I arrived about ten minutes before the conference. All the other bartenders, plus most of the waitresses, as well as the two cooks, had already arrived and were loitering around the back of the club by the bar.
Needing my fellow bartenders to lift my mood, I bumped my arm into Quinn's elbow when I approached him from behind.
I nodded my chin at him and grinned as he turned to acknowledge me. "How's that tongue of yours doing, kid?"
He flushed. "Good."
Next to him, Ten laughed and jabbed Quinn in the belly teasingly. "Aww, look at that humble little grin, while I know for a fact his girl can't keep her hands off him. Always begging to stay the night, unable to stop kissing him. He's turned her into a fucking nympho."
"And he keeps saying she can't stay over." Quinn scowled at his new roommate. "But I don't care if he brings women in overnight. It's not fair."
"Hey, life's not fair," Ten said, completely unrepentant about refusing Quinn more time with his girl.
"Maybe you should tell him he can't have any women over until he agrees to let your-"
"Save it," Ten cut in, scowling at me for putting in my two cents worth. "I don't care if he bars them from my bedroom; I'll just take them somewhere else to fuck . . . like he's going to keep doing with Cora."
"See," Quinn told me. "He won't budge on the issue at all."
When I noticed Ten shift uncomfortably behind Quinn's back, I decided Ten probably had a damn good reason for saying no, and I had a bad feeling it'd leave me pissed at him. But I didn't get to think about it much because Jessie strolled out from the back hall.
"Everyone here?" she asked. "Good." Before waiting to hear that a handful of waitresses hadn't arrived yet, she kept talking. "Dad got an offer to sell this place, and he took it. Meet your new boss."
Just like that, she dropped the big news. No easing into it, no foreplay to soften us up and tell us what good workers we'd been to her family. Just . . . boom. New boss.
What the hell?
Gasps and questions flew around me as my jaw fell open. But damn, I hadn't expected this to happen. I glanced at the other guys, and they returned the same puzzled glances before Mason glanced over and his eyes went wide.
"Oh, shit," he whispered.
I turned and froze.
Bradshaw Mercer strolled out of the hallway behind Jessie, looking as rich, polished, and pristine as ever. When his gaze met mine, his smile grew.
"Good afternoon, everyone." He nodded pleasantly, breaking his gaze with me before looking at all the others as if he were some kind of honorable businessman.
My eyes narrowed. I still wanted to hurt him. Bad. Even more so now than ever. But if he thought he could control me by buying the bar where I worked, he better try to come up with a better strategy. I would drop this place so fast . . . Except I had Eva, Julian, and Skylar to think about. I wouldn't be able to support them on just the garage salary alone. What if I couldn't find another job somewhere else? What if-?
Damn, he was good, I'd give him that.
"My name is Shaw, and yes, I'm technically your new boss, although I've already hired an assistant to run the day to day management. You'll be receiving all your instructions directly from her." Stepping aside, he swept out his hand to the figure who I suddenly noticed waiting in the shadows behind him. "Patricia? Would you care to introduce yourself?"
When Mrs. Garrison stepped into the light, my jaw dropped. Quinn, Noel, Ten, and I instantly glanced toward Mason.
Gray eyes swirling with murder, he threw up his hands. "I quit."
But as soon as he turned away, our new supervisor smirked after him, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "Not so fast, Mr. Lowe. If you quit, I'll relieve these four gentlemen here from their duties right along with you."
My stomach dropped as Mason ground to a halt. He turned back slowly and glared at her before swerving his tortured gaze to us guys. His eyes begged us to let him go, while ours begged him not to get us fired.
"Fuck it," Ten was the first to answer. "If you need to break out of here, then go. I can find a new job."
Noel closed his eyes and muttered, "Shit." We all knew he couldn't lose his income. He was living with a woman who was still looking for work, and now he had three siblings to take care of on top of that.
"I . . . I just signed a six-month lease on my apartment," Quinn said in a small voice. "But I . . . oh, man. I understand if you have to . . . Whatever you need to do, Mason. It's okay."
