Secrets, Lies & Imperfections

by Pamela L. Todd

  No way in hell was I blowing this chance.

  And work… Jesus Christ.

  Henry hadn’t been kidding when he said it would be harder and tougher than Spain. But I rose to the challenge. That first week alone saw a fifteen-percent rise in profits. I had a good team and they seemed to accept me as the new boss, even though I was roughly the same age as most of them.

  I planned for weekly staff meetings to kick around some ideas with the team, tell them where we were succeeding and where we needed to pick up the slack. And when Teresa, one of the hot bartenders, flirted with me as if it were an Olympic sport, I made myself swear on my own life not to shit where I ate.

  Nothing was worth that crapstorm.

  But safe to say, my first week managing the bar kicked some serious ass. My first night off, I called Hank and Jimmy and set up a night out. Freshly showered and wearing jeans and a green shirt, I jogged downstairs, but paused a few steps from the bottom.

  Blake and Marley were in the kitchen, and from the sound of it, having another hissy, passive aggressive non-argument argument.

  “Not going to open it?” Marley asked, her voice tainted with bitterness.

  “Why? Think it will say something different this time?” Blake threw back. “Jesus, Marley, what the hell do you want from me here? It’s not like I mailed the damn thing.”

  “I know,” she said, quieter this time.

  “I just wish all this shit would disappear and let us go back to normal.”

  “Normal?” Marley laughed, a harsh sound. “Are you serious? How in the hell do we go back to normal? And you know exactly how to make this disappear.”

  There was a loaded silence and it was all I could do to make my body stay as still as possible. Things were bad enough without them knowing I was shamelessly eavesdropping.

  “I’m going to be late for work,” Marley mumbled. A moment later I heard the kitchen door open and close.

  I gave it another minute before whistling loudly and sauntering into the kitchen as though I’d only just come downstairs.

  Blake cut me a sharp look. “Don’t give me that bullshit. I know you heard everything.”

  My whistle trailed off. “Okay. Busted.”

  He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his short hair. “I’m so sick and tired of this crap. She’s making my life a living nightmare.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “She is? Or your ex-best friend is, and Marley’s just reacting? What the hell was that about anyway?”

  Wordlessly, Blake tossed a letter across the island to me—a paternity test request from Theo.

  “I’m guessing this is just the most recent of many?” I asked, tossing it back.

  Blake gave a sharp nod. “He keeps sending them. Right when things are going fine for us too. It’s like the asshole has a fucking radar or something. Blake and Marley are happy again, best go and shit it up.”

  I blew out a breath. “Man, I’d hate to be in your shoes. What I don’t get is why you’re getting angry at each other? Shouldn’t you both be pissed at the other douche?”

  “Should be. She wants me to do the test to shut him up.”

  “And you, being a stubborn Hamilton, refuses to. I get it.” Talk about a rock and a hard place.

  Blake shrugged. “It is what it is. You going out?”

  “Yeah, I’m meeting a few of the guys for some drinks. You could come if you want. Might be a good idea to take the edge off.”

  A small smile pulled at his mouth. “I’m fine, but thanks, Seth.”

  “No sweat, Blake.” I turned to leave but paused at the doorway. “As much as the thought of living with Dad again sounds like the worst kind of torture, you’ll tell me if it gets too much with me being here, right?”

  Blake snorted a laugh. “Trust me. You’d be the first to know.”

  My brother missed a hell of a night. We hit all our old haunts and tore up the town and made up for two years’ worth of lost time. We’d all met in high school and we’d been tight from day one. They were a good bunch of guys, always had each other’s backs.

  It was a great night. Made better by the petite brunette who took me home with her and had the stamina of a nymphomaniac.

  * * * *

  The next night at work, Marley stayed behind. The door girls got off a few hours earlier than the rest of us club rats, and so Marley would usually head home first, leaving me to take a cab once I’d restocked the bars and dealt with the cash. But when Marley didn’t poke her head into the club to say she was taking off, and instead started filling the bar fridges, it was painfully clear she was avoiding Blake.

  Which she did…for three weeks straight.

  I never called her on it. If that was what she needed, she could have it. Made my job easier, and Christ, she’d gotten me the job, so that left her free to do whatever the hell she wanted in my book. It wasn’t hard to be around Marley. She was a cool girl—nothing like the chick I’d pictured my brother ending up with. I’d thought for sure he’d go for some heiress to try to please Dad.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know,” I said, placing another crate of beer in front of Marley at the bar. Just because I wasn’t going to call her out on avoidance issues didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try to talk her out of it. Without, you know, talking about it.

  “I know,” she said, lifting the bottles out and placing them in the fridges.

  “No, seriously. You’ve helped put stock away the last three weeks.”

  She shrugged.

  I sighed. “Fine. Don’t blame me when you drop dead of exhaustion.”

  “I won’t,” Marley said, quietly.

  “And don’t forget to remind Blake I didn’t coerce you into slave labor!” I called over my shoulder as I walked back to the storeroom.

  “Don’t suppose you’re looking for a career change?” I asked when I came back, giving her a jump. She’d filled all the fridges, despite being distracted.

