by Howe, Olivia
As I made sure the stage was ready for the band playing tonight, I felt a shift in the air alerting me of Ezzie's presence. Her footsteps echoed through the empty room as she made her way toward me.
"Mama Cleo didn't pick up."
"Do I need to close the bar tonight?"
"What? No."
Relief flooded my system. The band going on tonight was making big waves in the indie music industry, and it would have sucked to close on a packed house. "Are you sure? I don't want anybody to get hurt. So far it has only attacked me and besides some bumps and bruises nothing disastrous. I just want to make sure everyone's safe."
Ezzie cocked her head to the side as she watched me. Memories slammed into me. The way she looked at me in that moment, dressed in my hoodie, as she listened to me talk brought me right back to five years ago.
"Jake, I'm not going to lie to you. The spirit you have in your bar is something surprising. I can guarantee without a doubt in my mind it will not hurt anyone in your bar."
My eyebrows rose at her description. She was being vague, and I knew there was something she wasn't telling me.
"Well it might pick on you, but everyone else will be fine."
My next question danced around on my tongue as I tried to figure out how to get her to tell me what she was hiding. As much as I wanted to tell myself I didn't care I couldn't stop my words from forming. "Will it hurt you?"
Her blue eyes shimmered with emotions when they connected with mine. "I don't think so."
"Not good enough. Maybe you should stay at the hotel. If you think it's not going to do anything but push me around I can handle that until you can get rid of it. I don't want you to get hurt though."
"Jake it will be fine."
I opened my mouth to argue, but she stopped me by talking first. "I'll call the hotel and get them to send my stuff here. It's settled. Now where can a girl get a drink?"
"I know you're trying to change the subject, and I'll let you, because deliveries should be here any minute but this conversation isn't over."
Ezzie nodded her head before she walked around the back of the bar and poured herself an amaretto sour, while I went to sign for the deliveries. The driver wasn't my normal guy and it took me longer to get everything in order. When I came out of the storage room Ezzie was pouring Carl, one of my regulars, a beer. The look on his haggard face showed he was already smitten with Ezzie.
I leaned on the wall not letting her know I was back, and watched her laugh at Carl as he flirted shamelessly with her. When I was younger I imagined this exact moment in my head countless times. Ezzie and I were supposed to run the bar together when we were home. When she needed to travel for work, I would go with her while our manager ran the place. It was all mapped out in my head before she tore my dream apart.
Blinding pain sliced through me as my brain unearthed where this dream had been buried. After the pain subsided anger pulsed through me. I couldn't understand how she could throw away what we could have been. Just watching her as she greeted another regular when he shuffled into the bar showed how at home she would have been in my world.
Chapter 7
The bar phone rang, pulling me out of my pity party. Ezzie searched around the bar, trying to find where the ringing was coming from. I marched over to where she was standing and snaked my arm around her waist, snatching the phone out of its cradle.
"Unfinished Business, how can I help you?"
"Jake I'm so sorry." A nasally voice came across the phone right before going into a coughing fit. I pulled the phone away from my ear, and groaned when I saw the caller ID was my bartender Corey's phone number.
"Don't worry about it, Corey. Get some rest," I said when his coughing fit ended.
"But you're going to be packed tonight. I was just going to tell you I'm going to slug back some cold medicine and I'll be there in a couple of hours," he wheezed into the phone.
"I don't need a sick, drugged up, bartender here on one of our busiest nights. Get some rest and I'll call Dirk to see if he can cover you."
"Dirk went up north to visit his mom this weekend."
I ground my teeth together as things started to get worse. "Seriously, don't worry about it. I'll think of something. Feel better."
I hung up the phone and pinched the ridge of my nose. Tonight was going to be insane and there was no way I would be able to keep up with demands by myself.
"Problem?" Ezzie asked as she handed me a bottle of water.
"My bartender's sick, and my other bartender is out of town. Tonight's going to be packed." I lifted the bottle to my lips and took a big gulp as I went through the short list in my head of who I could get to come in on short notice.
"I can help you," Carl said as he scratched his gnarled beard.
"All the ladies would never leave the bar area if you were behind it. I think it's best to stay on that side of the bar, lady killer. I'll help Jake tonight."
Carl's hazy eyes lit up and he smiled at Ezzie revealing his missing front tooth. "I think that would be a better idea," he told Ezzie before turning to me and giving me a wink. "You found a good one."
"I did, then she let me go." I hadn't meant to say that, but my mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. The water bottle I was holding flew out of my hand, landing on the floor by Ezzie's feet, splashing her jeans.
"Butterfingers," Carl said, laughing before taking a sip of his beer and turning his attention toward the television.
I grabbed a clean towel from under the bar and bent down to clean up the mess. Ezzie followed my lead and crouched down in front of me. "Are you alright?" I asked, handing her another towel so she could mop up her jeans.
"Yes, it's just a little water."
"Ezzie, I appreciate you wanting to help me, but I think it's best if I call one of my back up bartenders tonight. You should go to the hotel and get some sleep. We'll work on my little bully problem tomorrow."
