by Jaime Samms
Jed stopped pacing and stared at the floor. “You should renovate this room,” he said, suddenly, irrationally annoyed by the dusty, outdated space.
A stillness swept the room before Kearn grunted and replied. “Random. And not really the point. You want to talk about it?”
Had Kearn always been this maddening? Jed faced him, ready to tell him to drop it. “I can’t protect him,” he blurted instead.
Kearn blinked but nodded, like this statement out of the blue made perfect sense. “You say that like it’s your job.”
“Isn’t it?”
“He’s kind of a spitfire, in case you hadn’t noticed. Doesn’t strike me as the type to need a protector. Or want one.”
Jed snorted. “No shit.” He slumped down onto the couch and leaned his elbows on his knees. “But ever since those assholes last week, we see Cedric everywhere. Fucker stays just out of reach. On the other side of the street. Across the parking lot. I’m positive he’s the one who fucked up my bike. Now Ira has to walk everywhere, and Cedric follows us home.”
“Have you called the police?”
Jed nodded. “They can’t do anything. He’s not breaking any laws. At least, he’s not leaving any evidence that he’s broken any laws.”
“When do you get the bike back from the shop?”
Jed shrugged. “They have to rebuild the whole engine. Apparently, there was some concoction of sugar and sand and bleach in the oil. Fucked the whole thing. I’m lucky I stopped as quick as I did. The cylinders are fine—”
“Jesus, man, I so don’t care about the bike’s poor guts. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“My Blazer will be ready in a few days. It’s too cold for the bike now anyway. We just have to walk until then.”
Kearn nodded but said nothing.
After a few minutes, Jed looked up at him. “Put me back on his schedule?”
“I can’t.”
“Kearn, come on. I don’t like him out there alone.”
“I’m running a business, Jed. I’m doing what I can, but you’re my best bartender, and frankly, other than Angela, he’s my best server. I’ve got to balance him and Angie through the week. It isn’t fair to give him all the best shifts because you can’t stand to let him out of your sight.”
“It isn’t safe for him.”
“You said Cedric was keeping out of reach. As long as he does, he can’t hurt anyone.”
“Just make him crazy.” Jed jumped up and began pacing again. “The asshole is fucking crafty. I don’t know what to do.”
“Take a breath.”
“Zen isn’t going to help,” Jed snapped.
“So what are you going to do? Follow him around for the rest of your lives?”
That prospect was tantalizing, because of the realization that yes, he did want to still be following Ira around a long time from now. But also, it made his blood pound, because this wasn’t why he wanted to be doing it. Frowning, he smoothed his fingers over his moustache.
“Jed.” Kearn’s voice took on that tempered-steel edge that got people’s attention.
“No, I know. I can’t be with him twenty-four seven. I get that.”
“You have to be practical.”
“You think?”
A brief knock on the door interrupted the conversation, which was probably a good thing. It wasn’t going anyplace positive, and Jed didn’t want to fight with his boss—or friend—over something they essentially agreed about.
“Um, Boss?” Landon stuck his head into the office. “We have a problem.” He shot a look at Jed. “And you might want to stay out of this one.”
Jed pointed a finger at Landon. “Like hell. He’s here, isn’t he?”
Landon’s refusal to answer was all the reply Jed needed.
“The fucker!” He tried to bull past Landon but his friend grabbed his arm.
“You throw the first punch, and Ira is on his own. You know this douche wants you to slip up and remove yourself from the equation. Give him an excuse to go to the cops, and that’s exactly what he’ll do.”
Jed snarled and yanked free, but he didn’t charge out into the front and break Cedric’s nose like he wanted, because Landon was right. Cedric was too smart to be the one to get caught first.
Kearn patted his shoulder as he passed them. “You can come out, but you stay behind the bar, you got that?”
He hated that they were right. But he wasn’t going to do anything that prevented him from being at Ira’s side. He would be exactly where Ira needed him to be. Always. The incident on the fire escape had been the one lesson he’d needed to show him that was paramount.
