The Bartender (Modern Love World)

by Piper Rayne

  I simply stare at the five pounds of fur at my feet.

  “I think he likes you.” I can hear the smile in my grandma’s voice.

  Ignoring her comment, I say, “How come I didn’t know you were helping the shelter out?”

  “I never mentioned it?”

  “Um… no.” I look over at her and she smiles again and shrugs.

  “A friend of a friend introduced me to the shelter’s owner and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, we had a rotating door of dogs coming in and out of the house.” She laughs as if it’s the most amusing thing in the world.

  I glance down at the little powder puff. “How long is he here for?”

  “That all depends on how long it takes someone to adopt him. Penny, the lady who runs the shelter, she said he doesn’t take to many people. Though it seems he’s rather fascinated with you.” She chuckles and a small smile creeps onto my face.

  Figures that the only male interested in me would be of the four-legged variety. Considering what happened with my last fling, that’s probably a good thing.

  I ignore Sparky’s pleading expression—I swear the corners of his eyes and mouth are tugging down now—and I look back over at my grandma.

  “How’s job-hunting going?”

  I feel the weight of anxiety settle in over me and I do my best to push it away. “Not well. I applied to a bunch of places, but none of the jobs were really in my field.”

  She reaches out and pats my cheek the way she has since I was a little girl. “Not to worry. You’re a smart girl. I know you’ll find something.”

  I place my hand over hers and smile. “Thanks, Grandma. And thanks again for letting me stay here until I’m on my feet.”

  “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need to.” A soft smile spreads across her face.

  I lean in and kiss her cheek. I’m so lucky to have her.

  “I was just about to make some breakfast. Your grandpa is out on the balcony. Why don’t you join him and you can eat with us?”

  As much as I enjoy spending time with my grandparents, I need some recovery time. After spending the day before applying to menial jobs I’m way overqualified for, unpacking all my worldly belongings at my grandparents’ house, and maybe or maybe not fooling around with a stranger, I feel like I’m on a bus with a one-way ticket to Loserville.

  All I really feel like doing is wallowing in misery in my bed. Alone.

  “Thanks, Grandma, but I think I’m just going to go lie down.”

  “I remember what it was like to be your age.” She chuckles. “You go nurse that hangover.”

  I grimace and she turns and shuffles her way to the kitchen, still laughing to herself over some memory our conversation has reminded her of. I hadn’t realized it when I first arrived, but her gait is much more that of an elderly person’s than I remember from the last time I visited.

  I store that knowledge in my memory bank to pull out and examine at a later date and head upstairs.

  I quickly change into my LuLaRoe leggings and an oversized t-shirt and then dig my phone out of my purse to see that I’ve missed some texts in the group chat I have going on with Lennon and Tahlia.

  Lennon: You would not believe the cock on that guy from last night. I’m telling you Tinder is a fucking goldmine of monster cock.

  Tahlia: You need some serious help.

  Lennon: Puh-lease. Tell that to me when you’ve been banging Chase for twenty years.

  Tahlia: Hey!

  Lennon: You know I’m kidding. You’ll live HEA and ride off into the sunset. I just prefer to ride. Period.

  Tahlia: Don’t we all know it.

  Lennon: So Tahl, ask Whit what she did last night. LMAO

  Tahlia: OMG what’s going on?

  Tahlia: Hello!? Someone tell me!

  Tahlia: Whit what gives?

  I chuckle and shake my head at their back and forth. My friends are an endless source of entertainment. Plopping back onto my bed, I stretch out to type my reply.

  Me: Hey, just seeing this. I’m with Tahl though. You need help. :P

  Lennon: Whatevs. Tell Tahl where you called me from this morning.

  Tahlia: Yes! Tell me!!!

  Me: I went home with some guy but I can’t exactly remember what happened because I was too drunk.

  Tahlia: OMFG!

  Lennon: First you mess around with your boss. Then you’re having one-night stands. My little girl is growing up. *sniff* I knew you weren’t as innocent as you seem.

