I hadn’t even washed my hair for days and it hung flat and boring. I kept my hair short so it was easier to dry after gym but I’d been in a rush and it was getting a bit greasy.
Plus, I'd only put on the minimum makeup, not even my usual red lipstick. The token makeup I'd put on would've sweated off when I ran anyway. I probably had a red, blotchy face.
But I couldn't do anything about it now. It'd seem like I was fancying myself up because he was there when it had nothing to do with him. I just wanted to make myself look more presentable for working with the public, that was all.
Someone moved and I swung around to see if they wanted a drink, purposely moving my gaze over his head so it didn’t hit him. I steeled myself for it. I could serve him and keep it calm like I did it every day. I'd get his drink then walk away. He could have it on the house. Then we would have no flesh contact between us. That would be the best thing.
But he didn't want a drink. He'd stood up. They all stood. Violet shot me a half-smile as though to say sorry but the others didn't even look at me. I'd become invisible Carlie again.
Violet paused.
“I’ve got to go upstairs to work but if you need me, just send me a message. I suggested Holden come up and watch the band so he’s not bugging you.”
I nodded thanks.
They headed upstairs as a group.
That should've made me happy but the feeling that flooded through me wasn't relief. I had some stupid, crazy sense of disappointment and even a touch of emptiness inside me.
I hated Holden King.
Chapter 5
NO ONE KNEW WHAT TO expect when Alex took over the bar. He'd bought out the old owner, Chuck, who'd run up a ton of debts. While Chuck had been a total jerk, he'd been a known quantity. Sure, I'd Alex had been hanging around for a few months, since he'd moved into town, trying to win Violet's affection, but I had no idea what he’d be like as a boss. He was a control freak, that's for sure.
All the staff gathered in the bar. God, I didn't even recognize some of them. Like that guy with the long hair and skinny jeans — did he work with us? I had never seen him in my life. There were a couple of women too but I thought they were the cleaners who came in after hours. Hell, what a shit job that would be. The customers at Trouble weren't the nicest people sometimes. In fact, by the end of the night, I'd say they were more like pigs fighting to get to the trough.
"Who is that guy?" I asked Violet. "Is he new?"
She glanced over at him. "Burke? He works upstairs. He's been here for like six months."
"Huh? He must be the quietest staff member here then."
Then I turned my head because he looked over, obviously knowing that we were talking about him.
For days the talk around the bar had been about what Alex would do. Drew, the busboy, was convinced that work would become a golden paradise with Alex in charge. Drew thought that Alex was the greatest thing ever. I wasn't so sure. A control freak boss didn't make for a comfortable work situation. Chuck had been slack as slack. If the place made money and he didn't catch us giving away free drinks, he was happy.
"He'll be all changes and new ideas for a few months then things will go back to normal," Jackson had said. "That's the way it usually goes."
"Yeah, but what hell will we have to face for those few months."
I sat on the sofa next to Violet waiting for Alex to arrive. We'd grabbed it early and then hadn't moved so no one could steal our places. The sofa was obviously the best place to sit for a meeting because it was comfortable and also in a dark enough corner that Alex wouldn't be able to see our faces well. Sally leaned on the bar. She had on a super short skirt with fishnets and must've spent half the morning doing her makeup. I bet Alex wouldn't even notice her. Because, really, Alex was a bit of a wanker. Wankers never notice girls like Sally, and even though Sally would feel bad about that now, I bet in the not too distant future, she'd be glad of it.
Babs came over with a round of drinks for us. Violet and I would die of dehydration before giving up our seats, with these jackals circling around us.
“Thanks, Babs," I grinned.
"I hope this is good news," she said, lowering herself to the floor. "I was lucky to get this job. I don't want to be looking again."
Mark and the other bar staff had their stools set up in a circle, talking quietly among themselves. I'd bet Mark was going on about how he'd get another job. He always said that but he was still there.
There was one person missing.
"Where's Drew?" I asked.
Violet shrugged. "He'll be around somewhere. He is always super early for work."
“Even earlier when his hero, Alex, is involved. I hope he hasn’t had an accident.”
Alex had five minutes before he was officially late but I figured he'd arrive on time. On cue, the door opened and Alex swept in. He wasn't wearing his usual leather pants. He had on a suit. Not like businessmen wear but a hip-looking suit. Still, it was a suit and that got my hackles up.
He did an introduction for the staff who didn't know him but, after all the fuss over the rock competition between him and Razer, pretty much all the staff knew who he was. You'd have to pretty damn thick to not know.
"Okay, I guess you are wondering what's going to change. I have some plans for this place, nothing for anyone to worry about, just some much-needed improvements. Starting with the band room. The place is going to be closed down for a few weeks while I get in a new sound system and get it fixed up."
Violet gasped. I guess he hadn’t discussed that with her. She'd have to contact the bands she'd booked and cancel them. It'd screw up all her plans and she'd hate that. Violet was not someone who dealt well with screwed-up plans. I wondered if Alex would let the whole Violet picking Razer over him interfere with how he treated her at work. I figured he'd be being Mr. Nice Guy while he thought he still had a chance.
