His End Game (MMG #1) (23 page)

“We are raking it in brotha,” Garrett said, pushing Dillon out of the way so that he could hi-five Kurt.

“Ellie, Jordan here, was good friends with Max, way back before…..you know,” Harry yelled across the bar. He was loud enough that everyone and their mother probably heard him.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and counted to five. “Harry, you have got to let it go.” Not only was I surprised that it came out of my mouth but that I actually meant it.

It’s time to let it go
.

Dillon stopped glaring at Jordan long enough to ask, “Who is this Max that Harry keeps mentioning?”

Kurt cut his eyes at me and I shook my head at him.

“Who sings this?” Garrett asked, saving me from having to answer Dillon.

Funny, Garrett seemed to be rescuing me a lot lately. “This, my dear,” I smiled gratefully, “is Mumford and Sons.”

“Ooooo,” said Lena passing by, “I love this song!”

“Ug,” Dillon complained.

“You don’t like Mumford and Sons?” I asked, clearly surprised.
The Cave
was one of my all-time favorite songs.

He shrugged. “They’re okay.”

Jordan, who had been quietly watching us said, “You look familiar. Do you by chance play down at Whiskey Tavern?”

“Who me?” I asked, clearly confused.

“Naw man, you must have me confused with someone else,” Dillon told him.

“Play what?” I asked, looking at Jordan.

“Let it go,” Dillon murmured in my ear. Of course, all kinds of lustful thoughts flashed through my head and other parts of my body when he did this.

Before I could ask him again, Jordan held up his hand and, like a kid in kindergarten, asked, “Can I have one of your margaritas, please?” I swear that I heard Dillon mumble something that sounded like giant tool and wondered if he knew Jordan from somewhere.

“I want a margarita, too!” shouted Joss as she ground her ass into Kurt’s crotch while she danced to some Ke$ha song.

The pained expression on Kurt’s face made me laugh. “Why don’t you go ahead and make a round for us all, El?” So I made four of my famous margaritas and proudly watched them guzzle them down.

“How did you hear about my margaritas?” I shouted to Jordan. Finally I had a moment where I could kick back and relax.

“That’s all Harry has talked about, well….that and some Polly chick’s body. Oh, and something about a mean girl and hot tubs or something like that,” he said shrugging. The lack of inflection in his voice was seriously funny. It reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies.

I glanced over at Joss who, by the look on her face, was thinking the exact same thing and we both busted out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Quit playing around and start serving, Ellie,” Dillon growled.

What’s his problem
?

The music changed again to another mind melding song. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Dillon rigged the thing to mostly play his music. “What is this now?” I cringed at the sounds that were assaulting my ear drums.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Avenged Sevenfold,” Jordan answered.

Harry was sitting on his stool holding his hands over his ears. He looked hilarious. “Dillon’s music is about as bad as his taste in women!” he shouted, again loud enough for three bars over to hear.

This caused Joss to spew her margarita all over the bar, Kurt to hysterically laugh and Dillon to get mad.

“Speaking of,” Harry continued shouting, “where is Darla tonight? I’m surprised she isn’t sitting right in front of you with her rack on display and her whip in hand. Dillon,” he mimicked in a high pitchy voice that was supposed to be Dana,” you didn’t tell me that you were going to be working with a fe-male bartender.”

“Ha-ha,” Dillon smirked. “She went with her best friend, Jenny, to Virginia for the weekend.”

“So,” Joss chimed in, “you’re still seeing her?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it that,” he hedged.

“Oh, then what would you call it?” asked Lena, as she waited for me to fill her order. All eyes were on Dillon, probably wondering how he was going to wiggle his way out of the hole he was digging. At least I was.

Looking uncomfortable, he shrugged. “We just hang out every now and then. I don’t see what the big deal is. When I have an itch, she’s always available to scratch it, that’s all.”

Did he really just admit that
?

His words reminded me of what Max had told me about his relationship with Jennifer.

I can’t tell you that I didn’t go there because I did. I also can’t lie and tell you that it was all bad because it wasn’t. What I will say is that, like all the others, she was a distraction, it’s over and that you have nothing to be jealous of
.

Like Jennifer and all the others, Dana was apparently Dillon’s distraction.

“Hey P,” Harry called out to Polly, “come down here and keep me company.” He patted his lap.

“Whose song is this?” Polly asked, ignoring Harry. “I love it!”

“It’s mine.” Finally one of mine was actually playing.

“Who is it?” Dillon asked, wrinkling his nose as if he smelled something really stinky.

“It’s Pink’s
Blow Me One Last Kiss
,” I cheerfully said and blew him a kiss. His eyes instantly heated.

Uh oh
.

Word about my margaritas had spread through the bar and by the end of the night that’s all I seemed to be making.

“Kurt man, we have made a mint tonight,” said Dillon. “Between Ellie’s beautiful looks and her margarita making abilities, we might need to add more staff.”

Kurt smiled at me. “I think Thursday margarita night sounds good.”

“Oh, oh….me, add me. I want to bartend with Ellie!” Joss squealed.

“Seriously?” Kurt asked.

“Please?”

“Okay baby,” he said, touching his mouth to hers. My heart sighed.

Two of my very best friends are marrying each other
.

Pearl Jam’s
Alive
started playing as Kurt screamed out “Last Call!”