  She grinned. “Not right now.”

  “Damn. You’d make a great bar wench.”

  “That’s what they said on career day. Go figure.”

  The rest of the bar staff were emerging from the staff room, jackets in hand, ready to leave for the night.

  “Night, boss! See you, Marley,” Alex, one of the bartenders called. He smiled, glancing between Marley and me. I gave him a nod but couldn’t stop the frown. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Rumors had started to spread and Marley staying late with me every goddamn night wasn’t helping.

  Marley raised her hand in a small wave, her forehead puckering as Alex whispered something to the barmaid walking beside him.

  “What was that about?” she asked once they were gone.

  I shrugged. Deny, deny, deny. “Alcohol fumes must be screwing with their brains.”

  Marley waited at the service entrance while I made sure the doors were locked up tight, alarms were set and lights flicked off. When I approached her out of the darkness, she almost jumped out her skin.

  “I hate this place when it’s closed.”

  I chuckled. “So why hang around longer than necessary?”

  “Just trying to do my part for the environment. We’re going to the same place.” She shivered again. “What the hell makes this place so creepy?” Her voice echoed around us as we walked down the dim corridor.

  “Give it an hour and it’ll be its lively self again.” Very true. Just because the club was closed didn’t mean the rest of the hotel was. There weren’t as many active staff working at this late hour, but breakfast time was fast approaching and the halls would soon be bustling. “My day off could not come sooner,” I said, stretching once we got into the car.

  “A whole day off?” Marley grinned and started the engine. “Must be doing something right.”

  “Well, I try.”

  “So you don’t need a ride tomorrow?”

  “Nope. And I’ll expect a thanks from my big brother that he’s getting his fiancée home a few hours earlier.”

&nbs
p; I didn’t miss the way her face fell.

  No, I wouldn’t call her out on avoidance, but I could sometimes make it impossible for her.

  * * * *

  It was the busiest night in the club yet. We were at capacity. Liquor bottles were replaced more often. There wasn’t a break at any of the three bars. I was in fucking heaven. I’d jumped behind the main bar to help out, and two hours later we were still slammed.

  Drinks were served at breakneck speed but this was a great team. We all worked well together. No one got in the way. Everyone upped their game.

  I turned to the next customer to be served and my voice died in my throat and a grin spread across my face. “Hey…Angry Girl!”

  The gorgeous blonde from the coffee house turned, and for a beat, her eyes widened. “Oh. It’s you. Perfect.”

  I laughed. “I hear that a lot. You having a good night?”

  Her smile was laced with venom. “I was.”

  “Ouch. What are you drinking?”

  She looked as though she was considering telling me where to get off. But when she glanced around and saw this was her last chance for a drink in under twenty minutes, her resolve wavered. “Lemon Drop. Hold the ice.”

  “You got it,” I said with a wink and turned to mix her drink. When I slid it across the bar to her, I waved away her cash. “It’s on me. Consider it an apology for being such an ass last time we met.”

  “Won’t you get in trouble from your boss?”

  “I am the boss.”

  She laughed.

  “I’m serious.”

  “Sure you are. Thanks for the drink.” She turned to leave.

  “Hey, wait!” I called. When she didn’t listen and carried on disappearing into the crowd, I vaulted over the bar and pushed through all the bodies to get to her. I caught her hand, gently, so as not to terrify her and earn me a smack in the mouth, but hard enough to get her attention.

  She turned and her eyes widened again.

  I decided I liked that look on her. Fucking gorgeous eyes. “Can’t I at least get your name?”

  She opened her mouth before quickly closing it again.

  “Okay, I’ll go first. I’m Seth Hamilton. I really am the boss here. I’m the manager. I got the job the day I met you. I’ve been in Europe for two years. I have the biggest fucking crush on you.”

  She blinked. “I’m not sure what to say to all that.”

  I grinned. “You could tell me your name.”

  “Why? I won’t ever go out with you.”

  Blunt. And a challenge. I was liking this chick more every time I saw her. “So I have a name to put to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Is that your best line?”

  I laughed. “No, just the truth. I don’t do lines.”

  “Yeah right. I bet you don’t have an original thought in your head. Everything about you is all about the game. It’s so obvious this is nothing more than the chase for you. How many girls usually turn you down?”

  “None,” I admitted. I squeezed her fingers. “Please tell me.”

  She blew out a breath. “Fine. Not that it matters, but my name is Cassidy.”

  “Cassidy,” I said, trying my tongue around the word. It felt good in my mouth. “Cassidy. Nice. Feels good.”

  She laughed. “Weirdest compliment ever, but thanks.”

  “So, Cassidy,” I said, “go out with me.”

  Cassidy rolled her eyes and tugged her hand free. “No.”

  When she pushed back into the crowd, I let her.

  Baby steps.

  Chapter Seven

  Exactly three nights later, fate strolled right into the club. Or, more accurately, Drew, one of the floor crew guys, tripped over his own mop and cracked his head on the edge of the bar. And being the fine, upstanding manager that I am, I escorted him to the ER. After making him sign an accident form, of course.

