Damage: (Lakefield Book 5)

by Jennifer Vester

  Not a big deal, I had plenty of experience.

  “No problem. Where’s the office?” I asked, while walking over to the counter.

  Gary pointed to a door down the hallway. The sign on it read “Management” just in case someone forgot.

  I grabbed a tray out of an overhead bin, set it on the counter, and very carefully transferred the items to it without touching much of the plate’s surface. I liked to be clean, and certainly wouldn’t want any servers at other restaurants touching my plate.

  I lifted it up and smiled at Gary. “Again, it was nice to meet you.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Good luck, Suzanne.”

  Great. Going into a manager’s office with a tray of food and he says good luck. How bad was this guy? Was Gary expecting me to get yelled out of the office, or come back crying?

  Fat chance. I wasn’t built like that.

  I could handle this guy. There were dozens of bosses in my background and not one of them scared me away. Especially not some prick boss bent on being a mini tyrant in a club in Bakersville. No way.

  I carried the tray down the hall, annoyed that I was having to do this with my level of experience.

  Knocking on the door, I heard a stern, deep voice from the other side. The door swung open and the man walked away with a phone held to his ear.

  I entered, and he returned to his desk, keeping his back turned while he barked into the phone.

  “Yeah, I understand that, but I need to know a timetable. Whatever it is that he’s doing, we’re either not moving fast enough, or you guys are just too wrapped up with paperwork that you can’t see beyond the end of your desks.”

  The deep timber of his voice made me frown. It felt like I’d heard it before but couldn’t place it. Plenty of people sounded the same, though.

  I stood with the tray held up and studied the room. This was probably part of the initiation into employment at the club. See how long I would hold the damn thing without setting it down. So, I was on his time at the moment.

  Arrogant jackass.

  The office was extremely neat. Files and folders straight with very little clutter. A pen lay on the desk on top of a notepad. The computer monitor was set at an angle that looked precise. There were no extra decorations, paraphernalia, or personal items. In all, it was a very boring office.

  I eyed the man.

  He was taller than I was, by at least a foot, with dark brown hair that looked like it needed a major trim. He also appeared to have a scruffy beard from what I could see. He was wearing a black thermal shirt and pair of jeans that hugged his physique. The muscles underneath his shirt moved noticeably, as he leaned against his desk with his back still toward me. He was a tall guy, muscled, with wide shoulders, and a firm backside.

  He was probably one of those guys that knew he was good looking too. Although I hadn’t seen his face yet, I could imagine the arrogant expression he probably had etched on it since birth. With very few exceptions, these guys tended to annoy me. I really hoped he wasn’t another David. I would quit immediately and get the hell out. No need to go through that again.

  Although my view was attractive, it was starting to annoy the hell out of me.

  Hello? Waitress with your damn food. I rolled my eyes.

  “Okay, as long as we’re clear on the timetable I’m good, but if there’s an adjustment to that I need to be called immediately, rather than five days after the fact!” he snapped.

  He paused and listened to whoever it was on the other end of the phone. If there was actually anyone on the other end of the phone.

  I wasn’t going to play this game. I'd get a different job somewhere else, where my resume wasn’t lost in Gary’s busy office, and someone could remember my name was Suzanne instead of Sonya. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to be ignored by this ass.

  I walked around the desk without focusing on him, deftly depositing his water and plate from my tray onto the desk without touching his notepad.

  “Give me a second,” he said.

  I turned without looking at him, squared my shoulders, and held my head high as I headed for the door.

  “Suzie?” he asked.

  My step faltered, and I stopped. A small twinge of pain hit my chest.

  Only one person had ever called me that, and it was a joke between us in a way. Only one.

  I turned back to the man behind the desk.

  He had a beard now, but I recognized those lips, the set of his jaw and the look he directed at me. He might have tried to hide his appearance, dying his normally light brown hair to a shade that was nearly black, trying to look more rough and unrecognizable, but I knew him. My eyes slid up to his in confusion, and my heart raced in my chest. He appeared to be alive, healthy, and whole.

  The hand that was clutching his phone dropped from his face. He was staring at me, with both a surprised and angry look on his face.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.

  I took several deep breaths trying not to scream, and my hand came up to my chest, clutching at it. His tired eyes, that always seemed to look older than his age, bored into me and I dropped the tray.

  Mark wasn’t Mark at all. He was Cade.

  “Wha—” I managed to say on a deep exhale.

  “Fuck,” he cursed.

  I felt dizzy and started to sway.

  He was quick when he came around the desk, but I was already falling toward the floor in a black haze.

  Chapter Four

  I woke up blinking my eyes, wrapped in a pair of incredibly strong arms. His face hovered above me, while his hand smoothed back my hair.

  What. The. Fuck.

  I dug my boots into the floor and strained to back up away from him.

  “I think you need to sit down and have some water,” he said, while pulling me back against him.

  “I can’t—”

  The smell of him was overwhelming, and my nostrils strained to breath him in.