I don't know why I thought that his nice guy act was an act. It just seemed to me that someone couldn't be that in control unless they were scared that they'd go bat-shit if they lost control. But I might've just thought that from watching too much Vampire Diaries.
Before Violet could say anything, there was a huge commotion. Drew bolted through the door, knocking into a table on his way.
"Sorry," he said. "Sorry, sorry."
Alex ignored him and Drew perched himself on the arm of the sofa beside me.
"Downstairs will continue as usual while that happens but we'll definitely need some work done down here too."
He smiled but that didn't reassure me. What was he going to do?
"And, with that, I'm going to appoint a bar manager..."
Now it was me gulping. A manager? An outsider coming in?
"... Carlie, can you come to talk to me privately about that after the meeting?"
Okay, that made me jump. Did he mean I'd be bar manager? He could've been clearer about it. The rest of the meeting passed in a blur while I tried to figure it out. Some talk about the changes and what he expected from staff and all that bunk, I think.
If I was bar manager, would I get more money? More money would be awesome. Being able to eat and buy stuff, those were good things. Maybe I could work fewer hours. That would be even better. I could barely afford rent and living expenses without working insane hours on my current wage.
Finally, he finished up. I lingered around waiting for him.
"Come upstairs so we can talk in private," he said.
I followed him and we sat down. I crossed my legs and leaned on the table but it was a bit wonky so I sat back, laughing nervously.
The situation became strange. Suddenly, I was nervous around Alex. Had I given him too much shit before he bought the place? If I'd known he was going to be my boss, I'd have been less cranky with him. I'd not actually called him a wanker to his face, had I? I had told him a few times that his band totally rocked. That was a good thing.
"Stop bouncing your leg," Alex said. "It makes the table rock."
&nbs
p; I hadn't even realized I was doing that. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and tried to smile.
"So, how do you feel about it?" he asked. "The bar manager job?"
My heart jumped. He was offering me the job. Shit, I'd never gotten a promotion before. Working in bars had been my only job and I'd pretty much started on shit pay and stayed there, even when my workload increased.
"Well, since Chuck pretty much had me running the bar anyway, I don't feel like it'd be much more responsibility. I'm happy to do it."
Alex nodded. "Oh, there will be more responsibility. There's the paperwork involved, stock ordering, all that kind of thing. The hardest part, you'll be in charge of staffing. I know the staff are your friends but you will need to make sure they are in line. It might make things a little tense with them, but I'm sure you can do it."
I nodded. I didn't think that would be a problem. I could be a bitch when I needed to be. Didn't Alex know that?
"Let's cut to the most important bit," I said, trying to sound confident but gulping loudly. "How much does it pay?"
I waited for him to say that the pay would be pretty much the same. I'd just get the hard yards without any extra compensation. That's what life had taught me about bosses. I didn't mind about the staffing thing. Violet was my only real friend on staff and I wouldn’t have any authority over her. The others, I had to pull them into line half the time anyway or they'd be slacking off like jerks.
"I want you on as a permanent staff member. The salary won't be that much higher but you'll get all the perks like holidays."
Holy shit, holidays. I had no idea what I'd even do with them. Come into the club and hang out? But a permanent job, that would be sweet. I'd have rights and important shit like that.
"I'm happy with that."
Then he named the salary. When I worked out the annual rate compared to what I made per hour, it was awesome. I wanted to whoop. He'd said it wouldn't be much more. Obviously, he didn't know what I'd been earning, because he was offering me untold riches. A permanent job and more money. Today was a sweet day indeed.
"Alex, you might just be the best boss ever."
He shot me a half-grin. "Don't speak too soon. I'll let the other staff know. We can make this effective immediately."
He got out some papers for me to sign. Once it was all official, I shook his hand.
"You won't regret this." My grin split my face. "I'll be the best bar manager in the universe."
"I wouldn't expect anything less.".
I walked back downstairs. Someone had put that bloody song on. “Rock Princess”.
"Turn that song off. I'm your overlord now and the first rule I'm making is that Holden King is officially banned in this bar."
Chapter 6
INTERNET STALKING WAS a bad thing. I knew that in theory but, since Holden King had come into the bar, I needed to find out what his plans were. It wasn't really stalking so much as self-protection. If I knew his schedule, I'd have an idea if he was going to stick around.
Only, once I got on those sites and read some of the stuff fans said about him, it made me sick to my stomach. I mean, some of it had to be lies. No man had enough jizz in him to sleep with all those chicks. Then there were all the other rumors. Stuff about his childhood that I knew were blatant lies and a whole thread of debates about what car he drove. Even that was conflicting information.
Wow, the world was full of people who had nothing better to do than write stuff about Holden King on the internet. This story was about how his family were a troupe of traveling circus performers only his mother had had a tragic accident so they'd quit performing. Holden would love it if that were true. Well, obviously he wouldn't want his fictional mother to have a tragic accident but he'd love the rest of it, for sure. It was so much better than the truth.
