Angela pulled on my arm and we made our way to the small stage at the front. Two of the other cocktail waitresses were moving that way too. I’d met one of them, Taylor, but the other I didn’t recognize. They were both young, busty, and beautiful. Seemed Mickey had a type. Hey, if the tips were good I wasn’t going to complain. I’d use these knockers for something good, because someday they’d be at my knees.
A hefty woman, wearing a Harley Davidson t-shirt cut down the middle to show her ample cleavage, walked right up to Mickey and the crowd cheered.
“First up we have Donna!” he cried out. “Our amazing and talented chef. Best onion rings in Arizona!”
Donna bent forward and blew the crowd a kiss, which brought a smile to my face.
“Let me remind you that one hundred-percent of your donations tonight go to helping homeless folks off the street,” Mickey growled into the mic. “So don’t be stingy, you little fuckers!”
I grinned. The old man was growing on me.
“Twenty dollars!” a young man shouted from the crowd and Donna blew him a kiss.
“Thirty dollars!” another man yelled, waving some cash in the air.
Angela grabbed a giant bucket with a lid to collect the money, and we inched closer to the stage.
“Forty-two dollars and fifty cents!” an old round-bellied man cried out.
Angela smiled. “That’s her husband,” she whispered to me.
“Alright, highest bid is forty-two fifty. Do I have any more?”
Silence.
“Sold! Donna, go sit with your husband and enjoy a beer on the house!”
Angela moved to collect the money in her bucket and Mickey reached out and grabbed my arm. “Come on, doll.” He gently pulled me on stage.
Oh God.
Second? I didn’t want to go second. Not last either. Just a good middle spot where no one would notice me.
“Uhh.” I tried to think of an excuse to hold off the inevitable. I had a mild anxiety disorder in crowds, which was interesting now that I’d decided to start working at a crowded bar. My heart hammered in my chest as the men roared in excitement. Sweat broke out on my palms and upper lip, and dizziness washed over me.
Get your shit together, Hailey. It’s for charity. It’s just a group of old biker thugs.
But it wasn’t just the old biker thugs who rode Harleys. There were the young good-looking guys too. One in particular that was burning his blue-eyed gaze into me.
I swallowed hard.
“This pretty little thing just started at Mickey’s tonight. Let’s give her a warm welcome!” Mickey called out.
The amount of males yelling obscene things was enough to make my cheeks go pink.
Mickey scowled. “Be respectful or you’ll be thrown out,” he reminded the wild group. “Hailey is a nursing student—” The men hooted and hollered and had to be quieted down again. “Who has kindly agreed to have one drink for the benefit of our dear charity. Can I start the bidding with—?”
“A hundred bucks!” a tall lanky dude in the back cried out. It looked like his hair was slicked back with olive oil.
“Okay!” Mickey grinned. “I’ve got a hundred in the back.”
“One fifty!” an older Native American gentleman cried out, holding up money and waving it in the air.
My traitorous gaze somehow found its way to Ethan. He was leaned all the way back in his chair, legs spread like he didn’t have a care in the world. But those eyes, those eyes looked … mischievous.
“Two hundred! I’ll go higher if she’ll wear her nurse uniform!” a man cried out, and everyone cheered.
My gaze fell to the ground as panic rose up in me.
