Ahead of the Darkness (8 page)

“Well, I’ll be damned. Where did you come from? Little Mi has some skills.” Jules, appearing out of nowhere, startled me.

“Oh, please. Just because you can’t pour a beer without getting it everywhere.” Mac was clearly unimpressed, and walked off to serve a few guys that had just walked in.

“So, Mia. Tell me all about yaself; favourite colour, cup size, sexual position, phone number, ya know, the usual.” Jules seemed to have waited long enough to bombard me with questions.

“Favourite colour?”

“Out of that list, you found that one the strangest?”

“From the little I've seen of you, yes. What value could the fact I like green be to you?”

“Well, now I know what colour to wear when I take you out, now don't I?” I looked at him, confused. “You don't like it when a guy wears your favourite colour?”
Oooh.

“Not especially. If I don't like them it could ruin the colour for me.”

“You wound me.” He mocked, and laughed along with Angus. “So?”

“So?”

“Don’t hold out on me, what about the rest?” He smiled at me, full well knowing I wouldn’t give those details up. I just looked at him with a sort of bored expression.

“Ye done harassing my staff?” I stiffened at Drew’s reappearance behind me, and frowned at the slight exaggeration of the word
my
.

“I was doing no such thing to ‘your’ staff.” I hadn’t been the only one who noticed.
What was that about?

“Drew!”

“Hiya Becki, what ye got there?”

“Your brilliant new girl here made us all cocktails.” It seemed the drinks were kicking in already. “She’s our new favourite, and you need to get her a blender.” Yeah, Becki was on her way.

“Aye?”

“I told them to go hard on me, they picked cocktails.” I shrugged.

“Aye, nae challenge there.”

“Except for finding the right ingredients. You do need a blender, by the way.”

“Aye, so it would seem.”

“You’re not seriously going to get a blender because the new girl wants to make some fancy cocktails no one is going to drink? That’s crazy, Drew.”
HA.
I’d seen that coming.

“Oh we’ll drink them!”

“Yes! Oh please, Drew?”

“What else can you make?” all three said simultaneously.

“That settles it. Mia gets whatever she needs to make the bonne lasses what they want to drink.” He winked at them, and they cheered loudly. The smile Drew gave me said a great deal.

“You planned this?” I said quietly to Drew.

“I dinnae know what ye’re talking about.” But his dimple said otherwise.

More bodies started to file in. Drew nodded to Jules to get on it, and stopped Mac in her tacks.

“Did ye get the bathroom sorted?”

“But—”

“It’ll take ye five. Go on, before it gets busy.”

“Do you not have a cleaner come in?” I asked.

“Aye but only every other day. It just needs a quick spray of disinfectant and refill.”

“And it's normally not done by me,” Mac muttered.

“Alex quit. Get over it, princess, it's not like you never get your hands dirty.” I wasn’t sure what Jules was insinuating, but Mac got the hint.

“Sod off!” Mac stormed off to the bathroom with a scowl on her face. Drew just shook his head at the pair of them.

“I saw yer performance, by the way.”

“My what? Oh, the drinks.”

“Aye.” He pointed up at the camera above us and I nodded my head in understanding. Of course he had cameras on his tills. It was the only way to run a successful business. It protected him and the staff. I tried not to breathe him in again as he moved a little closer, and lowered his voice.

“I thought ye were quick before, but that was somethin’.”

“I’m quick with my hands and have a strong memory.” I shrugged off the compliment.

“How many drinks can ye make off the top of ye head?”

“You mean from memory?”
Umm ... four ... nine ... thirteen ...

“Aye?”

“A few ...”

“Enough to make a menu?”

“You want to make a cocktail menu?”

“Aye, I’ve been thinking about having a cocktail night.”

“But if I’m the only one who can make them?”

“Ye not, but ye could teach the others.”

“Oh yes, teach me your wicked ways Mia.” Jules waggled his eyebrows at me. The men he was serving all chuckled while eyeing their eyes travelled my body.

“Knock it off, ye dirty bastard.”

“What about a cocktail hour instead?”

“Aye, that could work. What did ye charge them?”

“Oh, ten?”
Oops
.

“Aye, that’s good. Cocktail hour it is and if it takes off, we can have a night of it.”
Baiser
. Mac will love it ...

“Okay, you’re going to need to go shopping then.”