There was nothing about him being married or even having a girlfriend. Sure, there were rumors about him dating Taylor Swift for a while but there weren't even photos to back that up. Not that I looked for that kind of information but if he had someone then he’d be out of my hair.
Even after all that research, I had no idea what he was up to. There were touring plans for later in the year but nothing for the next few months. Lots of self-congratulations about the success of “Rock Princess”.
Bastard. I should at least get some royalties from that song. I never even got a credit. Not that I wanted my name associated with Holden King in any way but still.
No news about him going back into the recording studio. No overseas dates that would get him well away from me. The only things he had on were some television appearances and a festival.
That worried me. It gave him plenty of time to annoy me. Rock stars should be much busier than that. They should be on tour buses driving all over the country or going to big rock star parties. All the kinds of thing that didn't happen in this town.
Of course, that might just be me being egotistical. He'd be well away from this place by now and I'd be long forgotten. He'd just dropped by on some kind of stupid impulse. I was in no danger of ever seeing him again. Especially if half those stories on that forum were true.
I don't know why the rumors even bothered me. I'd have thought Holden would've forgotten me about two years and eleven months ago, maybe even sooner. When he'd decided to leave, he hadn’t been able to get away from me fast enough.
What I really needed to do was find a hottie to flirt with and maybe have some sexy times to get that jerk out of my head. The trouble with that was that I didn't know any hotties. Just guys at the bar, and I'd have to see them week after week once we were done, which got awkward.
I thought about that mystery man who worked in the upstairs bar. Burke. I could go there without ever seeing him again since he'd worked upstairs for six months without me realizing. But, if I slept with him, that might change. Guys you work with are even worse than customers. You can't get away from them afterward and they can just hang around anytime they liked. Plus, what if he talked to the other staff? That'd be embarrassing.
Some band passing through town and playing at the bar would be perfect. I could have a fling with no strings. A no string fling! Pity Alex had decided to renovate. There'd be no bands in this place in the near future. Maybe I could do something really fierce and shocking, like going to another bar. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been to a bar that wasn't Trouble.
Some loser had given me his phone number a while back. He'd been boring as all fuck but he'd known what he was doing in the sack. Maybe I could call him.
Except, when I thought about it, "a while back" had been a year or more ago and I'd probably long thrown out that phone number. Surely I'd tidied my room some time in the last year.
There were a few guys at the gym who'd have a bit of a chat when I was working out. Any of them would be up for it. Except they were total meatheads and most of them were on steroids. Not my kind of thing at all.
It hadn't struck me before that my dating life was totally bleak. I had guys flirt with me but most of them ran away pretty damn quick. Mainly because I threatened them with bodily harm.
Maybe I should soften my image.
Nah.
Those losers needed to stay away from me. What I needed was to find a better class of loser.
I'd be better off cruising dating sites than the Holden King forum.
"I don't even know why I'm here." Violet came out of her office and sat down at the bar. "I have nothing to do. Nothing. I've contacted everyone who was playing for the next month and rescheduled them. I've dealt with the fallout and the bitching. I've even caught up on every crap bit of admin shit I've put off forever. What else is there?"
I put down my phone and poured her a drink. She needed it. A workaholic with no work to do, that had to be infuriating. She was almost twitching from lack of work.
"I have no idea. Maybe you could have naps."
"Naps are not nearly as much fun when you aren't using them to procrastinate. And that sofa in my office is
getting even shittier and lumpier. Hey, if Alex is doing the place up, maybe I can get a better sofa. I'll ask him when I see him."
A new sofa in Violet's office would be a fine thing. She wasn't the only one who needed to nap although she had more napping time than I did. Alex hadn't really defined what he wanted Violet to do until upstairs opened and he hadn't been around to ask.
"Where's Alex been anyway?" I asked.
"Who knows? After his grand takeover speech, he never even mentioned he'd be gone for a few days. Do you think he has some dark secret? Razer seems to think so."
"It makes sense. He has money to burn and he suddenly appeared in town."
For a few seconds, I gave Alex a thought. He was hot, that's for sure and he looked like he'd go off in the sack. He’d probably want to keep it quiet afterward too. He could definitely keep secrets.
There were so many advantages to Alex as stress relief but no.
No.
Even if he wasn't my boss and wasn't crazy over Violet, I just couldn't go there. If the other staff found out, they’d think I got promoted because I’d screwed him. Also, no.
"All I know is that he has some secret plan for the reopening. You'd think he'd tell me on account of me being the band booker and it being my job to organize this stuff but he's not saying a word."
Alex wanted a super sensational opening night for the band room after the renovations. Something people wouldn't be able to shut up about. The biggest thing to hit this town in years. He'd been talking it up in the staff meeting but he hadn't given away any details. Violet sure was getting frustrated that he hadn’t filled her in.
"I need to know. I have to organize things around it."
"You just do what you do. It's not going to interfere with your work," he'd told her. That did not go down well.
"He's going to screw up my whole schedule. I just know it."
It didn't really concern me except in the way that I was super curious and needed to know.
Rock Star Returns: Carlie's Story (Access All Areas, #2) Page 3