Chapter 3 - Crowns pub

Thursday arrived, and I got ready for my shift at the pub.

I took a quick shower, then put on my Crowns uniform, which consisted of a green, low-cut T-shirt with an embroidered crown on my left breast, and tight black pants. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and put some mascara on. As much as I hated it, the more makeup I wore, the better my tips at the pub were. The same went for the amount of cleavage I showed, which meant I needed to buy good bras that showed the girls off—not that I needed any because I was naturally busty. But when in Rome, right?

I went into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat and came face to face with a woman. She had Barbie-white hair, thick fake lashes and lips full of fillers. I was also pretty confident that if I blew on her face, all the setting powder she had put on would fly away in a puff of dust. The next thing I noticed was her dress. It was vermillion with a low heart-shaped cleavage over her silicone implants. The bottom of her dress hit right below the butt cheeks, making me wonder how she would sit without everyone seeing her pussy? Don’t get me wrong—she wasn’t ugly and far from it, but she looked plastic, and it removed much of her charm, in my opinion.

“Oh. Hello!”

Ugh. Even her surprised voice was annoying.

“Hi!” I waved my hand awkwardly.

“Psh, you’re funny.” The woman turned around and shouted toward Kat’s bedroom. “Kitty Kat, you didn’t tell me someone else was going out with us tonight! I thought it would only be the four of us.”

I frowned. Who the heck was this person?

Kat quickly ran out of her bedroom and gave me an apologetic look. She was dressed in a cute Charleston-inspired dress with sequin beadings and a flowing bottom skirt. With her tall and slender frame, Kat looked like a model. I sometimes envied her. I was short and had too much of everything, which made it a nightmare to find clothes that fit.

“Liv isn’t coming with us, Priscilla. I’m done getting ready, so you can go into my room to… powder your nose or something.”

The woman, Priscilla, laughed and strutted toward Kat’s room. When she left, my roommate sighed and rubbed her temples exasperatingly.

“She’s my brother’s latest fling, and I regret having agreed to get ready with her for our night out.”

Now that I knew, I could definitely see her with Dominic. It seemed like a match made in heaven from what I had experienced with him.

I bumped her shoulder and grinned. “In that case, Kitty Kat, I won’t say anything because her presence seems like punishment enough. I think I’ll take the pity route and ask if I can do anything to make this go smoother or get her out of the house. We have a hose in the back. If we splash water over her, she might dissolve like the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz. Unless she’s like the Gremlins and multiplies…”

Kat chuckled but rolled her eyes at me. “None of the above. I’m stuck with her until Dom leaves her for a newer model. She’s already been with him for three months—which is two more than the last one, so I’m giving it until the end of the week. Maybe two at the most. He rarely stays with a girl much longer than that, and this one is awful.”

I winced at her words. I thought it was rather harsh of her to say that about her brother and his relationships, but again, I didn’t know them, and it wasn’t my place to question anything. Yes, Dominic seemed shallow, eccentric and entitled, but you never knew what lay underneath.

Unfortunately, my face betrayed me, and Kat saw it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answered with a jiggle of my fingers. “I just saw the time, and I need to leave if I want to make it to my shift at the pub.”

“Oh! That’s right. I’ll ask if we can swing by later, maybe catch you before your shift ends, and you can walk back home with me,” Kat added with a sincere smile.

She had been nice to me since I moved in with her, but I had no intentions of having her brother around me, much less having him in my place of employment where he would be a distraction. I didn’t understand my feelings toward him, but I didn’t like the pang in my chest when I learned Bimbo in Kat’s room was Dominic’s girlfriend, nor the fluttering butterflies in my stomach each time I thought of him.

My mother always said butterflies weren’t a good sign. It meant I was losing my common sense.

I froze, and a slight panicking feeling settled over me. I hadn’t thought about my mother in months, much less thought of a memory of her. My heart hammered inside my chest, and I felt sweat rolling down my neck.

I must have paled because Kat was looking frantically at me and pulled me over to the kitchen so I could sit down and drink some water.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right going to work? You don’t look good suddenly.”

“I’m fine. I didn’t eat. It’s probably just low sugar,” I lied.