“Fine,” he agreed, and followed Landon out to stand, arms crossed, behind the bar. He spotted Cedric immediately, waiting next to the hostess stand for someone to seat him.
Perhaps sensing the tension, the hostess glanced from Kearn to Jed and back. Before anyone could coach her, though, Johnny had plucked menus from the stand and faced Cedric and his date. “Why hello, gentlemen.” He smiled. It animated his face, but his eyes sparked and he swaggered to intimidate. “Table for two?”
“What is he doing?” Kearn hissed and moved to intercept them, but Jed stopped him. Johnny wasn’t going to do anything that would get him kicked out of the Hen. This was practically his living room.
“Let’s just wait and see,” Landon suggested. He tapped Jed’s arm and pointed to the POS system at the end of the bar. Ira was there, wide-eyed and furious. Jed turned from whatever Johnny had planned to go to him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Why is he here?”
“Just stay calm, yeah?”
Ira glared at him. “What is Johnny doing?”
“No idea.”
Kearn sidled up to Jed’s side and addressed Ira. “You want to take a break?”
Ira’s jaw set. “I’m working.” He snatched up a tray and stalked off to collect dirty dishes and empty glasses from his tables.
“Stay where we can see you, Jed,” Kearn warned, a finger tapping against his breastbone.
Jed lifted an eyebrow. “Am I five now?” He watched as Johnny settled Cedric and his date in a table near Ira’s section, but not in it.
He handed them their menus and smiled that creepy not-quite-smile again. “Angela will be your server today. I’ll get you some water, and she will be right over to take your drink orders.” He left them, stopped to say something to Angela as he passed her, then returned to the bar.
Kearn motioned him over to the server’s end with a glare.
“Yes?” Johnny blinked innocently.
“What the ever loving hell are you doing?”
“Watching out for my little buddy.” He grinned at Ira, who scowled back from the farthest end of his section. Johnny motioned to Cedric’s table. “I know that’s the guy who’s stalking him. I’ve seen him hanging around out in the street a bunch of times, and Ira gets all jumpy when he sees him. Is that other guy the one who was in here talking to him that time?”
Jed stared. He’d had no idea Johnny paid this much attention to anything.
“You know,” Johnny prompted, “that time a long while back when Ira first started. They sat over there”—he pointed to the table Ira and Mitch had used so long ago—“and got all cozy. Then the guy left, and Ira was sort of pissy?”
“Yeah. Mitch. His hair’s a different colour. I didn’t recognize the . . . mauve, or whatever it is.” Jed remembered him now. What the hell was he doing with Cedric, though? What the hell was going on?
Landon broke in and handed Johnny a tray of water. “Think you can get this to the table without spilling it?”
Johnny pshawed and took the tray. He delivered the water like a pro, while Angela joked with the six-top nearby and convinced them to order a round of daiquiris. More weirdness, as they were regulars, and die-hard beer hounds.
Angela punched in her order, then leaned over the bar to say something to Landon Jed couldn’t hear. He looked confused f
or a moment, but he nodded and set about making her drinks.
Cedric’s lewd stares in Ira’s direction distracted Jed from what Landon was doing, and he would have gone over to put his fist in the guy’s face, Kearn’s rules be damned, when Mitch leaned over to get Cedric’s attention. He held it for a little while. Even when Cedric looked annoyed and said some things that drained the colour from Mitch’s face, Mitch hung on to his attention, diffusing the rising ire they were getting from most of the employees.
Johnny was the one who eventually picked up the tray of daiquiris to carry over to Angela’s six-top. Jed couldn’t figure out why until Johnny took a slightly longer route to the table, around the back of Cedric’s chair. As he passed the two-top, Angela squeaked past him.
Jed had to hand it to them. If he hadn’t been watching so close as he was, he would have thought it a complete and total accident. No one who didn’t know Angela would ever think otherwise.
As Johnny lifted the tray slightly to get over Cedric, Angela straightened, tipping the very edge of the tray with her shoulder, and a cascade of pink drinks tumbled down onto Cedric and Mitch’s table and into Cedric’s lap.
