CHAPTER ONE
Blaze
The nightI spotted her in the club was the night my life changed forever.
The music shook the walls inside the club as the dance floor filled more every few minutes. I glanced at my watch.Eleven thirty-five.The usual time the crowd rolled in.
I crossed my arms over my chest and scanned the dance floor, while side eyeing the bar next to me. Tonight, I was on duty for the big dance floor, on the second story level of the club. I rotated between here and the front door, which was where I preferred to be. Fewer fights to break up than the drunk people in the club wailing on each other. Or men touching women without permission, which really boiled my blood. But besides the occasional chaos, the gig wasn’t bad.
A group of giggling women shuffled past me, their perfumes tickling my nose hairs. I watched the bar, the lines growing as the two bartenders struggled to keep up with the orders. Hopefully, no one will run their mouth about waiting.
One night, the lines were backed up to the dance floor, only one bartender on because of the other being out sick and having no one to cover. A fight broke out over the wait and punches were thrown left and right. I jumped in the middle, catching an upper right hook to the side of the head. It wasn’t a good night, but I learned to always call for backup when a fight broke out.
The dance floor filled to the brim as the lines thinned at the bar. I moved closer to the dancers, my eyes scanning over the crowd. Anything could go south in a minute, hell, a second even, and I needed to make sure things stayed cool.
“Doing good, man.” Paul, my boss and owner of the club, said loudly over the music as he walked by, making his usual rounds. I nodded my head at him, mouthing a thank you. He knew how important I took my bouncer duties, and after showing up here for every shift on time over the past four years, I’d proved myself well. Even after tough days working my full-time construction job, I still came in again and again.
My parents had instilled good work ethics in me, modeling their own hard-working selves on the farm and working jobs in town. My father saved and bought the farmhouse they still lived in and I grew up in, and he worked hard for everything they had and passed on to me. Chores on the farm weren’t a question, they just needed to be done. If only I had siblings to help. I was their only child, as my mother had trouble conceiving and wasn’t able to have me until her early forties. As I got older, so did they, time moving faster than we liked.
After graduating high school, I attended college full time, getting a degree in carpentry while working as an apprentice for my uncle and still helping on the farm when needed. In my spare time, I fixed up the small carriage house on my parents’ land and moved in and out of the main farmhouse. After college, I joined a construction crew and worked hard, moving up in the business quickly. But I needed extra cash, as I knew eventuallythe farmhouse and all of its old house problems would become mine.
About a year ago, my mother’s health took a turn for the worse, which caused my father’s mental health to decline. Neither of them could work anymore. The farm stopped running, the animals sold, and the crops were no longer tended to. I moved out of the carriage house and back into the main house, helping them now with meals and everyday tasks.
Working kept my mind off things. Like my parents’ declining health, and the crumbling farmhouse that seemed to develop new problems every day. I worked hard during the day, picked up extra shifts at the club when I could, and took care of my parents and fixed up the farmhouse in my spare time. I barely had time for myself never mind a relationship or friends.
Shouting voices caught my attention and my head jerked to the right, a couple of guys getting loud which each other. I walked towards them, ready to diffuse the conflict or throw them out, if need be, when suddenly, I’m bumped from behind, while the scent of sweet candy filled my nose.
A glance behind me revealed a beautiful woman.
A beautiful woman that made my heart stop.
Everything around me fell away as I zoned in on her, looking down at her perfectly plump body in a tight black dress, every curvy on full display. Despite the dim lighting, I liked what I saw, my fingers aching to press into her fleshy bits.
Louder shouts sounded from behind me and I turned back just in time for a punch to be thrown, both men breaking into a scuffle. I quickly jumped in, breaking up the fight, but not before catching a kick to the stomach from one guy, sending me doubled over in pain.
Two other bouncers and my boss swooped in, pulling the guys apart, one helping me to stand. “Shit, Blaze, are you okay?”
I nodded, even though I felt like my dinner was about to reappear on the floor in front of me. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks.”
Paul turned on me, the other bouncer stepping back and taking one of the drunk guys in his hands. They walked off with both of them, and my boss frowned. “You should’ve diffused the conflict before it escalated into a fight.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” I glanced around, but the woman I saw was gone. “I got distracted by another conflict brewing.”
“You should’ve called for backup sooner. Remember that.” Paul said before walking away.
Dammit. Who was that woman? And why had she distracted me so much?
I moved towards the bar and ordered myself a Coke, wishing I could ask for some rum in it but knowing drinking on the job wasn’t allowed.
After downing it, I took my position next to the dance floor. The sweet candy scent wafted past me again and every nerve ending inside me lit on fire.
My eyes immediately scanned all the faces, needing to find her, to convince myself I wasn’t seeing things when I saw her before.
The smell drifted back. I looked around.
And finally, there in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by a few women, was the woman I saw earlier.
My heart skipped a beat.