  I sat in the waiting room, sipping tepid, weak-as-shit coffee while Drew was getting checked over. Sitting there in the brutally early hours of the morning was like getting to see my customers after they leave the club. Well, after they leave the club and head down to a twenty-four-hour liquor store for all the booze they could swill.

  Dregs of humanity as far as the eye could see. That, and legitimate people needing help, of course.

  “Oh, God, you have got to be kidding me.”

  I glanced up at the sound of the familiar voice and did a double take. Cassidy stood in front of me, arms folded beneath those gravity-defying boobs, clad in a pink-and-orange flowery scrub shirt and pale-blue bottoms.

  A grin spread across my face. “Angry Girl! Jesus, you look so fucking cute.”

  Cassidy rolled her eyes.

  I tossed the magazine I’d been pretending to read onto the coffee table and stood, taking a few steps closer to her. “You’re a nurse? And here I never pegged you for a career where you have to deal, and deal nicely, with the human population.”

  “Yes, I’m a nurse. Are you here with Drew Hardman?” she asked.

  “I am.”

  “He’s ready to go home. Will you follow me, please?” Cassidy turned and headed down the hallway.

  “Honey, I’d follow you all day long if you’d let me,” I said, jogging to catch up to her.

  “And there it is,” she mumbled, shooting me a look that warned me to not to push her any further. “No nurse flirting. I’m in no mood.”

  Yeah, right. Like that’d scare me off. “Fine, fine. On a totally unrelated topic, I’ve been suffering from a horrifically broken heart. This girl, this beautiful, smart and sassy girl with a foul mouth keeps ripping my battered heart right out of my chest. Please fix it for me.”

  Cassidy’s eyes scanned me from head to toe and I had the feeling I was left wanting. “I’m supposed to believe there was a heart in there to begin with?”

  I laughed. “Jesus, could your opinion of me get any lower?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a hard one to call.” Cassidy led me to a bed where Drew was zipping up his sweatshirt.

  “Hey, man, how you feeling?” I asked him.

  “Fine. Nothing major,” Drew said with a shrug.

  “He can’t be alone for the next twelve hours or so. Are you staying with him?” Cassidy asked.

  “I need to get back to the club, or I would.”

  Drew snorted a laugh. “Dude, I still live my mom. She loves this kind of shit, getting to run around after me.”

  I grinned at Cassidy. “See? He’ll be fine. I’ll drive him home and make sure his mother is awake.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, what a stand-up guy.” She looked at Drew. “All the discharge papers are signed. You’re free to go whenever you’re ready.” Picking up the clipboard from the bottom of the bed, Cassidy turned on her heel and disappeared.

  “What’d you do to piss off the nurse?” Drew asked as he shoved his phone and wallet into his pockets.

  I snorted a laugh. “What haven’t I done?” As we were leaving, I saw an older nurse behind a desk. I told Drew to give me a second and I approached her. “Excuse me? I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

  She smiled. “Certainly, what can I do to help?”

  “I really wanted to do something to thank the nurse who helped out with my friend. She really went above and beyond, you know? I just want to get her something to show my appreciation.”

  “Okay,” she said, giving me a knowing look.

  “Could you tell me when she gets off work? I want to have something ready for before she leaves. I’d hate to send flowers and she’s already gone.” I gave her my best boyish, hopeful grin.

  The nurse tried to hold back her smile. “We’re not supposed to give out that kind of information. But I suppose…it’s as good a reason as any. Who was the nurse working on your friend?”

  “Cassidy.”

  “Cassidy Reynolds?” She slid her chair over to another section of the desk and checked a clipboard. A few mome
nts later she looked back up. “Cassidy gets off at six. I hope that gives you enough time.”

  I grinned. “No, that’s perfect. Thank you so much. You’re a star, seriously.”

  She blushed and waved me off. “No trouble. It’s nice to see a young man who wants to show his thanks.”

  With one last smile, I tapped the desk and strolled over to where Drew was waiting by the doors.

  “Do I even want to know what that was about?” he asked.

  “Probably not. Now hurry up. I need to get you home and get back to the club. I’ve got stuff to do.” We drove Drew’s car over and when I pulled up in front of his house he told me just to drive it back to the club and he’d get his dad to pick it up in the morning. The lights were on inside his place and a woman glanced out of a window. Drew had called home as we were leaving the hospital, and like any good mother, Drew’s was probably pacing the floor with worry as she waited for her boy to get home.

  I sped back across town to the club, relieved when nothing else had gone wrong in my absence. The rest of the night dragged, agonizingly so. Every second felt like a minute. Every minute like an hour. Every hour a goddamned lifetime. When we finally closed, I pushed everyone through their nightly duties. I was fast and efficient and got done almost a full hour earlier than usual.

  Leaving me enough time to choose the right thing to butter up Cassidy, and get back to the hospital in time for her shift ending.

  The sky was starting to lighten as I sat on the bench, waiting, hoping to Christ that I hadn’t somehow missed her, and dreading that she’d left through a different door. I checked my phone again for the time. Twenty after six.

  Maybe there was an emergency.

  Maybe she had left through a different door.

  Maybe she hadn’t, saw me sitting there and backtracked.

  This woman was making me fucking crazy.