Kat swapped my water for orange juice and anxiously hovered over me until I finished it.

I needed to leave.

Thinking of Dominic Moore had an effect on me I didn’t like. It was best if I steered clear of him.

“See? All better. Thanks, Kat. I’ll leave you to, erm, entertain your friend.”

Kat pouted when I reminded her of who was in her bedroom, and I couldn’t help mimicking her face. I felt terrible leaving her with that woman, but it was better to leave the house and change my mind. I knew work would be just the distraction I needed.

I grabbed my coat and purse and left the house. A walk in the brisk evening wind would do me some good, and I had a six-hour shift that would be more than enough to clear every thought away.

I tightened the belt of my coat and leaned slightly forward so the breeze wouldn’t pull my hood back. My walk took less than fifteen minutes, and when I arrived in front of the pub, I pushed through the glass doors and waved to Martin, who was behind the counter polishing some glasses and tidying up for the next wave of customers.

I quickly marched to the back, opened my locker to stuff my things inside, and grabbed my apron before returning to the front and sliding my body into the small space between the liquor wall and the long wooden bar.

“Hiya, Liv,” Martin cheerfully said as he passed me a towel.

I absentmindedly smiled back at my colleague and started cleaning up some spilled drinks and melted ice, then dropped the dishrag and opened the bar fridge to see what we needed to stock up. If I kept my mind busy, I would have no issues for the rest of the night.

Jody and Wanda were serving tables, and they would come to the bar now and then to get customers’s drinks. We would laugh and chat a little until I handed them the order, and they would return to waiting tables. When I didn’t have anyone waiting up for drinks, I grabbed a pen and pad and helped the girls with table service.

It was a nice evening, and it went by fast. When I saw it was close to midnight, I waited for Luke, the other bartender, to return from his break. As I waited, I did another round of stocking up our fridge and drinks.

I had bent down to count bottles when someone slapped me hard on the ass.

I sucked in a breath and turned to find Luke eyeing me with a grin.

“Ugh! You got me good,” I said, rubbing my butt with a hand.

Luke laughed and pulled me into his arms. His hands snaked up my back and down my ass, cupping it until I pushed him away.

“With an ass like yours, it’s hard to miss.”

Luke was a player, always looking for a score. He was good-looking, tall and tanned. He was a man who liked to work out at the gym and show his amazingly ripped body in our tight uniform. His blond hair always fell in his gorgeous green eyes, giving him a mysterious but sexy vibe.

But I didn’t date. I didn’t see the point in it.

I threw him a dishrag, called Martin, and told him I was taking my break. I had been running around serving drinks and deciphering drunk patrons’s orders for the past four hours. I thought it was high time I took my thirty minutes to myself.

A heated gaze pulled my attention when I slid between the bar and the wall, and I scanned the table area until I stopped on a pair of deep blue eyes.

Dominic.

He was seated with his sister, the gold-digging trophy girlfriend, and a man I didn’t know. When Kat saw I had spotted them, she waved her hand and came over to see me. I groaned, wanting nothing more than to vanish into the breakroom, but it was too late.

“Hi, Liv! I wanted to see if you were doing better, but you seem to do great by the looks of everything! Who’s the guy? Is he a potential hook-up or something? I mean… you two look very intimate, and he’s sexy, too. I could see you two being a thing.” She nodded.

“Nah, it’s just Luke. He does that all the time, and it doesn’t mean anything.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead with my thumb and forefingers. “I was going on break. Did you want anything before I left?”

Kat’s eyes shined, then she puckered her lips and squinted her eyes.

“Please sit with me and help me go through the rest of the night with Priscilla! I can’t stand her and want a wing girl. She keeps harassing my brother to take her shopping for new Louboutin shoes.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Kat.”

“I know! She could get a much prettier pair of Jimmy Choo.”

I sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. I’m just messing with you. Please stay with me,” Kat said with kitten eyes.

I let my head fall back and groaned. “Fine. But you owe me one.”

I called Luke and asked him for three shots of vodka. He obliged and poured the order. I slid one to Kat, who took it quickly, and then I threw back the other two and shook my head as the liquid burned my throat.