“Make me a list and it’s done.”

“Mia, was it?” One of the girls interrupted.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Can, we get another?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Do you all want the same?” It was making me uncomfortable the way Drew was watching me.

“What else can you make? We don’t really know a lot of cocktails,” Becki said.

“Ah ... hmm, let’s see.” I did a quick inventory. “Well, with what we have here I can make most martini’s, or a Manhattan, a Screwdriver, a Margarita ...”

“Yes!” They all said in unison.

“Margarita? Do you have salt, Drew?”

“Aye.” He handed me the salt with what I could only describe as a cocky grin on his face. I needed to knock it off.

“I have an idea, girls.” Their faces lit up. “I think Drew here is holding out on us, and we should see what he’s made of.” Drew’s eyes went wide as the girls squealed with delight.

“Oh yes!”

“He’s always holding out on us.” Becky pouted playfully.

“Do it!”

“What are ye planning?” He squinted at me good-humouredly.

“Drink-off.” I smiled gleefully at his less-than-confident face. “Do you know how to make a Margarita, or do I need to teach you, too?” I knew that would have his attention.

“Aye. What are ye rules then?”

“Three points: one for time, one for taste, and one for presentation.”

“Aye, and whom do we get to judge?” Hmm ...

“Angus?” I laughed.

“We want to be on Mia’s team. Are there teams?” I’d made patrons for life, it seemed. I smiled at the girls.

“Yeah mate, we’ll get ya back.” A few of the guys Jules had been serving had piped up at the festivities.

“Aye, too right ye lads will. So it’s settled. We make four drinks each: one for each on our team, and the final judge, Angus. Angus, you in, old chap?

“Too right I am.”

“I’ll be needing your tie then, Drew.” I walked up to Drew and gripped the end of his tie. He looked at me curiously. “To blindfold Angus, of course.” The girls loved the idea and made room for him to stand between them.

Before Drew could disagree, I’d begun to remove his tie. He didn’t protest, but watched me intently. My pulse quickened, and I was acutely aware of how sexual it felt. If it hadn’t been for the cheering in the background I could have forgot we weren’t alone. I snapped to, pulling the tie out from his collar quicker and turned to Angus.

“This won’t hurt a bit.” Angus laughed as I covered his eyes.

“Ye ready?” The bar seemed to be much fuller than I had noticed. Everyone was watching the two of us, including a bitter-looking Mac.

“Ready.”

“Set. Go.” And he was off.

Drew and I bumped into each other repeatedly trying to collect the lowball glasses, lime wedges and salt. We butted heads over the tequila and he beat me to it, but I reached for the triples sec first and ran around the other side to get the other bottle of tequila. I grabbed the biggest shaker—surprisingly, there was one—and filled it with ice. Drew was muttering under his breath about needing a better-stocked bar, as he only had a smaller shaker to use.

I added enough tequila and triple sec for five, just in case, and half a fresh lemon and lime. I was shaking my mixer before Drew. He was wasting time by pouring each shot in separately.

Then it was my turn to waste time trying to find a flat dish for the salt, and I was about to give up when Jules passed me one.

“Ye cheating bastard! Ye cannae help her.”

“No fair, Boss, she doesn’t know where half the stuff is.”

“Ah, sod off.” I laughed, and instead of taking the dish I improvised.

I washed my hands real quick in the sink, rubbed the lime around the edge of the glasses and then filled my left hand with the salt.

“What are ye doing, ye daft?”

The girls cheered and laughed as I ran the edge of each glass along the salt in my palm, making sure the rim was covered. Dusting off the excess salt, I strained the shaker into the four glasses.
Perfect!

“DONE!” I jumped up and down on the spot with a little too much excitement.

“Ah, bollocks!” He was still rimming the glasses with lime.

“Mia wins the first point,” Becki yelled out, the other two cheering when I gave them their drinks. They eagerly dived in then squealed in delight.

“Easy, girls. You don’t want that to repeat itself in an hour.” They laughed, but slowed down all the same.

Drew finally finished his drinks and the last one came up short. I fought my laugh, and slid him the remainder in my shaker.

“Ye a clever wee shite, aren’t ye?”

“Aye.” I mocked. “But don’t give that one to Angus.” Drew laughed, and shook his head. We put our drinks up on the bar in front of Angus. I added a sneaky lime wedge on the edge, and winked at Drew’s wide-eyed look.

