“Sorry for a second there, I forgot you had a stick up your ass!” Sunday groans, and her friends laugh, but I just sigh. “Where is Bobo?”
Bri and Bobo, horrible nicknames given to us by Sunday, when all she could do was hobble around the house in a diaper, screaming for attention.
I hate it, but at least I’m not Bobo.
“You aren’t running to Boone because I said no,” I warn her.
“Yes, I am, and you can’t stop me without it causing a show, so…” She uses the table and stands in the booth, hopping over the back and landing in the lap of a drunk fire guy with a tiny giggle before she darts off through the crowd in search of our brother.
“Thanks for the help, guys.” I look at the rest of the girls.
“Bros before hoes,” Kaia snorts.
“She’s trying to cheer Rhea up,” Cosy says, leaning back and stretching her arms up as she rolls her neck side to side.
I look from her to Rhea, sitting in the other corner, picking at the curled plastic on the old drinks menu. She looks sad, maybe more distracted than usual. Her raven hair is messy around her hardened jaw, multiple dainty piercings glimmering under the bar lights, and noticeably absent is the broad, pearly smile she usually wears.
I groan at the sight of her, pathetically busying her mind.
Always a sucker for a sad girl.
“Drinks,” I say, tapping the table with a finger before backing away. “And karaoke…” I add, and Kaia gives me a small nod.Anything for Sunday, I tell myself, which subsequently means anything for any of them. “Just let Day think it was her doing.” I wave the towel and keep walking back to the bar.
“Hey Judd,” I call to him as he finishes up with the customers he’s talking to and turns.
The Hollow uniform fits him tighter across the chest, and the back is printed with large red font that says I'M A CHEAP DRUNK. A few years ago, Boone took it upon himself to create a uniform despite my saying multiple times that we’re a dive bar and didn’t need them. Now the staff members walk around in black shirts with the Hollow logo on the front and a collection of idiotic sayings on the back.
And with the intent of pissing off Boone, I only ever wore the one that said ‘THING ONE.’
“What’s good?” I’m still getting used to the British twang in Judd’s voice, and every once in a while, it catches me off guard, remembering he’s not an East Coast boy.
“Can you get drinks to table six for me?” I ask him, and he looks over my shoulder to the Hillcat table with a scowl. “Hey, make two for Cosy that way when she pours the first one on you, she’ll still have something to drink.” I pat the bar and slip through the crowd to the stairs that lead up to my apartment.
Boone stops me on his way out of the kitchen, “You alright?” He asks, and I nod.
“Forgot my phone upstairs,” I say, and Boone sees through the lie but lets me go anyway. I take the steep black stairs to the apartment, unlocking both locks before slipping inside and closing the door behind me to breathe. I uncurl my hand from my jeans pocket and watch it shake. The tremor is getting worse. I breathe in for four, hold it, and breathe out for four. Holding my hand out and begging it to stop so I can return to work.
“Judd should not be allowed access to liquor. What the hell is this?” I choke down the drink, and it hits my stomach like firestarter. Sunday returns with a wicked smile on her face and slides into the booth next to me.
“Bobo is setting it up,” she squeals and slams back one of the weird-colored drinks. “Oh god!” She spits booze everywhere, causing Kaia to scream in laughter and Cosy to throw napkins at her. “Judd made these,” she says before anyone can explain. “The sympathy hire has gone too far.” Sunday frowns, completely disgusted.
We all look over to watch Judd juggle three drinks while he flirts with a cluster of girls around him. The Hollow shirt is a size too small, and his sandy blond hair is darker at the roots, messy, and licks at his neck. He winks one of his glassy blue eyes and carries on through the crowd with a subtle flex to his massive arms and a lazy smirk on his lips.
“It’s a shame he’s so pretty to look at.” Kaia slumps against the table, poking the terrible drinks. Cosy scoffs and pats her on the head. “This is all yours, baby girl,” she says, pushing the glass across the table to me.
“Don’t make me?” I scrunch my brows and give her the biggest, watery eyes I can manage.
“This is your pity party, remember? He was trying to cheer you up with his house special,” Kaia reminds me.
“I hate you,” I say to her, grabbing it and slamming it back with a loud gag that makes Margie giggle wildly. My phone buzzes on the table,and an email about my condo comes through, only making me more depressed. I shove it away, and Cosy picks it up to read it.
“Shit,” she scowls and shows Kaia, who leans in with her eyes unfocused on the phone. “They’re giving you a six-month timeline for repairs.”
“Which means it’ll be closer to a year,” Kaia says. After the game, she showered and left her long brown hair to air-dry, and now it’s wavy around her sharp features. There’s a soft pink hue to her tawny skin from the booze, and she looks up at me with sympathy in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Reaper. I know you loved that condo.”
“It’s chill,” I shrug. “It’s just a house…”
A house I bought with my own money after years of renting. At nineteen, I’d moved out of my parents' house, in desperate need of space from the chaos that my family embodies. Don’t get me wrong, I love them. They’re everything to me. My mom and stepdad are incredible—four younger siblings, Reid, Rue, Shana, and Toby. And too many animals for one house, but it’s always loud, someone is always creating noise, and sometimes… I just need the quiet.