“All right. Now I’m ready,” I said as I removed my apron and took Kat by the arm.

She led me to her table, and I smiled at everyone there, including Dominic, who kept giving me a stern look. He seemed mad about something.

I shrugged off his demeanour and sat down. I wouldn’t waste a breath on him. He could be mad at whatever pricked his ass for all I cared.

Kat introduced me to Nate, who I later found out was Dominic’s best friend. During our introduction, I noticed that Kat was trying her best to catch Nate’s attention, but he seemed to be indifferent toward her efforts. Despite her batting her lashes, Nate paid no heed to her advances, and I couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit rude. At first, I thought that Nate was merely oblivious to Kat’s affection for him, but as time went by, I began to wonder if he was intentionally avoiding her. The situation was quite confusing, and I couldn’t decide which was worse—Nate’s ignorance or his intentional avoidance of Kat.

Slowly, the people around the table made conversation with one another until the subject fell on Kat’s new “surprise” roomie—me.

“Katherine told us you finished your studies of history at the university. How has that been going for you?” Nate asked.

“I’ve started looking for jobs in that area, but it’s rather a complicated process, and I’m getting the feeling that you have to have one foot already in the door for someone to land a job in—”

Priscilla interrupted me with her own story and leaned on Dominic to recount the anecdote. I had the distinct feeling she didn’t like to not be the centre of attention, and I had to bite down on my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything outright insulting.

I sat straighter on my chair and side-eyed Kat, who exhaled and rolled her eyes. When Priscilla was done with her tale, Nate turned back in my direction and attempted to ask me a new question, which Priscilla jumped on and spun into her own little narrative.

Dominic kept his cool and was a polite gentleman with his girlfriend. He genuinely tried to look interested in what she said, but I could see his heart wasn’t entirely there.

When she continued to run her mouth and make every bit of conversation about her or someone she knew, my hand fell loudly on the table, startling everyone but Priscilla. Was this what Kat meant when she said she couldn’t stand her? God, that woman was more annoying than I thought. I would need more than two shots of liquor to get through another five minutes with her.

I didn’t want to look at Dominic, but when I felt his heated gaze again, I couldn’t help myself. Our eyes locked for a few seconds, and he gave me the same look he did back at the house—the sexy-smoulder-sex look, but it still held a hint of seriousness and perhaps some confusion as well.

Something strong kept pulling me to him, and my body immediately reacted to his ravenous stare, making me uncomfortable. I began hating that his arm was behind his girlfriend’s seat and how her hand was intimately resting atop Dominic’s thigh.

I had pride and knew when to call it quits before losing my mind.

I grabbed the apron I had placed beside me and got up, stringing it behind my back.

“Sorry, guys. My break is over. Nate, it was a pleasure meeting you.”

I ignored Dominic’s stare, which had turned cold, but I still nodded politely in his direction. As for Priscilla, I gave her a tight smile before rolling my hips to turn around. I apologetically squeezed Kat’s shoulder and returned behind the bar to hide.

Wanda and Jody appeared behind the counter in record time, and it confused me because most of their tables were vacant, which meant they didn’t appear before me for drink orders.

“Liv! Do you know who you were talking to?” asked Jody with a sickly fan-girl giggle.

Yeah. An arrogant jerk. “Should I?”

“That’s Dominic Moore! He’s only the richest, most handsome guy in this city. Girl, is your head under a rock?” Wanda added.

“Seems like a spoiled rich man to me. And I told you about him. That’s the coffee stealer!”

Both girls cackled and clapped their hands while asking me many questions about him. I didn’t know Dominic personally, so I couldn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. Also, I didn’t gossip, and I didn’t care for it.

Martin heard me getting exasperated, so he flew to my rescue and sent the girls back to the tables. I tipped my head as a thank you and leaned over the bar to take one last look in Dominic’s direction.

He left me with a strange feeling inside. I couldn’t grasp what it was, but I didn’t like it.

I only knew that Dominic Moore had started a fire within me, and now I wondered if I wanted to be consumed by it or if I wanted it extinguished.