few times while watching the other officer pat Jeremy down and search his pockets.

“Got something,” he calls out, pulling a little bag of pills out of Jeremy’s back pocket.

“You fucking bitch,” Jeremy growls, referring to me.