Cedric shoved his chair back with a shout.
Johnny nimbly dodged the flying furniture.
Angela was across the floor, already out of harm’s way when Cedric whirled on a suitably apologetic Johnny with a mouth full of vitriolic curses.
Jed hurried out from behind the bar, already reaching into his pocket for the stash of business cards he kept there for just such occasions. He reached Cedric and got between him and Johnny. “All right. Please. Let’s keep calm.” He handed Cedric two business cards.
Cedric stared at them with a curled lip. “What the fuck?”
“This is the name and address of a dry cleaner we use. If you give him your clothes and our card”—Jed pointed the Hen and Hog card in Cedric’s hand—“he’ll charge the cleaning bill to us. We will happily pay to get your things cleaned.” He kept his voice level and calm, despite wanting to grin at the pink stain seeping into Cedric’s pale jeans.
“I want that fucker fired,” Cedric snarled, pointing at Johnny.
“Don’t worry,” Jed assured him. “We will take care of it.”
Cedric bristled. “You did this on purpose.”
Jed spread his hands in front of himself. “I was behind the bar.”
Cedric swung to glare at Ira, who was now standing next to Landon behind the bar. “I’ll sue.”
“For what?” Kearn came to stand next to Jed. “It was a regrettable accident. We’ll pay to get everything cleaned.”
Cedric sputtered.
“Perhaps you should go,” Kearn suggested, crossing his arms over his chest. “And don’t come back. This place—” he took a step closer to Cedric “—and my people are not for you, yeah?”
Cedric glared at him. “Mind your own business, old man.” Which was sort of funny, because by Jed’s reckoning, Cedric was at least as old as Kearn’s thirty-some years.
“My people, my business.” Kearn propped his hands on his hips. “If you’re waiting to catch one of them alone, you’ll be waiting a long, long time. Maybe you should just cut your losses and move on.”
Cedric snarled and turned to Mitch. “Come on.”
Mitch shifted in his seat. He hadn’t even stood up yet. He glanced around, making eye contact with everyone, as though searching for a way out.
“He can stay,” Kearn growled after a moment.
What the hell. Jed stared at him.
Mitch looked relieved and settled back into his chair.
With another snarl, Cedric stalked to the door. He stopped to glare at Ira. “This isn’t over.”
Ira all but slunk behind Landon and said nothing.
As soon as Cedric had left the building, Kearn turned on his staff, nailing each of them with his steely grey stare. “My office. Now.” He wheeled on Johnny. “You too.” To Mitch, he growled, “Stay.”
Mitch sank a little under the table and nodded, face pale.
Angela, Johnny, Jed, Landon, and Ira all shuffled after Kearn into his office.
Inside, Kearn rounded on them. “You.” He glared at Johnny, paused, ground his teeth, and shook his head. He swung his attention to Angela. “What did he say to you?”
“Just to see if I could talk my six-top into ordering daiquiris.” She blinked huge hazel eyes at him and made pouty lips, which he frowned at.
“So you talked a few guys into more expensive drinks than they normally order.”
She nodded.
“And you made those drinks.” He turned to Landon.
“Shirley temples, actually. But they could have been daiquiris.” He shrugged. “Looked like daiquiris.” He glanced at Jed, then Angela. “Didn’t they?”
Kearn rolled his eyes. “And you.” He glared at Jed. “You offered to pay for his dry cleaning.”
“Company policy,” Jed pointed out. Because it was.
Kearn waved an agitated hand at Johnny. “You’re the only one I can fire in this entire mess.”
Johnny’s wide grin was one hundred percent unrepentant. “I don’t work for you.”
“I know!” Kearn so rarely raised his voice, it made them all jump. “Reckless.” He muttered, rubbing at the back of his neck and scowling at the floor. “He could still sue.”
“Why?” Landon stepped forward. “No one did a thing wrong. Like you said. Angela took a legit order. I made drinks. The trays Johnny carried didn’t even have alcohol on them, and this isn’t the first time he’s jumped in to seat a customer or serve some water or clear a table when it’s busy.”