“Ha!” I yelled down the bar at Dillon and Garrett. “Look who gets the last song of the night?”

“Ellie Belly, I’ll have to give you this one. Eddie Vedder is definitely the man.”

Garrett nodded his head in agreement.

Kurt, Joss, Harry and Jordan were the last to leave. Polly ran out the door before getting waylaid by Harry, Lena was meeting up with Brent and Garrett wasn’t on closing duty but offered to stay and help anyway. Dillon told him to go home. That left me and Dillon to close up the bar.

As soon as we were alone, he pounced. “Look,” he paused, obviously having a hard time putting his thoughts into words.
I almost felt sorry for him…almost. “I want you to know that things between me and Dana are just casual.”

“And you’re telling me this…because?”

“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression and think that it’s something that it’s not.”

“You don’t have to explain your relationship to me, Dillon.” He physically squirmed when I said this. “Hey,” I said, hoping to soothe whatever was bugging him, “talk to me.”

He stared at me, as if contemplating whether he could trust me or not. Then, nervously running his hand through his hair, he sighed. “I don’t do relationships, Ellie and, trust me, I have my reasons. I know what you all think about Dana and, for the most part, you are right. I don’t love her. Hell, half the time I don’t even like her but that’s the way I like it, the way I wanted it…until now.”

A million questions were bouncing around on the tip of my tongue, like what he meant by until now or what had made him feel this way but, of course, I didn’t ask. His secrets were his and mine were mine.

And they need to stay that way
.

Rubbing my hand up and down his arm, I said, “That’s okay, Dillon. I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

He ran his hand through his hair again, obviously frustrated. “What if I told you that I could be into you? Like, seriously in to you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I must be a magnet for super sexy commitment-phobes
.

“I’m flattered, really, but I’m not really looking for anything right now.” Even if I was, I don’t think it would be him, at least not until he dealt with his issues… or at least dealt with Dana.

“Is it because of Max?”

This threw me. “Max?” I hedged, wondering what Harry had told him.

He shrugged. “The Max everyone keeps bringing up in conversation, you know, the same one that you won’t talk about?”

I tried not to tense up when he said this. “I don’t know a Max,” I lied.

At least not anymore
.

“Really, then why are you getting upset?”

Crap!

“I’m not. Look, tonight was fun, Dillon, let’s just leave it at that. I’ve got to run but will see you Saturday night. I’m looking forward to the band.”

He was not buying anything that I was selling but, for the moment, let me off of his hook. “Mmmmhmmm, sure thing Ellie B, catch you Saturday,” he smirked.

Sighing in relief, I walked across the bar to the front door. Once I was outside where he couldn’t see me, I bolted for my car.

I was in trouble
.

Mass Seduction was a cover band that Kurt had hired to play at Dragonfly on Saturday nights. Joss had been raving about them for weeks, so I was super pumped to finally hear them. What I did not know, but quickly found out, was that Garrett had a family emergency in Kentucky and Kurt had a meeting that he couldn’t get out of. We were two men down on the busiest night of the week. Dillon decided to have Joss fill in and simultaneously get trained.

Bad decision
.

Joss sucked at bartending.

Mass Seduction started the first set with an old Blues Traveler song called
Gina
.

Joss was supposed to be pouring beer for Dillon but instead was dancing. “I’m so naming my first born Gina.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You name your child Gina and I’ll learn how to play the harmonica.”

We grinned at each other.

So never gonna happen
.

An hour later they were covering One Republic’s
Good Life
when Dana walked through the door. I was wondering where her pointy hat and broom were when I saw who she had with her.

“Shiiiiit,” I breathed.

Jennifer Tilson. The last time I laid eyes on her she tried to trick me into thinking that she and Max were together
.

Dillon happened to be standing next to me. “What bad thing has a sweet girl like you cursing like a sailor?” He pretended to look concerned. Normally I would have laughed but this was no laughing matter.

“Your girlfriend is heading this way and she has someone with her who I really dislike.”

I watched his eyes land on Dana and Jennifer. “Who, Jenny?” He looked surprised by this.

My eyes shot to his face. “You know her?”

“Sure, she’s Dana’s best friend.”

Of course she is
.

He laughed. “That bitch is harmless.”

“Not to me, she’s not.”

“Why? What did she do to you?”

His protective tone warmed me. “Nothing,” I said. “It happened a long time ago and, like everyone else, she’s probably grown up and moved on.” I tried not to choke on my words.

“Oh my God, do you see who just walked in?” Joss exclaimed, as she approached the bar from the offices.

“Yep,” I nodded.

“She still looks trashy and, is it just me or has she added on some after-market parts?” She kept her voice low enough that only Dillon and I could hear. Jennifer had definitely had a breast augmentation and something was off about her lips, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.

Dillon looked from Joss to me and then back to Joss. “What the fuck aren’t you two telling me?”

“Nothing,” we both said. When Dillon looked away she bugged her eyes and mouthed the word, “fuck.” Then she held up her finger telling me to hold on a minute and I watched her disappear into the back offices.

What is she up to
?

As I turned back to the bar, Dana and Jennifer were sliding onto the stools in front of me.

Dana shot me an academy award winning fake smile. “Well, look who we have here? It’s Ellie with the famous hot tub and margaritas.”