Authors: Renee Miller
“Oh, and don’t worry about pants. Just find something dark, even blue is fine and once I have your size I’ll pick some up for you. No arguments.”
The machine stopped and Kristina reached to delete the message, her finger pausing over the button. She knew it was silly but she didn’t want to erase his voice. Except for her father’s, it had been a while since she’d heard a male voice filled with warmth. She pulled her hand back and walked to the stairs to shower and change. She’d leave it just until tomorrow, in case she forgot when she was supposed to work.
She climbed the stairs and pulled her shirt over her head. When Kristina reached the landing, she tossed it in the hamper next to the bathroom feeling silly for keeping the message. She scowled at her reflection in the mirror. It’s not like Wade would want her anyway. He offered the job because he and her dad were friends and he wanted to help her out. Wade could have any woman in town. It wasn’t just that he was attractive, although it definitely helped. He had an aura about him, a way of making a woman feel special that was hard to resist.
Kristina turned on the water and slipped her pants over her hips. She glanced at her body in the mirror and snorted. No, Wade would never want her and she was being ridiculous just thinking about it.
Kristina pushed through the steel door and walked the short hallway into the bar. The smells of beer and stale cigarette smoke clung to the narrow space, although no one had smoked in Dirty Truths for years. She cringed at the stained red carpet; it had probably been there from the day they erected the building.
Tugging her pants away from her legs, Kristina tried to breathe slowly. Despite Wade’s orders not to, she’d gone shopping with her mother and bought the low-rise black jeans similar to the other girls’ at the bar. Kristina refused to come out of the changing room and only relented when her mother enlisted the sales girl to bully her out. She’d never worn pants quite so tight, or so low. The waist just covered her hips. Giving them another little tug before entering the bar, knowing they wouldn’t go higher no matter how many times she hiked them up. A girl with short dark hair waited on the customers, most of them men, running back and forth carrying bottles, money and glasses, smiling and joking the entire time.
Shit. Kristina stared after her, despair eating away at her stomach. She couldn’t do it. Carrying dinner plates, writing down orders for food, sure, but this was a different ballgame.
“Kristina,” Wade’s deep voice startled her. He emerged from a little door to the far right of the bar and neared.
She smiled. “Hey.”
“You went shopping I see. Nice to see you haven’t learned to do as you’re told. Let’s get you suited up and Sheila will give you the rundown.”
She jumped when he placed a large hand on her lower back.
He frowned. She looked away, embarrassed, but he didn’t remove his hand. Instead, he pushed her toward the door he’d just exited. They passed the bar, full of curious stares. She avoided their eyes, but their gaze burned into her back as Wade ushered her into a little room, his office.
She looked around, shocked at the chaos. “This is your office?
“Yeah, when they’re not trying to turn it into a closet.” He pushed a pile of paper off a metal folding chair in front of what she assumed would be a desk, if one could find it beneath the liquor bottles and paper.
“I don’t know about this—” she started.
He turned and shook his head, stopping the words before she could get them out. “Don’t say no until you’ve tried it. Here, your shirt.”
Kristina took the white shirt, holding it up in front of her. It would cover, but only just. It looked impossibly skinny. “What size is this?”
“The only one there is. It’ll look fine. I’ll leave so you can change, and then come on out to the bar and you can start.”
Kristina set her purse on the chair, and then waited for the door to click shut before removing her t-shirt. She struggled into the one Wade had just given her. Tight was an understatement. It clung to her, leaving nothing to the imagination. She looked down the low-scooped neck, with “Dirty Truths” written in red across her left breast. She smoothed the soft cotton down, tugging from the bottom to stretch the material. It sprung back, hugging her body like a glove.
The hem just touched the top of her jeans and when she moved, about an inch of flesh peeked through. God, she could not go out there in this. She hadn’t put a bathing suit on since getting married and only started wearing tank tops after leaving Daniel. Although this covered more than the strappy shirts, she felt exposed. None of her clothes fit her like a second skin.
A knock at the door made her jump. She leaned over and opened it to the smiling woman from the bar.
“You ready?”
“Um, I don’t know.” She backed away.
