“The entire town isn’t in this damn bar,” he grumbled. “Just half. Besides, I’ll stick up for you.”
My eyes lifted, finding Hayes still sitting at the corner table, legs stretched out, arms crossed over his chest, watching me like a hawk. Every few minutes or so, I’d feel his gaze leave me to scan the bar and take note of who came in before his heat returned to me once more.
“Or maybe your boyfriend back there will,” Richard continued, not giving a damn whether I ignored him. The man just liked to yap.
“He isn’t my boyfriend.”
The old man downed the rest of his beer before letting out a bark of laughter. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. I know the look on his face all too well.”
I scoffed, yanking the towel off my shoulder to wipe down the bar. “Do you want another beer or not?” I asked, brushing off his words.
“Well, yeah. What the hell do you think I’m doing here?” He chuckled as a buddy of his took the barstool beside him. I gave them both their drinks before grabbing the empty bottles of liquor and heading to the back. The kitchen smelled like fried fish, heart problems, and bad decisions.
I dropped the bottles into the recycle bin and rolled my neck, feeling a knot at the base of it.
“Hey, Margo,” a waitress called, bumping her hip with mine as she left the kitchen, two plates in tow.
I looked at Gary the dishwasher, wincing. He laughed at me. “You still don’t remember her name, do you?”
“No!” I hissed.
The kitchen door swung open again, and there she was, beaming at me like I’d just saved her firstborn from a fiery death. “How was your time off?”
I smiled and nodded. “Uh, great,” I lied.
“Yeah? That’s awesome. Did you get good grades on your mid-terms?”
I stared at her in complete shock that not only did she remember my name, but that I mentioned my midterms to her. When the hell had I done that?
She was so pretty. Slightly shorter than me, medium-length golden blond hair, blue eyes, and a heart shaped face. Rachel, another waitress, appeared beside us then, her black braids pulled out of her face into a high ponytail, her golden eyes filled with annoyance. “I swear to God, if Joey cuts my hours again, I’m going to quit.”
That pulled me out of my stupor, my head snapping toward her. “What the hell do you mean again?”
Rachel was Joey’s OG waitress. She had started working here just before Joey’s father died and had kept this bar afloat while Joey was off burning through his money. She’d helped him get back on track, she’d stuck beside him when he was behind on taxes, and she’d designed the remodel last year. Rachel was the yin to Joey’s yang. The Buoy wouldn’t exist without her.
“I don’t know! He won’t talk to me about it,” she said, shaking her head. Her rich dark skin was glowing with fury underneath the fluorescent lights. “Every time I come near him, he makes an excuse. He’s avoiding me.”
“He has been acting strange lately,” our coworker said.
“Amelia, did he say anything to you during your six-month review?”
Amelia. That was her name.
“No, but he’s been…twitchy lately.”
Rachel and I shared a look before we each grabbed an arm, pulling her into the walk-in fridge. Amelia turned to face us, wide-eyed. “It’s freezing in here!”
“Yes, it’s called a fridge. Don’t play dumb with me. Talk,” Rachel demanded.
Rachel reminded me of Sarah in a lot of ways. Straight forward, brilliant, could run the world if she really wanted to.
Hayes would come looking for me in about three minutes if I didn’t reappear behind the bar, and the last thing I needed right now was for Rachel to ask questions. Lying to my best friends was a piece of cake when I could avoid them, but if Rachel got a whiff of what was going on, she’d have Sarah and Cardinal here within twenty minutes.
“Come on, Amelia. Tell us what you’ve seen,” I urged, practically begging. “I have to get back out to the bar before the fucking Snub Crew wrecks it again.”
The Snub Crew were notorious party animals and the best fisherman. Every day since I’d been working here, they’d had the largest catches. Of course, this gave them a reason to get wild every night. I seriously didn’t know when those men had the time to sleep.
“Okay, well, he’s been really fucking weird the last week, but more so since yesterday when a man in a suit came in.”