“Ye sneaky bitch,” he muttered to me. I smirked at just how clever I really was.

“Angus, you can remove your blindfold now.” The girls helped, and threw it back at Drew, laughing all the while.

“It took ya long enough, son. Oh, these look fancy.”

“Which one looks the best?”

Drew reached forward and removed the lime wedge from mine, and threw it in the sink.

“Aye, which one looks the best?” I elbowed Drew in the ribs, and he chuckled lightly.

“This one. The salt stuff on the glass looks more even.”
HA!
Drew grumbled incomprehensively to himself.

“Aye, and which one tastes better?” He took a big sip of Drew’s first, and then mine. He took a few small sips of both, and
hmm
ed and
ah
ed. It was plain to see that he couldn’t tell the difference, but Drew was eagerly waiting for an answer.

He needn’t have bothered. “Mia wins, hands down.”

I laughed. Drew folded his arms across his chest. “Sorry son, it has a clear woman’s touch.”

“Aye it’s bloody rigged.”

"The cocktail queen of Cascades!" Jules yelled into the crowd. Everyone laughed and cheered. Drew pretended to frown and pout, but I could see his eyes sparkled with amusement.

The orders came in fast, and happy hour became three hours. I was rushed off my feet the whole time, not even noticing the DJ had arrived at some point and by eleven pm, the club was pumping at full capacity. It was crazy, and I loved it.

"So, sweet thing, ya gonna give me ya number?" The seventh guy to tried and hit on me for the night. I say
try
because they didn’t get far ...

"Ye harassing my staff again, Jimmy?"

Because Drew was always there, putting them in their place.

"You never complained when it was Mac." We looked over to see Mac leaning all over the bar, flirting.

"Aye, she gives more than she gets, mind."

"You don't think I can give as good as I get?" I watched as Drew fought a smirk.

"I nae said that, love."

"Maybe I wanted to give this guy—”

“Jimmy.” The guy added, Drew shot him a look, and he took his drink and walked off.

“Maybe I wanted to give Jimmy my number, or any of the others." That shut Drew up quickly. He was definitely taken aback. He leaned in closer so he didn’t have to yell over the music.

"Did ye wanna give him ye number, or one of the other lads?”

“I might have. You didn’t give me a chance to find out.”

“I thought ..."

"Thought what?" My pulse quickened.
Thought I wanted you?

"Thought ye ... weren't like that.”
Well damn ...
“I didn’t mean any harm. I'll leave ye to fend for yerself." And he walked off without another peep.

What the?
Apparently, just because he couldn’t have me no one else could, and I was the tart?

I was in such a funk until close. Drew didn’t say a thing to me for the rest of the night. It made my mood all the worse that he seemed to avoid me, and the word must have spread. No one tried to ask for my number or flirt with me after the last guy had left. I couldn’t understand him at all.

“You need a ride, Mia?” Jules asked as I shut the locker, bag in hand.

“Sorry?”

“Jules, did ye lock the door?” Drew interrupted gruffly.

“Yeah, you just saw me lock it, like, five minutes ago.” He frowned at Drew and turned back to me. “Did ya need someone to take you home?”

“Oh. No, I’ll walk.”

“Tough cookie to crack.” Jules nodded, and opened the staff door for me to walk through first I wasn’t sure if I should wait for Drew or not. He’d still not said a word to me.
Bugger it
.

“Mia, ye got a minute?” Drew yelled from the office door. Jules and I stopped short.

“I’ll see ya tomorrow night. Yeah?”

“Unless Drew fires me in the next minute.” Jules smiled like he knew something I didn’t.

“I think ya good. Night Mi.” I frowned, and he chuckled as he walked off.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No, I just wanted to talk to ye about ... how do ye like it?”

“I’m sorry?”
Ah ...

“Tonight. How’d ye like it?”
Oh.

“It was fine.”
Mostly.

“Fine? Ye dinnae like it?”

“No. It was fine. It’s late, Drew. What exactly do you need?”

“I’m trying to find out if ye want the job or not.”

“Oh ... Do you want to give me the job? I wasn’t sure ...” What he wanted.

“Aye. Ye did great. Ye beat me at a bleeding cocktail battle. Ye damn quick, woman.”