Mason glanced at me. He knew exactly who I had to support, and he knew who he had to support. Gritting his teeth in a snarl, he turned back to Mrs. Garrison and glared at her. He was going to stay.
She smiled smugly. "That's what I thought."
She started talking to the crowd as a whole, explaining a bunch of bullshit no one cared about. As she blathered on, detailing her new duties as our direct supervisor, I slid my gaze back to Eva's father. He was watching me-a small, smug smile twitching around his mouth.
I'm not sure what his game was, if he was doing this to get revenge because I'd hit him, or if he wanted to draw his daughter away from me, but I was used to being the underdog, the one always forced to bow to superiors. He had another thing coming if he thought this was going to spook me.
Mason was spooked though. He vibrated as he glowered at Mrs. Garrison. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she'd come into Forbidden and tried to convince him she was pregnant with his baby. God, so much had happened since then.
Eva had happened.
Eva, the woman I couldn't lose, no matter what.
My stomach churned with unease.
Mrs. Garrison dismissed us a few minutes later, reminding us our new work policies would soon show up on the board in the break room. Mason didn't move, so Ten, Noel, Quinn, and I stuck around too, backing him up for . . . whatever he may need.
With a pleasant smile, Mrs. Garrison sauntered toward us.
"Why are you doing this?" he demanded, his voice low and deadly. "And how'd you get hooked up with him?" His gaze sought Eva's father before he turned back to her.
She grinned. "What? Are you jealous, darling?"
"Hardly. I just wanted to give him my congratulations in case he's the one who put those bruises on your neck."
Her eyes turned dark and troubled as her fingers found her throat, where I spotted dark fingerprints I hadn't noticed before.
If he'd done anything like that to Eva when he'd molested her, I'd-fuck, I couldn't kill my boss. I would go to jail.
But, oh man, it'd be worth it.
Leaning closer to Mrs. Garrison, Mason lowered his voice. "Too bad I didn't know you were into that before. I wouldn't have stopped squeezing."
"Hmm." She blinked repeatedly, her eyes flickering out all her troubled thoughts. Ignoring him, she turned to Quinn. "Well, don't you have a pretty face? What's your name, handsome?"
When she reached out to touch Quinn's cheek, Mason slapped her hand away. "Don't touch him."
She lifted her brows, pleasure spreading across her face. "My, my, you really are jealous today. Do you know how much that turns me on?"
While the rest of us dropped our jaws in shock, Mason sniffed and spun to us, dismissing her. "Mess with her at your own risk, but be forewarned. She's a lying, manipulative, blackmailing bitch."
"Dude," Noel said, shaking his head. "I think we've already figured that out."
Mason nodded and strode from the building. Mrs. Garrison huffed as she stared after him. When she glanced at the rest of us, we all lurched away. Even Ten, who usually didn't know any better. Frowning even harder, she whirled away and marched off toward the office, breezing past Eva's father who had just waylaid one of the waitresses by catching her arm and sending her a friendly smile.
"Was it just me," Ten murmured to Noel, Quinn, and I. "Or was that meeting totally fucked up?"
I kept watching Mercer as he slid alongside the girl, whispering intimately, and dread coiled hard in my belly. Great, here was yet another reason I couldn't leave Forbidden. I didn't want any of the waitresses to get tangled in his web.
"Tansy!" I yelled, lifting my chin and beckoning her to me when she glanced over. All the waitresses knew I was their protector. They trusted me. So, when I called her away from that prick bastard, she sent me a relieved smile and deserted him, hurrying to me without question.
Glaring Mercer down, I curled my arm around Tansy's waist and lowered my mouth to her ear. "Do not trust that snake. He's a fucking rapist. Do you hear me?" She shivered and looked up at me with wide, brown eyes. When she nodded, I nodded too. "Don't ever let yourself get caught alone with him. And warn all the other girls too. I don't care what he says to any of you, no one talks to him alone. Got it?"
"Okay, Pick." She leaned up and kissed my cheek. "And thank you. I thought I felt a strange vibe from him, but I tried to ignore it."