  In my current mood, I don’t need to be reminded of the indiscretion that ultimately led to losing my job. But knowing Lennon, I know she doesn’t mean it as an insult.

  Tahlia: Low blow, girl.

  Lennon: Are you kidding me? I respect the shit outta that! Take it when and where you want it.

  Me: Yeah, just sucks when he decides to fire you instead of bang you. LOL

  Tahlia: His loss.

  Lennon: Damn straight.

  Tahlia: You have to fill me in on all the details the next time I see you!

  Me: For sure. Listen girls I really need to go rest now.

  Tahlia: K, chat later.

  Lennon: Later, ho.

  I let my phone fall from my fingers onto the mattress. I don’t really want to relive another way I’ve let myself down, so I’ll be avoiding that conversation with Tahl for as long as possible.

  The fresh start I was hoping for is beginning to lose some of its lustre.

  6

  “I cannot believe you lost my vibrator!” Lennon whisper-shouts as we enter the restaurant, Bliss, one of the Webber family’s many holdings.

  “I’m sorry. It was a complete accident.” I smooth down the front of my dress and take in the upscale room full of upscale people. Tahlia says they’ve closed the place for the night so that Chase’s parents can host the engagement party.

  “How do you lose a vibrator by accident?” she asks as we pass the coat check girl our jackets.

  “It’s a long story. I’ll have to tell you later.”

  I finally came clean with her. Well, partly. I haven’t exactly told her how I lost it. A few weeks have passed since she gave it to me and she’s been harassing me wanting to know what I thought of its ‘performance’. I figured the best place to tell her was when she couldn’t ask me too many follow-up questions. Surely even Lennon wouldn’t go Bruce Lee on my ass and embarrass Tahlia in front of all of San Francisco’s elite.

  I’ll be honest. Most of the people here are not my kind of people. We’re not a part of the same tribe. At all. They’re all dressed in designer duds that cost more than a month’s rent—which in San Francisco is a shit ton—and my dress came off the rack at Target. While they assume the world will bend to their will, I’m more than aware that life isn’t fair.

  Tahlia’s parents have never been anything other than outwardly cordial to me, but I know if they could choose, they’d have had her be besties with one of the daughters of their country-club buddies.

  That’s not to say that I don’t like Chase. I like him enough, I suppose. Though it was a different story when he and Tahlia first got together, he’s grown on me and my friend is happy, so who am I to say who she should marry?

  The Webber family is well regarded in the Bay area, though I never really could understand why. They’re constantly buying up and shutting down low-rent buildings to build high-end real estate. To me, they prey upon the little guys in order to stuff their pockets and I have zero respect for that. Still, I can grin and bear it for an evening if it means it’ll make Tahl happy.

  “I can’t wait to hear this story,” Lennon says. We step away from the coat check and look around for our girl. “Did you lose it up your hooha?”

  I turn to face her. “My what?”

  “Your hooha. You know, your va-jay-jay? Your C-U-next-Tuesday…”

  I roll my eyes and smile as I see Tahlia and Chase approaching.

  “There’s my girls!” Tahl says, embracing us each in a quick hug
before pulling back to take us in. She looks gorgeous in a champagne-colored dress that hits just above her knee. She’s left her blond locks down with large curls in them. “You both look beautiful. Don’t they look beautiful, Chase?” She turns to look at her fiancé.

  Chase stands behind Tahl and places his hands on both her shoulders, squeezing. “You ladies look lovely as always.”

  “Congratulations, Chase. I haven’t seen you since I heard the big news.”

  “Yeah, congrats,” Lennon adds.

  “Thank you. I’m a lucky man.” Tahlia turns her head to the side, and they lock gazes for a moment. It’s apparent how much they care for one another. I ignore the little stab of envy in my chest.

  “Where’s your mom?” Lennon asks. “You know I love torturing her. I plan to sidle up to her and strike up a conversation as soon as the mayor makes his way over to her.”