  I’d been around him at work enough to know his musky scent. The same smell that my body recognized when he was at work in his office. Even when I didn’t see him during my shift, that fucking smell let me know he was there. I thought the memory of its uniqueness had faded with his absence, but as I inhaled him, I knew I would always recognize it.

  When I gazed at him, a deep longing, much like the feelings I’d experienced after learning about his death, tore through me. All the emotions came crashing down over me in that one moment. He was here, his body pressed against mine, his scent making me whimper.

  “It’s okay. Sit first and we’ll talk,” he said, while maneuvering me to a chair in front of his desk. “Of all the people—shit this isn’t good.”

  My butt firmly in the chair, I gaped at him and watched him move around the room to retrieve a bottled water out of a cooler.

  He twisted the cap open and came back to squat in front of me.

  “Drink this.”

  I took it from him and swallowed a huge gulp that I coughed on.

  “But how are you alive, Ca—”

  He gave me a stern look. “Mark. Always Mark here. It’s complicated. Do you want something to eat?”

  His eyes swept down my body, lingering enough to cause my senses to come alive even in my shock.

  “Eat?”

  “Yeah, eat. It looks like you need to eat. Have you been starving yourself?” he growled.

  I shook my head, trying to clear my scattered thoughts. “No. I’m fine.”

  He stood up and reached across his desk. The end of his shirt hiked up in front of me. I saw the edge of a tattoo across his hip and disappear up his back.

  What the hell was happening? This wasn’t reality. Maybe I’d drifted off in the car and I was still asleep.

  I pinched myself on the arm several times.

  He laughed. “What are you doing, tiny girl?”

  “This is a dream. Has to be.”

  He brought the plate over and set it in my lap.
Squatting in front of me again, he took a piece of sliced apple and motioned toward my face.

  I shook my head, frowning at him. Who was this guy?

  He rolled his eyes and sighed. His other hand touched the side of my face, pulling at my jaw until I opened my lips. I winced a little from the contact with my bruise as the apple slice was gently put in my mouth.

  He narrowed his eyes at me, scanning my face. “Are you okay?”

  “Okay? Really? Is that a serious question?”

  “You flinched.”

  “I have a fucking toothache,” I lied as I continued to chew and study his face. How the hell was this even possible?

  “Eat,” he ordered, as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “Fuck, we don’t have time to talk. The bar is opening in about five minutes. Why are you here?”

  Finishing the last bit of apple, I managed to swallow without choking on it.

  The more I thought about the situation, the more I became angry. How dare he? Did he know what kind of hell he’d put people through at home?

  “I work here, jerk. Gary sent me in with your food. I’m assuming so you could give me the pass or fail bullshit.”

  He grimaced. “We were expecting a Sonya. Her experience wasn’t great on paper.”

  I frowned at him. “Well you got me. Paperwork mix-up according to Gary. Does it matter?”

  He eyed me for a minute before gaining his feet. His tired, brown eyes seemed to say something that I couldn’t interpret, as he studied my face.

  “Yes, it matters. You fail. You need to stay the fuck away from this bar.”

  I picked up the plate and set it on the desk with a little more force than I intended. When I stood up, I was reminded of his height compared to mine. He was well over six foot compared to my five-foot eight frame.

  I poked my finger into his chest and started jabbing at a solid wall of muscle that didn’t budge.

  “Fuck you. You don’t get to dictate anything in my life. Especially now. You have no idea what it was like. Not one bit.”

  A small smirk pulled at the side of his lips as his eyes roamed my face then slid down to my jabbing finger.

  “You are the most terrible man on the planet! I can’t even think about what sort of person would put his friends and family through what you did. Do you have any idea how much damage and grief you’ve caused? I’m staying on this job until I can find something else just to piss you off. Don’t come near me, and don’t even think about talking to me!”

  He moved closer and I flinched as his hand slid around my hip. His other one grabbed my hand that I was poking him with and held on to it.

  “I missed you, Suzie,” he said with a laugh. “You have no idea how much I wish I could go back and do some things differently.”

  “Wha…? Fuck off, jerk,” I retorted, while trying to pull free of his hard grip.

  His face dipped down to mine and he ran his lips across my mouth. My body immediately reacted by tensing, and tingles shot up my lower back.

  “Are you sure?” he asked against my lips. I could tell he was smiling.

  I wrenched back from him using the leverage of my hips to twist away.

  My hand shot out and I slapped him.

  “That’s for making everyone think you were dead, Cade.”

  He chuckled as if my slap hadn’t fazed him in the slightest.

  “It’s Mark here. Always Mark. We’ll talk later and set some things straight. Just trust me, and I’ll explain. Work here tonight, and we’ll find you something else in town. Like a flower shop, where no one can hear that mouth of yours, and you couldn’t possibly be a pain in the ass to anyone.”

  I growled at him and started to storm away.

  His hand slid around my waist and he hauled me back against him. I could feel every hard line of him against me as he pressed into my body.

  Against the side of my cheek, he whispered, “I meant everything I said. I wish I’d done things differently.”

