She’d heard us. Starting with Huckleberry at the end of the table, she went around, laying the correct bottle next to the right brother. We’d rattled off our normal orders quickly to test her, and she’d passed with flying colors.
I felt her brush up against my shoulder, laying my bottle towards the middle of the table. None of the other brothers had gotten that treatment, just me.
“You know, so you don’t accidentally spill it in your old age. We don’t have bibs,” she whispered.
My mouth dropped open as the rest of the brothers died laughing, but she moved on, like it was no big deal. My jaw was tight as I tried to come up with a winning retort. I was going to have to be quicker than that if I was going to one-up her, and I always won.
“With an attitude like that, it’d be real pretty to watch her submit.” Aces’s eyes rolled back into his head, and my knuckles itched to knock his fucking ass out. I stayed put, flexing my hands into fists underneath the table. This wasn’t my fight.
Lulu heard him as she ran towards the kitchen. He hadn’t even finished the sentence before she smacked him in the back of the shoulder. “There are plenty of willing prospects if you would just ask. Roxy would eat you up and spit you back out.”
“Like you?” He turned in his chair, scanning her from head to toe. “You wouldn’t last fifteen minutes in my bed.”
Francene called out from behind the bar, getting Lulu’s attention. I wasn’t surprised she had a thing for Aces, but he’d never given her the time of day. Our executive team had agreed when Scorpion had bought this place. We didn’t shit where we ate. There were plenty of prospects on this street if you knew where to look. Redheads? Check the museum. Ravens? There were a few at the stunt show in the middle of the strip. Blondes? They were a dime a dozen.
I held the rim of my beer bottle against my lips, preparing for the perfect taste, when it hit me.Fuck.As long as Roxy worked here, she’d be off limits. I raised my eyebrows, contemplating my next move as the beer slid down my tongue.However, the more I thought about it, the more Lulu was probably right. Roxy gave off man-eater vibes, and I liked my dick where it was.
Comfortable silence settled around the table as we listened in on the conversations floating around us. Someone always talked about something they shouldn’t. One time, a kid was chatting with an older man about all the money he was going to spend on his baby mama after their delivery. Too bad they’d forgotten to mention it to us. By the time we took our cut of the profit, there wasn’t anything left.
It wasn’t much longer when Roxy appeared, carrying stacked plates up her arm. “Chicken sandwich,” she said, laying the plate in her left hand in front of Eights. Walking around the table, she stood behind Huckleberry. “Cheeseburger with fries. I’ll grab you ketchup in a second,” she said, laying his plate in front of him with her right hand. Roxy had spent plenty of time serving, and that made me mad.
She worked the table like a pro, dropping plates left and right, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Scorpion was paying attention, and each time she set anew plate down, his eyes narrowed. He was suspicious. As Sergeant at Arms, I was going to have to tail her to make sure she wasn’t here for us.
“Steak and eggs. Do you need sauce?” she asked Scorpion, laying his plate in front of him. He reached out and grabbed her wrist. She squeaked, but I didn’t think she was in pain, more surprised than anything else. “Let me go,” she said evenly.
“What’s your story? If you’re here to hurt Ang, I’ll just make you disappear right now, and we can forget about fixing your shitty car.” His dark eyes stared at her, his fingers flexing around her wrist.
My ass was stuck to the chair. Scorpion was unpredictable, and I didn’t need him to cause a scene in the saloon. There were too many people eating, and while we didn’t care they knew we had an affiliation, we didn’t need to show them how brutal we could be.
Roxy had earned herself a place on his watchlist. He didn’t trust her, and I didn’t need her picking up another admirer until I figured out her story. She hunched over the table, but his broad back hid his grip on her wrist, making the situation appear innocent. It was anything but.
“If you don’t let me go, I’ll stick your steak knife through your hand. I know the cops won’t help me—I’m not that stupid—but you’ll be very uncomfortable until my car is ready.”
“I won’t ask you again. What’s your story? No one carries plates like that unless they’ve been waitressing since the Dark Ages. You’re not old enough.” His lip curled as he sneered at her.
“Temporary.” She moved quicker than any of us expected. Grabbing his steak knife with her other hand, she went to stab him. He let her go just in time, but she was already driving the knife downward. Scorpion laid his hand flat against the pine table, but she drove the knife in between his splayed fingers. The handle stuck straight out of the wood. “You shouldn’t have bet against me.” Picking up her head, she smiled at the rest of us, almost too sweet. “Who would like a refill?”
***
Roxy
I met each biker’s eyes, not willing to back down. “Beers?” I pushed, trying to get one of these fuckers to answer so I could leave the table. I added a smile, pretending there wasn’t a steak knife sticking straight up out of it. A few raised their hands, as if this were a classroom. “Great. Enjoy your lunch, and I’ll grab ketchup.”
“Can I get a bottle, too?” This one is empty.” The man sitting at the table behind Cactus shook the ketchup bottle as if I needed a demonstration. I’d seen him walk into the dining room with his wife and two boys, but since I wasn’t waiting on them, I hadn’t paid too much attention. Taking the empty with me, I told him I’d bring another. This was a simple ask, and I didn’t mind pitching in.
Cactus’s eyes followed me as I crossed the room to the bar, keeping my head high. I wouldn’t do anything about it. This was a job, and for once, I was taking someone else’s advice. I wouldn’t entertain them. They probably had a million other women who would cater to their every need. I was getting tipped to serve them. It wasn’t the same.
Placing their refill order, I grabbed two bottles of ketchup, delivering the first one to the father. The other one went to the biker at the end of the table with the bald head and blue eyes. “Here you go,” I said, syrupy sweet.
“Thanks, darling.” He winked at me. “You know, if you’re—“
“No, thanks.” I pointed at my name badge, pinned to the corset. “Temporary, remember?” I gave him a wink in return and pivoted on my heel towards the bar. The bottles were at the end, waiting for me. I clutched three in one hand and reached for Cactus’s with my other. To anyone else, this might have been awkward, but not me.
You just have to survive another twenty minutes. Thirty tops. Just think—big tip. Huge.
I walked around the table, standing behind Cactus, but before I could lay his bottle on the wood, Aces started talking to me.
“Ro-xy.” He smirked, his lips twitching, as his finger pointed at me, then Cactus, and back again.