The woman entered, her eyes running down Kristina’s body. She let out a low whistle. “Shit, I wish I filled out my clothes so well. Look at your tiny little waist.” She reached over and poked Kristina’s stomach. “You just had a kid?”
“Almost a year ago,”
“Damn. I’m jealous.”
Jealous? Kristina stared at the woman, unsure whether she was making fun of her or not. “I think I made a mistake. I’m not really made for this.”
“Don’t be silly, we’re all made for this. It’s fun. I’m Sheila by the way. I know you’re Kristina. Wade’s talked of nothing else since he hired you.”
“I just don’t want you to think I know what I’m doing, because I don’t. I’m terrified actually.”
“Of course you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why I’m training you. Come on. Let’s show those rednecks what a real woman looks like. I think I’ll be losing some of my best tippers.”
Kristina let Sheila drag her into the bar. If the stares were unsettling when she entered, nothing compared to the heat in Wade’s gaze when she walked behind the bar.
***
Wade struggled to focus on making drinks and taking money from his customers, but Kristina’s presence made it almost impossible. She looked like a frightened deer, ready to bolt at the first opportunity. Twice she’d caught him staring, and both times caused her to drop the drinks in her hands.
“Earth to Wade,” Thomas’s voice. What was Thomas doing in his bar?
Wade tore his gaze from Kristina’s back and met the unsettling dark eyes of his boss. He forced what he hoped was a friendly smile to his face. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“A guy needs a drink now and then,” Thomas smiled. “New girl?”
“Yeah,” Wade grabbed the bottle of bourbon beneath the counter, Thomas’s bottle, of course. It was an effort not to look back to Kristina. If he had any luck, she’d stay at the far end of the bar until Thomas left.
“She’s cute,” Thomas said. “Young… but cute.”
“Daughter of a friend,” Wade set Thomas’s drink in front of him and picked up a towel to occupy his hands. While Thomas was Wade’s boss, they were friends first. Thomas would never hurt anyone who didn’t threaten the Brotherhood. If Thomas suspected his feelings for Kristina, it could cause problems.
“This isn’t the girl who was married to the Riley, is it?”
As if he didn’t know. Wade’s gut tightened. Thomas didn’t associate with many people, and yet he seemed to know everything about everyone in town. “It is.”
“Arrogant prick. I never liked the guy.”
“No arguments from me.” Wade smiled. “So why are you really here?”
Thomas lifted his glass and drained the contents. He opened his mouth to speak, but a crash turned their attention to the pool tables.
Kristina stood in the middle of her mess. Bottles and broken glass littered the puddle of liquid at her feet. Her lip trembled as she knelt to pick up the pieces.
Thomas chuckled. “Might be more trouble than she’s worth.”
“She just started the other night. Still a little nervous.”
“Never pegged you as a sucker for a pretty face.”
“She needed a job, so I gave her a shot. Sheila breaks shit all the time and I haven’t fired her yet. I should help her get that cleaned up.”
Thomas nodded. “Of course you should. I scheduled a meeting. Usual place, usual time, tomorrow night. I expect to see you there.”
“Something up?” Wade hated Thomas’s meetings. They always ended in Wade doing something nasty.
“Not really. This is just precautionary.”
“I’ll be there.”
Thomas stood, his gaze traveling once more to Kristina. She turned, catching the two of them staring. Wade looked away first, but Thomas didn’t care if he made the poor girl uncomfortable.
“Is that it?” Wade asked.
“This better not become a problem.” Thomas pointed to Kristina. “Don’t make me do something unpleasant, Wade.”
“She’s just an employee.” Wade lied.
“Keep it that way. You’ve got enough complications in your life.”
***
Near the coat racks, Kristina paused to catch her breath and stare at the crowd filling the dimly lit barroom. She stood at the back by a polished wood counter that ran nearly the entire width of the space, filled tonight with players from a local golf tournament. Maybe Wade wouldn’t notice she still struggled after two weeks of training.