Rational thought would have told me the bottle didn't hit her, but my rational thought seemed to have gotten lost, and decided not to ask for directions. When my bottle flew out of my hand it headed straight for Ezzie, and fear that she would get hurt unfurled in me.
"Seriously Jake, enough. I know my way around a bar better than any on-call bartender you have, and I already called the hotel. They'll be delivering my bags anytime now."
"If you get hurt," I will never forgive myself, "I'll say I told you so." My thoughts didn't startle me as much as I wanted them to. My only consolation was with her near, I could keep an eye on her, and hopefully protect her until she could get rid of my menace.
Before the bar started to fill up, I tried to call Mama Cleo, but voicemail picked up. Worry nagged at me. Mama Cleo always answered her phone when I called, and now with the added stress that Ezzie was keeping something from me about my ghost problem, it was going to take a miracle to get through the night without a breakdown.
Ezzie was right, she knew her way around the bar. It probably helped that the set up was almost identical to Voodoo back home. The bar was packed, and when the band made their way onstage, the building shook. With orders pouring in from all sides of the bar, Ezzie and I didn't get a chance to do anything except hand out alcohol and take money.
I snuck glances at her when I could, and whenever I did my heart clenched painfully. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail. Some of her curls had escaped only to become plastered to the back of her neck. The smile she wore all night as she talked to the customers was breathtaking. Every time she turned down a number, I had to stop myself from ripping the assholes arm off, before throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her upstairs.
Having her behind the bar was heaven and hell mixed together. The smell of sweat, alcohol, desperation, with a soundtrack of a live band to pull it all together. I was grateful the bar covered me, because my dick strained against my zipper and would probably leave an imprint I would see in the morning. When Ezzie reached up to pull down one of
the top shelf vodkas, every man, including me, groaned as her tight jeans displayed her even tighter ass.
"You were amazing," Ezzie gushed to the band when the bar was shut down for the night. She poured a shot for all of us, and we slugged them down.
"Thank you. Jake has helped us get a lot of exposure, and we are hoping the good luck of UB will rub off, and get us signed," Lor the lead singer of Unicorn Farts, the band that played tonight, said as he poured another shot.
"Good luck?" Ezzie glanced over at me, her eyebrow cocked on one side. Her blue eyes were glassy, and she was leaning on the back of the chair as if her spine no longer held her up.
"I've had a couple of bands discovered while playing here," I answered, getting up and standing behind her to ensure she wouldn't fall. "Ezzie are you alright?" I asked, grabbing her shoulders.
"Yeah, doll you seem a little worn out," Lor told her, looking at her with concern. The rest of the band was making plans to hit an after party some of the groupies invited them to not paying attention to us.
"I'm just tired. The time change, and the alcohol are hitting me," she explained, putting her head on my chest, closing her eyes.
As mad as I was with her, I felt like an asshole for making her work all night after traveling the day to get here. "Alright guys I'm closing up. You did a kickass job. I'll see you for the New Year’s show." Ezzie stayed on her chair, getting support from me, as the band hugged us and said goodnight.
"Come on Ezzie." She was warm and supple when I lifted her in my arms. My cock wanted to bust a Hulk and tear out of my pants to get to her.
"What about the bar?"
"The waitresses took care of their stations, and I'll come down before we open to clean up our mess. Don't worry about it."
"I want to argue with you, but I'm too tired. Mama Cleo would kick our asses if she knew we were leaving a mess. She would also kick your ass for the pathetic Christmas decorations you have up."
"The bar's not that bad, and I haven't had time to put up more decorations," I lied. After I locked up the door, I hit the lights with my shoulder so I wouldn't have to let her down. When I got to the security pad I tried to walk by it.
"Don't you need to set the alarm?"
"I'll get you to bed and come back down to engage it." In my head I begged her to let it go, and like most things with Ezzie, she didn't comply to my silent plea.
"That's silly Jake give me your code and I'll punch it in."
"It's fine Ezzie I'll do it later."
Hurt flashed in her eyes, and I groaned realizing she probably thought I didn't want to give her the code because I didn't trust her, or some other stupid assumption she was creating in her head.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to do something like that. You can put me down." She moved trying to get out of my arms, and I held her tight so she couldn't escape.
"Stop, Ezzie." I took a deep breath and told her the code. "Punch in 12591."
She reached out, pressed the first button and froze. "That's my birthday," she whispered.
"Yep, you better type in the rest, unless you want NYPD here."
She rushed and typed in the code arming the bar. I carried her to her room, both of us quiet. She reached out her hand to turn the door knob.
"It's locked," she said, struggling to get the door open while in my arms. I set her down, and tried to open the door. Sure enough it wouldn't budge. The key was on top of the doorjamb, but every time I popped the lock, it locked back up before I could open it.
Ezzie yawned next to me, her back was melted to the wall, and her eyes were fogged with tiredness.
"You're the spirit whisperer, do you think you can convince it to open the door before you fall asleep in my hallway?"
"He's not going to let me in tonight," she said right before yawning again.
"He?"
"Yes it's a he."
"Come on you can sleep in my bed." Her eyes sprang open, looking more awake than she had for the last hour.
"Don't worry Ezzie, I'll sleep on the couch."