“You knocked the tray out of his hand,” Kearn said to Angela.
“That was an honest accident.” Though she widened her eyes innocently, she also crossed her arms over her chest and set her jaw. No one was ever going to get her to admit otherwise.
After a few heartbeats staring her down, Kearn gave up and turned to Ira. “Are you okay?”
Ira nodded, but for once, he stepped closer to Jed first, put his arm around Jed’s waist. “I’m . . . thankful.” He glanced around at them all. “Thank you. That was . . .” He swallowed hard.
“Reckless,” Kearn said again. “It was reckless and stupid, and I better not have to have this discussion with any one of you ever again.” He glared at each of them in turn. “Do I make myself clear?”
They all nodded, but Jed suspected that, like himself, they were refraining from making any promises.
“That said,” Kearn went on, “I approve of my staff looking out for one another. We all know sometimes this industry can put us in the path of some unsavory customers. And since Ira seems to be in a difficult situation, I want to make sure he, and the rest of you, are safe when you are on the premises. I am going to have to hire some bouncers.” He looked at Johnny.
“Sign me up!” Johnny grinned.
“I’ll talk to Rex’s guys and Landon to see where you can get some training.” Landon had come to them with a long list of security postings on his résumé. Bartending was a newish gig for him.
Johnny nodded. “Okay.”
“Out.”
“Yes, sir.” Johnny saluted and turned for the door.
“You owe me for the glassware!” Kearn called after him.
“Put it on my tab.” Johnny closed the door behind him without looking back.
Kearn shook his head and sighed. “Angela, Landon, go make sure that six-top gets their drinks. On the house, for the wait.”
“Sure, Boss.” She patted his arm. “Don’t worry. He’s not going to sue. He’s got no leg to stand on, to start with, and he knows it. Besides. He can’t sue and still harass Ira. Which is a problem, but at least it’s not a legal one for us.”
“Go,” Kearn said.
Landon opened the door for her, and they left.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Kearn spun to face Ira and Jed. “As for you two—”
“I’m fine,” Ira
began, but stopped when Kearn held up a hand. His gut sank. Here it came, as it always did. He was too much trouble to keep around. Cedric always saw to that.
“I want you to close up your tables and switch shifts with Shelly. She’s supposed to be off at ten, so you can leave then.” He glanced at his watch. “Gives you about twenty minutes.”
For an instant, Ira’s fury flashed. It was so unfair. Any other boss, he would have lit into. But Kearn was not just any boss, and Ira was so tired. The flare of temper fizzled out and he sighed. He shouldn’t just walk out without trying, though.
“Boss, I’m sorry. I know this is an inconvenience. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come back.” Though how he was going to manage that, he had no idea. He didn’t want to lose this job. “I’ll—”
“You’ll stay away from him,” Kearn said. “This isn’t your fault. No one thinks it is. I just want you to go home, take it easy, and get some rest.”
Ira glanced at Jed. He wasn’t sure if Kearn was still mad or not. Was this a go home, you’re fired talk or a take a bit of time talk?
“Look.” Kearn pulled in a deep breath. “On the off chance he decides to come back, I want you not to be here. Do I think he will? No. But just in case. And since he’s got a crotch full of grenadine and ginger ale, I highly doubt he’s hanging around waiting for you to leave. So if you go now, you can get home safely.”
He couldn’t argue with that logic. Kearn had read Cedric right. No way would he stick around looking like a fool in soiled pants.
“Close out your bills and get Shelly up to speed with your tables. I’ll get you a cab home.”
He wasn’t really being given a choice. A glance at Jed’s dour expression confirmed it. But he wasn’t being fired, either, so he nodded agreement.
“I’ll give you two a minute. I have another . . . issue . . . to deal with.” He probably meant Mitch, but Ira would be shocked if he was still there. He would have bolted the instant everyone had taken their eyes off him.
“Don’t worry, baby.” Jed was quick to gather him up in a hard hug after Kearn had left them. “Kearn’s not going to blame you for this. All things considered, I think they got rid of him pretty quick and painlessly.”