  Tahlia chuckles while Chase stifles a grin. “Last I saw her she was speaking to the priest over there.” She gestures in the general direction of the bar and Lennon takes off, her head thrown back while she fakes some type of maniacal laughter.

  Tahlia just rolls her eyes and returns her attention to me. “How’s job-hunting going? Any luck so far?”

  I shrug. “I had an interview earlier this week. Don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. But I have a lead on a job at WHFI News that I’m excited about.” I know she’s being a good friend by asking, but this is the last thing I want to talk about right now. I want to keep my mood light and celebratory in honor of my friend.

  “That’s so wonderful!” Tahlia exclaims.

  Chase gives a nod of approval. I suppose working for the local news is deemed acceptable in his social circle. Why did I think that? That’s mean.

  “I doubt anything will come of it…”

  “Nonsense.” Tahlia reaches forward and swats my upper arm. “They’d be lucky to have you.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Would you two excuse me for a second? I just spotted my brother and I need to go over something with him,” Chase says and gives Tahlia a peck on the cheek.

  I stiffen a bit at the mention of Chase’s brother.

  Her exuberant expression falls a smidgen. “Work? At our engagement party? Really, Chase?”

  “Well, if he’d ever get back to me with the details he’s supposed to during business hours, I wouldn’t have to corner him at social functions. I’ll send him over when we’re done talking so he can apologize to you.”

  Tahlia sighs and Chase walks away without saying anything more.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “It’s just Chase’s brother. He can be so… what am I saying? You know what he’s like because—”

  I raise my hand before she goes any further. “That’s something I’m not keen on reliving.”

  “Fair enough.” Her lips press together. “You’ll be okay being around him after what happened?”

  “It was years ago, Tahl. I’m over it,” I lie. Chase’s brother made his way to the top of my shit list years ago, when he stood me up on a blind date, and he hasn’t budged from that spot since, but she doesn’t need to know that. I can grin and bear it for the sake of my friend.

  “He’s still a perpetual bachelor, you know. Man whore. Unapologetic. Doesn’t follow through on anything. You dodged a bullet, believe me. Chase says him and his dad have really been butting heads lately.”

  “Sounds like you’re marrying the right brother then.”

  Tahlia gives a small laugh. “That’s for damn sure.” Smoothing her hands over her hair, she puts her party face back on.

  “You go mingle. I’m going to get a drink from the bar and rescue your mom from Lennon.”

  “Thank you!” Tahlia leans forward to embrace me. “You’re the best.”

  I don’t feel like I’m the best because the idea of meeting Tahlia’s soon-to-be brother-in-law makes me want to slip out of here unnoticed. What he did to me that night so many years ago was bad enough. He hadn’t even met me before, but he was so cruel by leaving me sitting alone at a restaurant waiting for my date to show up. I had an instant distaste for him, but I could have gotten over it. It was everything that happened after I stepped out of the restaurant that night. The trajectory of my life changed in an instant and I fully blamed him.

  Biting back my unease, I smile and turn to push my way through the crowd. I recognize a few of Tahlia’s cousins in the room and some of the more well-known people in San Francisco, though if I hadn’t been gone for a few years I’d likely recognize more.

  There. I see Lennon across the room talking to Mrs. Santora, who looks like she can’t get away from her fast enough. With a grin to myself I step up to the bartender, an attractive woman in her mid-twenties with long, wavy brown hair. The tips of her hair are dyed much lighter and though my hair is darker than hers and shoulder-length, I wonder if that’s something I can pull off.

  “What can I get you this evening?” she asks.

  Before I can answer a deep, familiar voice that sends shivers up my spine and heat to my nether regions speaks from behind me.

  “If memory serves, the lady enjoys her whiskey.”

  Every muscle in my body seizes. I let my eyes drift shut, hoping and praying the voice doesn’t belong to who I think it does.