  I shoved his hand away and he didn’t resist. When I got to the door, I paused to scowl at him.

  “You don’t get a do-over in life, Cade. If you fuck it up, it’s all on you to carry that burden around. How could you? Why would you do this?”

  He took two steps toward me. “I can explain, just stay tonight and we’ll talk later, I promise.”

  I yanked the door open, considering leaving altogether and calling every single person that knew him to scream at all of them. Had they fucking known? Leaving me in the dark seemed like a cruel fucking thing to do. I could feel his hot gaze on my back as I stomped down the hallway, his muffled footsteps coming closer as he stalked behind me.

  Gary was leaning against one of the kitchen counters with his arms folded across his chest. His gaze fell on me, then over my shoulder, and his eyebrows shot up.

  “She’s fine, Gary,” Cade barked. “For tonight.”

  I nodded at Gary as I stopped in front of him.

  “Any particular uniform?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and not sound as irritated as I really was.

  Gary’s eyes were still focused behind me as Cade passed and exited the kitchen. The door opened then closed rather forcibly.

  “He takes some getting used to, but Mark is an exceptional manager. Whatever he said, I’m sure he’ll get over it. Nice to have you on board.”

  He finally looked at me and smiled.

  I gave him a tight nod. “Yeah, I’ve worked for a few Mark type managers in my past. I’m not worried about it.”

  “Good, then do you know where you’ll be?”

  “Not a clue.”

  “Okay we’ll start you off in the main area then until Mark decides on something different. You’re fine in what you’re wearing unless you want to change. You have a little bit of time before people start wandering in. It’s a pretty casual place for the most part, but we do have a black waist apron for change, tips, notepads or whatever you feel comfortable with."

  I thought about my bag in the car. I had a change of clothing in there, but I hadn’t planned on wearing it.

  I'd thought that Rounders was going to be a little more conservative and didn’t think it was a club. The attire in the bag was more appropriate for a club atmosphere. I’d planned on changing into it before I left work, so I could be comfortable on the drive back home, and not smell like food or whatever else I might get on me during my shift.

  If I counted how many times a beer had been splashed on me, or someone had splattered me with food, I'd have been a rich woman.

  “Uhm, yeah I have some extra clothes in the car that I think I should change into.”

  Gary motioned to a different set of doors down the hallway toward the manager’s office.

  “Breakroom and employee restrooms. We have lockers, just bring a lock if you want to keep stuff safe. You look fine right now, but I know you girls like to wear different attire. It’s fine, just make sure you’re appropriately covered. If you run into trouble, one of the guys will take care of it, and believe me when I say they don’t mess around. Especially Mark.”

  I grimaced. “I bet. I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll just go get changed. Where were the hip aprons?”

  “Breakroom, cleaned every night and brought back to wear. Mark insists on it.”

  That sounded like the Cade I knew. He was apparently as OCD as ever. He’d done the same thing at Muse when he was the partial owner and manager there.

  Fuck. He was alive this whole time. My irritation with him in the office was only the tip of the iceberg.

  The things that had happened to me in my life didn’t compare to this. Those things, although rough and completely devastating in a lot of ways, didn’t come close to this.

  I had no idea why.

  Maybe it was the fact that he seemed fine. When people died, the friends and family left behind grieved and healed. Memories turned into precious things. The dead didn’t just come back to tell you to sit down and eat an apple.

  He was alive, and I shoul
d feel some elation at that news. Which I did, but it was mixed with a fair amount of “I was going to kill him all over again” vibes.

  Asshole.

  I nodded at Gary and headed for the door. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Good luck!”

  When I stepped into the main room, loud music greeted me. The lights were turned very low, only the bars and dancefloor were lit up for the most part.

  It was enough low-lighting to do my job, but it definitely felt more like a club suddenly.

  The TVs in the sports bar area were turned on, a few customers already seated watching a football game. It seemed like Scott was busy making drinks, as one of the younger servers took orders.

  Passing through the main room, I noted where the two bars in the room were set up, and who was at each. Duke was at the end nearest to the door, with one of the servers helping him set up the counter. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Cade had set up further into the room at the other bar and was busy stocking liquor with his back to me.

  Good, I didn’t want to look at him anyway.

  I made my way to the doors and met a nice, older woman named, Lana, who was manning a high-top desk set back into the wall. There was a glass partition between her and about ten guests that were currently filtering in and paying for admission.

  She nodded at me when I told her who I was, so that I could get back in without trouble.

  If the place was already getting a few people this early in the night, then I wondered what it would be like later.

  I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed my mom as I made my way across the dusky parking lot. I was planning on staying the entire shift now that I knew what the score was. Gary hadn’t been specific on the phone, but I assumed it was at least until the bar closed. I thought it was going to be earlier, but club hours were totally different.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hey, Mom. It looks like I’ll be here past midnight. I’ll shut it down tonight and you know the gig. Lock the doors, keep the phone beside your bed, etc.”

  “I definitely know the routine. You need to try some college, so you don’t have to work those jobs the rest of your life and end up like your mom.”

  I laughed.