Toward the small stage and dance floor, on the left side of the bar, patrons sat at tables pushed close to take advantage of every inch of space. The right side held four pool tables and little else. Smaller versions of the main bar divided the room; pine-topped islands surrounded by stools. The rest of the furnishings were of the same pale finish as the main bar, with green leather seats on the chairs. They had tiled the floor in a black and white checkerboard pattern. Kristina found it dizzying to look at, but Amy said it made the old bar look modern. She didn’t have the heart to tell her nothing could make the place modern.
One waitress had to cover the entire room and it took Kristina a few nights to figure out a pattern that worked for her. She took orders on the right side as she cleared empties. Then after delivering those drinks, she worked her way up the left.
Wade had been patient after she messed up horribly the first night and dropped more drinks than she managed to sell. He told her to come in the next afternoon when she finished her shift at Maude’s so he could go over everything slowly. Serving didn’t put her on edge, though. It was the customers.
More than once on her first night, she felt a pinch on her ass or a hand running down her back. Horrified, she forgot orders and spilled drinks. Wade told her to let the guy working the door know if anyone crossed the line. But Kristina didn’t like the way Wade’s eyes darkened as he said it. She learned to deal with it her own way, making jokes or avoiding the groping hands altogether. If Daniel knew even half of what happened at Dirty Truths, he’d have killed her.
By her third shift at Dirty Truths she’d stopped working at the convenience store, and worked her last shift at the restaurant the next morning. She couldn’t wait to be down to just one job. Two weeks of juggling had left her exhausted and relieved she’d quit the gas station before starting at the bar.
She surveyed the room. The bar held more people than she imagined it could and they drank a lot. She was glad her mother kept Cadence so she could crash when she went home. The tips made the stress bearable. Even with the errors she’d taken home close to two hundred dollars each night so far, she could never make as much with her other jobs. Leaning against the wall, her legs and feet screaming in protest at the thought of one more step, she longed to climb into bed for a couple of days and just sleep.
The band bustled around on the tiny little stage setting up for their second set, and she took advantage of the distraction to gather her thoughts. The men from the golf tournament had proven a rowdy bunch, with lewd comments and propositions ready each time she passed their table. She considered asking the girl working the bar to trade with her. But the tips were better on the floor and Kristina didn’t want Wade to know they’d given her a hard time. In the end, she endured the men’s unwanted advances and prayed the night ended soon so she could go home.
Taking a deep breath and gathering the drinks for the group at the farthest pool table, she set them on her tray. Balancing it on one hand she moved out from behind the bar. The thought of passing the golfers’ table made her nervous, but she had no choice.
Kristina lifted the tray above her shoulder and passed the table, letting out the breath she held as she made it past the worst of them. Then a hand on her free arm forced her to stop.
“Hey, sweetheart. Where do you think you’re going?”
Kristina closed her eyes and squared her shoulders before turning. “I have to take these drinks to the front, but I’ll be back in a minute.”
She tried to pull her arm from his grasp but his other arm snaked around her waist and he laughed. “Don’t be like that. I just want a little sugar.”
The tray tipped and Kristina struggled to right it, allowing him to pull her into his lap in the process. Her free arm became wedged between his body and hers. She felt him growing hard. Of all the bad luck in the world, she must have most of it. Sam was a big man, arms like steel, and her attempts to push away while still holding her tray only made the situation worse, as she unintentionally ground her bottom against his groin.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he slipped his hand into the waistband of her jeans.
Kristina jumped.
The drinks came crashing down on them.
The man leapt out of his chair, dumping Kristina on the floor. “You stupid bitch,” he yelled.
“I told you—”
He stepped toward her. Shocked at his fury she closed her mouth and cowered. He raised his arm and Kristina prepared for the blow.
***
Wade sighed at the crash, but smiled as he pictured Kristina tripping over her feet again. He stood and walked out of the office into the bar. As he emerged, his gaze found the reason for the noise. In a rage, he strode toward the table near the bar.
“You stupid bitch,” Sam Thompson yelled.
Kristina sat in a heap on the floor, her shirt soaked and her eyes wide. She flinched as Sam raised his fist.
“What the hell is going on here?” Wade kept his voice low and even.
“She spilled the tray—”
“Why?”