She opened her mouth to respond but I walked by her and went to my room. "Here you can wear this since your clothes seem to be in a hostage situation." I tossed her one of my t-shirts, before grabbing an extra blanket and pillow out of my closet.
"Thanks," she said before walking into the bathroom connected to my room, closing the door and our conversation.
Chapter 8
I punched my pillow as I tried to get comfortable on my lumpy couch. Just when I was semi-comfortable, the pillow was ripped out from under my head and thrown across the room along with my blanket, for the third time.
"You're a dick," I muttered, sitting up and rubbing my weary eyes.
"Jake?"
My head whipped up to see a devil looking like an angel. Her hair was wild from sleep, and my shirt dwarfed her making her look like she did when we were in high school.
"Go to bed Ezzie. I'm just going to make some coffee."
"Jake come get in bed with me," she said, picking my blanket and pillow off the ground. Her shirt rode up, exposing the expanse of her thighs and the bottom of her pink boyshorts. My dick was at full attention and I couldn't help but imagine walking over to her, pulling down her boyshorts, and plunging into her.
"Jake?"
I blinked away the porno going through my head, and tried to focus on what she was saying.
"Come get in bed with me."
"No Ezzie. It's fine, go back to bed."
The pillow she was holding was yanked out of her hand, and hurled toward my head.
"Jake I think you should take me up on the offer." The pillow lunged at me. I was able to dodge it, but it was on a path to hit me, again.
"Alright," I grumbled knowing sleep would be impossible with Ezzie next to me. Hell, I would have a better chance falling asleep with my pillow being pummeled on my head.
I climbed into the bed, the smell of Ezzie surrounding me. We were both perched at separate edges of the bed, making sure our bodies didn't touch. My eyes were focused on the moon, as I tried to get my body to calm down with having her so close to me.
"Night, Jake."
Ezzie must have been exhausted, because her breathing evened out almost immediately. Anger that she wasn't having the same problem I was at being so close to each other simmered through me. How could she turn her feelings off? I hoped time would have helped get her out of my heart, but having her near showed that the five years we were apart, could have just as well been five seconds.
I turned on my back, and stared at the ceiling, wondering how long the ghost wanted me to stay in bed being tormented by the beautiful woman next to me. Right when I decided I would risk the wrath my invisible nemesis would inflict, Ezzie turned around and wrapped her body around mine.
My body stiffened, and I do mean all of my body. I glanced down at her head resting on my shoulder. The night we spent in the cabin flashed before me. My arms banded around her, pulling her closer to my body. She fit perfectly against me, reminding me of what she tore away from both of us.
Ezzie let out a sigh, before kissing my bare pec. She began to snore softly, the air wafting over my chest. She was lax against my body, and I had to talk my cock down. Her hair tickled my nose, and soon my eyes grew heavy being content having Ezzie with me. It was a bad idea sleeping with her, but when it came to Ezzie, bad ideas seemed to be the norm.
Sounds of rustling in my kitchen woke me. Dark clouds covered the sky hiding the time of day. I glanced at the clock, and was surprised to see it was 10:30 already. When I walked into the kitchen, my body froze and my cock hardened. Ezzie was in the kitchen stirring something in a big bowl.
"What are you cooking?" I asked as I made my way to the island in the middle of the kitchen. Ezzie jumped almost dropping the bowl. I reached over and steadied it for her, before going back to lean on the counter.
"Sugar cookies," she answered, pointing to a pile of cookies cooli
ng on the counter.
"It smells like Christmas in here." I told her, snatching one and stuffing it in my mouth.
"I had to do something to get into the spirit. Your pathetic decorations in the bar and your lack of them in here, made me sad. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I can't stand to be somewhere so bare."
"I know Christmas is your favorite holiday." We locked eyes, and I took another cookie to break her gaze. She was the reason my house, and bar, were devoid of Christmas spirit.
"Do you have any decorations? I would love to help you at least get the bar festive. Last night I decorated it all in my head."
When we were younger, we would spend weeks decorating Voodoo, Mama Cleo's, my parents, and her mom’s house for Christmas. Ezzie would draw out plans for what she wanted to do to each house and it was my job to make her vision happen every year. I guess some things never change.
"All I have is what you saw last night."
Her eyes dimmed as she went to the cutting board to roll out the dough she just made.
"Besides aren't you supposed to be getting rid of my ghost infestation?"
"I think I figured out why he's here."
"Is he gone?"
She shook her head, not looking up as she pressed a mug into the dough using it as a makeshift cookie cutter.
"No he isn't gone, but I have it under control."
"Are you going to give me anymore information?" She shook her head no. I sighed, expecting that to be the case.
"Well if he isn't going to bother me, why don't we go out and experience the city while you're here. Have you been to New York before?" It pissed me off that I didn't know where she had visited in the years we’d been apart. We were glued to the hip as soon as we met, and I knew everything about her, but having a five year void of information unsettled me.
"No I haven't been to New York. Are you sure you don't mind taking me out?" She sounded unsure as she slid the cookies into the oven.
"No, Ezzie. I don't mind. In fact, we can get some decorations for the bar."