Surrender (Club X #2)(14)
Author: K.M. Scott

“Hey, Shay! Another day, another dollar, right?”

I took a sip from my water and smiled. “I hope so. That’s what I’m all about here.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’re saving money to go where?” she asked, her head tilted like she was truly interested in that part of my life.

“Copenhagen. I leave in late December, so I need to get as much money under my belt as I can.”

“Where is Copenhagen?”

This wasn’t the first time I’d been asked that. It seemed that no one in Tampa knew where Copenhagen was. Smiling, I answered, “Denmark. You know, where Hamlet lived?”

“Hamlet? Who’s that?” she asked with those big doe eyes staring at me in confusion.

“You know, Shakespeare? To be or not to be?” I saw in her blank expression she had no idea what I was talking about, so I just shook my head. “Just someone I knew. Denmark is in northern Europe.”

“Will it be cold there when you go?”

“Yeah, I think it will be. I guess some of that money I’m planning to make better go to winter coats and hats,” I joked.

Lola seemed distracted, and I followed her gaze to Stefan on the other side of the room talking to Mika, another of the bartenders. All I’d learned about her came from her snapping at me every night I’d worked. Cutthroat and worried I’d take her place behind the bar, if not under our boss, Mika had shown herself to be a first class bitch. But she had a knockout look with short black hair and model cheekbones, not to mention an ass that looked like you could bounce a quarter off it, so it wasn’t surprising that Stefan couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Do you think she’s pretty, Shay?” Lola mumbled as she continued to stare at him with the bitch.

“In a she-probably-eats-her-men-after-sleeping-with-them way, I guess.”

Lola turned toward me and giggled. “She probably does, doesn’t she? She doesn’t like me because Stefan likes me more than her. I heard her complain about him giving me the front bar the other night.”

“Mika doesn’t like me either, so don’t feel bad. And don’t feel bad about knowing your stuff behind the bar. You deserve to be at the front of the club.”

“You’re pretty good too, Shay, and you don’t hate me.”

I looked past her to see Stefan patting Mika on the ass. What a pig! Looking back at Lola, I smiled, hoping to make her feel better. “I don’t hate people who are better than I am. I learn from them. Mika hates people who are better than she is because she’s immature, like a teenage girl.”

Lola lowered her head just in time to miss Stefan’s sexual harassment of Mika. “She likes Stefan.”

Why, I couldn’t imagine, other than the fact that she was a bitch who deserved someone like him.

“Do you like Stefan, Lola?”

Turning around, she nodded slowly. “He’s the best boss I’ve ever had. Stefan’s much nicer than most people think he is. He gets a bad rap, but he just likes to play around is all.”

“I think you’re being too generous, Lola. What you call playing around most lawyers would call sexual harassment.”

She shook her head and frowned. “See, that’s what’s wrong with this world. Men like Stefan love women. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone.”

Lola’s gentle tone unnerved me and for a moment, I wanted to believe what she saw in our boss was true. Then I saw him practically feel up Kerry and then Kat just after he’d been touching Mika and knew my gut was right about him.

Stefan March was a sexually harassing, male chauvinist pig, pure and simple. That someone sweet like Lola saw anything in him was likely because she was too nice and had nothing to do with him deserving her kindness. But the question was, did she defend him because they were together or just because she was a sweet, if naïve, girl?

“Lola, are you and Stefan…you know…?”

For a moment, I thought I saw guilt in her eyes, but she shrugged and shook her head. “No. I just think that he gets attacked for being who he is. There’s nothing wrong with a man who appreciates women.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Stefan’s not the type of man to go with just one woman, you know? I mean, why should he? He’s young, hot, and wealthy. Why would he want to tie himself down to just one person?” she said wistfully, making me think she’d just lied to me.

“Gather up!” the man himself barked and I followed Lola to the center of the room to where the bartenders’ meeting was to begin.

Stefan seemed to be in rare form this night. Unlike on most nights, he didn’t wear a Club X t-shirt but instead wore a long sleeve Henley more like Kane would wear, but as always had a pair of jeans on that accentuated his muscular body. The guy knew how to show off his assets. There was something about him tonight, though—something that seemed even cockier than usual, if that was possible.

“Ladies, my brothers didn’t bother to tell me there was a private party for tonight, so you’re hearing about it for the first time like I am. We’ll do fine, like we always do, so let’s show Cash and Kane that this is the part of Club X that makes this place what it is. Showtime is in one hour!”

Everyone around me cheered and hollered, and I turned to see Lola clapping. God, she really did like being his cheerleader!

“So since we need to show our best stuff, tonight Shay will be heading up the front bar, along with Mika. I want to see you two up on the lifts too. The members love that. Lola will be heading up the back bar, along with Kerry. The rest of you know what to do, so it’s the status quo for you. And my bottle service girls, I want to see you sell the goods. Now let’s show my brothers how this place really runs!”

More cheers and hoots filled my ears, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lola’s expression filled with disappointment. Why the fuck was Stefan putting Mika up front, where she didn’t belong, and shoving Lola, his best bartender, to the back bar?

Everyone moved to their positions, and Lola turned toward me. “I guess I’ll see you later, Shay. Watch yourself with her.”

She walked off in her usual perky fashion, but I knew she felt like Stefan’s assignments meant a demotion for her. He stood at the front bar talking up Mika, which I imagined would be what my entire night would be like, and I made my way over to him.

“Hey, what’s with putting Lola in the back? She and I work well together. It’s not like she’s a bar-back. She’s your best bartender here.”