I held out my hand. “Adam Stoker. This one’s man.”
Lynn’s brows rose. “This one?” He turned to survey Amelia. “Your pop know?”
Amelia grinned salaciously. “No.”
“Fuck,” he snorted. “That ain’t good.”
Curious, I said, “Why not?”
“Because Silas Mackenzie doesn’t like being kept in the dark about shit. Especially not when it comes to his girls,” he answered, looking from me to Amelia and back. “Did you tell him that you were quitting?”
She shrugged. “I told him I was looking into another job. I didn’t give him an exact timeline.”
Lynn shook his head and laughed, but that laughter cut off when Tomi came storming through the room from the back somewhere, a box of shit in her hands. She gave one withering look in Amelia’s direction, then stomped the rest of the way out the door.
“Ruh-roh,” Lynn teased. “I think I pissed her off.”
“I think I pissed her off,” Amelia corrected. “You were just the person that fired her for something that I supposedly did.”
Lynn shrugged. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad that she showed her true colors before I had to depend too fully on her. I’m sending Nadine over. Think she’ll fit well?”
Apparently, the woman under question had been the topless chick from earlier.
She came up seconds after her name was mentioned with a tray full of empties and set them expertly on the counter, all the while keeping her swaying breasts away from the bar, the tray of mugs, and our group.
It was rather quite impressive seeing as her boobs were quite large.
When I looked up it was to find Amelia looking at me with mirth in her eyes.
I shrugged.
I mean, it was a fuckin’ set of tits. What man wouldn’t look? I didn’t care if they were gay or straight. Taken and happy or single and not. A man was going to look. Just like a fuckin’ woman would.
“Nadine,” Lynn said as she finished firing off another order. “How would you like a pay raise, better hours, and the ability to still make tips?”
Nadine looked at Lynn with a raised brow. “I would say that that’s impossible to do, and call you a liar.”
Lynn shook his head and laughed, then gestured toward Amelia. “Amelia’s leaving. She needs to train someone to take over her position. And since her hours are the ones you’d be covering, they’re the best I have to offer. And the pay raise comes because you won’t be getting the same tips that you used to have since you won’t be topless back here.”
Nadine frowned. “How different are we talking about when it comes to tips? I mean, I work here because I have shit to pay.”
Lynn snorted. “How about you try it out. You don’t like it, I’ll put you back where you were, after I find a bartender to cover this shift.”
“I’ll try it, I suppose.” She paused. “Not having these bad boys out would be kind of nice.”
The ‘bad boys’ being her tits.
“Go get a shirt on and head back to allow her to train you for tonight,” Lynn ordered. His eyes met mine then. “Not that I mind you being here, but you can talk to her when she gets off. Either find a table or find the door.”
I saluted him. “Yes, sir.”
He walked away then, leaving me with Nadine and Amelia.
“He your man?” Nadine asked, eyes on me.
She was pretty.
Young, about twenty-four or twenty-five. She had long, blonde hair that she had tied up in a high ponytail, and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.
But there was something about her that had a clear ‘stay away’ vibe.
The girl had gone through some shit.
And the money she said she needed was likely tied up in that shit.
“I guess so,” Amelia teased. “I mean, a night of the best sex of my life could make him mine, right?”
The best sex of her life.
My lips twitched into a smile.
Nadine nodded her head. “I think you should try it again before you officially call him yours. Just to make sure it’s not beginner’s luck or anything.”
With that, she was gone, leaving her tray of empties on the counter for Amelia to deal with.
“I’ll be back around midnight,” I rumbled. “Dinner at IHOP after that.”
Before she could say no or yes, I was out the door and heading home.
I had a few things that I needed to clean up before she came over for the night—and she would be coming over.
I also had a week’s worth of laundry that was sitting on my counter that I’d yet to fold.
I was halfway through folding all of it when there was a knock at the door.
I opened it to find Sam standing at my door.
I blinked.
“You hurt her, it’ll hurt everything in my body to do it, but I’ll beat the shit out of you,” he growled. “Understand?”
I nodded. “I don’t plan on hurting her, Sam.”
Sam shrugged. “Nobody ever does. All the same. You hurt her, I hurt you. And Jack won’t know about it, right?”
I grinned. “My dad won’t know about it.”
With that, he left and didn’t look back.
Warning heard, loud and clear.
Chapter 10
Do you know what that sounds like? Not my problem.
-Amelia’s secret thoughts
Amelia
“I know that you think that he won’t know.” Lynn chuckled. “But he’s going to find out.”
I looked at Lynn sharply.
“Only if you tell him,” I said, pulling out my kit to check my blood sugar.
I was feeling rather woozy and knew that my blood sugar was tanking. I hadn’t eaten anything all day after all the bullshit that had happened at school. I was honestly kind of happy that I had plans for dinner after I finished up at the bar.
“You’re a year into your master’s,” Lynn said, watching me work. “Really low. You should eat.”
After the last day of school, I realized rather quickly that I just wasn’t cut out for the master’s degree thing.
I just… didn’t want to do it.
Not anymore.
I thought I did, but the idea of spending three more years in school, doing what I’ve been doing, just kind of… sucked. Not to mention the teachers didn’t like me anymore.
Now I just had to figure out what the hell I was going to do with the degree that I had.
I’d thought that I had it all planned out, but now that I was thinking more on it, I realized that I didn’t have shit figured out.
“I’m going to eat with Adam after this,” I said, putting the kit away.
“You know, you could use the degree you have in applied behavior analysis to work with the FBI,” he suggested. “You can go to the unit that works with crimes against children. Still the same field. And you can still go back to get your master’s if you want to.” He paused. “Normally you would have to work for three years as a special agent but… I know a few people. I can get you in.”