  Slowly, as if I’m a car in the middle of a showroom floor, I pivot around to face the person behind me.

  Cole.

  Complete and total mortification consumes every cell in my body, painting my skin red, and I wish for another 1906 earthquake to happen so I can be swallowed up whole.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Granted, it’s not the best thing to say to him, but it’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth. And let’s be honest. It’s what I’m really thinking.

  His forehead crinkles in on itself and a crease forms between his eyes as he studies me for a second. He opens his mouth to respond, but right that second Chase steps up.

  “Whitney, I see you’ve met my brother.” He clamps Cole on the shoulder and looks at me with a smile.

  I stand there like an idiot, gaping at the two of them, my gaze darting between them. The family resemblance is clear now that I see them side by side.

  “Cole, we need to talk,” a deep baritone snips from beside our group.

  We all glance over to who I recognize from the newspapers is Cole and Chase’s father, Winston Webber.

  “I’m in the middle of a conversation, it’ll have to wait.” Cole’s intense stare is back on me again. I glance at him quickly and can’t manage to hold his stare so I return my attention to his father.

  “Yes, I know you always have time to chat up a pretty girl, but business doesn’t always wait. It’s your brother’s engagement party, for Christ’s sakes, and you don’t see him complaining.”

  I feel bad for the way that Cole’s father is speaking to him in front of everyone and that on top of everything else makes me bolt.

  “Excuse me.”

  Without further thought or a backward glance I bolt from our small group, desperate to disappear.

  I stumble into an expansive bathroom with long granite counters and floor-to-ceiling wood doors that make up the bathroom stalls. All of which are open. Seems like the big guy upstairs has cut me a break because now that I’m alone I can really lose my shit.

  Tahlia is going to kill me.

  I’ve listened to her talk about what a man whore Chase’s brother is, how entitled he is, how he’s nothing more than a pampered rich guy who thinks the world should fall at his feet. But I already knew all that because of what happened between us. Or what didn’t, to be more accurate.

  I slink down into one of the comfortable-looking chairs in the lounge area of the bathroom. I can’t fathom why I even gave someone like him the time of day.

  Before this moment, I’d always wondered why the hell they put these mini-living rooms in the hoity-toity bathrooms. I mean, who wants to hang out near a public to
ilet? I guess it’s for moments like these, when you find out you may or may not have slept with your best friend’s soon-to-be brother-in-law who you grew to hate years before because of what he did to you.

  Oh, and let’s not forget the whole vibrator thing.

  I groan and cover my eyes as that realization comes to mind.

  I hear the creak of the door hinges and hurriedly lower my hands, sitting up straight trying to look… oh, I don’t know… like I’m composed and just choosing to hang out in the bathroom by myself instead of at the party.

  Heels click on the marble floor as they make their way down the short hallway into the restroom.

  “Lennon!” I’ve never been more relieved to see her. I need someone to talk me off the ledge and tell me it’s all going to be okay.

  She turns her head and notices me as she’s striding by and does a quick spin on her four-inch heels, joining me in the makeshift living room.

  “What the hell are you doing?” She glances around the bathroom to make sure we’re alone. “Did you just get it on with someone in here?” Her eyes light with mischief and she waggles her eyebrows.

  I shake my head at her. “You really need help.”

  “What’s going on then?” Concern dots her expression now and she takes a seat in the plush chair beside me.

  I swallow past the large lump forming in my throat. Is this what a cat feels like when they’re working out a hairball?

  I remind myself that I can’t bother being distracted until I figure out a way to face Cole again with my pride intact. What can I say? Wishful thinking on my part.

  “I just met Chase’s brother, Cole.”

  A smile broadens on her face. “Oh, yeah. I met him earlier. Day-um. The things I could do to that man with twenty-four hours, some rope, and lube.” She looks off into the distance as if she’s picturing it in her mind.

  I ignore the pang of jealousy worming its way into my chest at the idea of Lennon and Cole together. “I think I may have already… hit it.”