Page 16 of Sling’s Awakening

Sling side-eyes me. “I’ll pay you a thousand dollars to keep him the fuck away from me.”

Hmm.

That would help me breathe a little easier, but is it enough to put up with Russ? Probably not.

I tilt my head to the side as I look at him. “I’ll take the cash and you not waking me up ever again.”

Sling slowly looks me up and down with a sly grin on his face. “Ever again is a big ask, babe. How am I supposed to know your schedule?”

“You don’t need to know my schedule to be considerate.”

“What about me says considerate?” Sling asks amused.

I sigh, exasperated. “We’re just going round and round in a circle. I’m done with this conversation. Leave me alone, or else you can count your days.” I point my finger at him.

“Now, baby, did you just threaten me?” Sling asks, the challenge in his eyes lighting with excitement.

“No,” I answer slowly to make sure what I’m about to say gets through his thick skull. “I’m telling you what’s going to happen.”

“Hmm. It sounds like foreplay to me. You don’t need to turn me on anymore. I’m already there.”

“I can’t stand you,” I glower.

“I think I could change your mind if I got you underneath me.”

And now I’m really done with this conversation.

“Have a nice night, Sling,” I say as I move down the bar, leaving him standing there.

“When’s your time on stage?” he asks to my back.

“My time has passed.” I wave a hand in the air without turning around, making a mental note that I won’t be picking up a shift anytime soon.

God, the last thing I need is my neighbor to see me on stage.

It’s already bad enough that he knows where I work now.

I have a feeling he’s not going to leave me alone. Guys like him always love the challenge. They wouldn’t know when a woman isn’t interested if she punched him in the balls.

But maybe that’s what I’m going to have to do.

Because if he doesn’t stop, he’s going to be in for a rude awakening.

“Ginny, can I have two shots of tequila, please? And can you put it on the guys’ tab?” Hex asks as she comes up to the bar and nods toward a table with a man eye-fucking her from over here. “He just bought a dance and paid my rent for the month.”

It’s times like this that I miss the stage. Having all your bills paid for the month in one night made life seem so much easier. But those nights don’t happen every time, and some months they don’t happen at all.

“You got it, babe.”

I grab a bottle of Don Julio 1942 off the wall and pour it into a shaker to chill it. If they don’t specify what type of liquor they want, Russ wants us to pour the most expensive thing we have. I told him I don’t think that’s smart and to go somewhere in the middle because if I ordered a shot of tequila and saw it was $45 a shot I would lose my fucking mind.

And customers have.

The amount of pissed-off men who have gotten in my face over it is insane. Calling me every name in the book as if I’m the one pocketing their money. I feel for them; I really do. But I don’t make the rules, and I can’t change them even with as much as I’ve tried. And I know every single time it happens Russ is watching on the cameras in his office, but do you think he comes out to deal with it or kicks them out? He doesn’t. Instead, he leaves me to deal with it until Big Jack comes over and settles them down.

Russ is the biggest fucking joke.

“Are you okay?” Hex asks as she leans in, lowering her voice so only I can hear. “Is Russ being a fucking creep again?”