Vindicated (7 page)

The house lights came up, bathing the room with brilliant white light. “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed blared over the house speakers at full volume. The bass drum resonated in her chest cavity. The room exploded into activity. Band members flooded onto the stage, banging through the cases and shouting orders to the roadies over the music. The lead guitar player, sporting waist-length dreadlocks and a tie-dyed T-shirt, strummed random notes and riffs between guzzles of Jack Daniels.

"Hey!" Randy's quiet baritone resonated in her ear, only inches away. For such a large man, he moved with the stealth of a ninja.

"You scared the crap out of me." With a hand over her fluttering heart, she tried to regain her sensibilities.

The heat of his stare sizzled over her skin, taking in the bare strip of midriff beneath her short, fringed leather jacket, the tight black leather shorts, and the long, bare expanse of her thighs. It was a playful ensemble and always brought in the tips. Despite being five foot two, she rocked the outfit as well as any Amazonian model, and by the appreciation in his eyes, he knew it.

"Are you done?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Or do you need another minute?"

"Nice." He nodded at her flat, bare belly. "Where's the rest of it?"

Before she could answer, a slender girl with bouncing purple pigtails came breezing past. She threw her purse behind the bar, huffed out a deep breath, and turned to look them up and down with bold eyes.

"Aw shit." Randy rasped a large hand over his stubbled chin. “What’re you doing here?”

Tasha glared at Randy, hands on her hips, daring him to cross her. “Ally begged me to work tonight. And since I like her, I’m here.”

"Wish someone had told me,” Randy growled. Tension thickened the air. Randy and Tasha glared at each other like prickly cats, eyes narrowed and claws out. “Karly, this is Tasha. Tasha, this is Karly. Karly's helping us out tonight."

"Oh, yeah. Ally's friend. I remember you." The girl's eyes warmed. She took Karly's hand in a firm and confident grasp. “You’ve done this before, I hope?”

“Yeah. I worked at The Thirsty Scotsman for six months and a few other places before that." Karly watched as Tasha shoved past Randy. “Never anywhere like this, though.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine.” Tasha waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t let anyone give you shit, and don’t be afraid to boss people around. If you act like you’re in charge, people will naturally listen. As for that…” Tasha’s gaze chilled as she looked at Randy. "If you don't speak directly to it, it won't bother you."

"So now I'm an
it
?" The pair glared at each other in open animosity.

Tasha pointed a black-tipped fingernail in Randy's face. "Let's get something straight right now. I'm still pissed at you. So stay out of my face."

"Oh, God," Randy groaned. "It's going to be a long fucking night."

"Come on. I'll show you the ropes." Tasha grabbed Karly by the arm and tugged her toward the bar. She wore a teal tutu, black satin bustier, and black-and-white striped thigh-highs. Her waist-length pigtails twitched and jerked with every step as she went through the routine for the night. It seemed simple enough. Karly would wait on the perimeter tables and booths, while Tasha took the interior tables and the VIP section. Luke and Randy would tend the bar.

"Have you met Luke yet?" Tasha asked when they’d circled the dance floor and returned to the bar. Her voice brimmed with admiration for the young man standing before the cash register.

At the mention of his name, he turned and flashed a deep-dimpled, cheeky grin. Karly choked on her greeting as she came face to face with a younger, clean-cut version of Jack, with twinkling amber eyes and short, spiky black hair. He took her hand in his, raised it to his lips, and kissed it.

"Hi, Karly," he said, his voice purring over her like silk. "I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you."

"I'm sorry for staring," she stuttered. "But you look so much like…"

"Like Jack," Tasha finished. "How one family could have so much hotness is beyond me." She shook her head at Luke and shooed him away with a wave of her hand. "Leave her alone, Luke."

“I’m gone for a few hours and the whole place turns to shit.” Jack appeared with Ally at his side, his voice cracked and rough. The pallor of his olive skin suggested he should be in bed instead of at the bar. Karly raised an eyebrow at Ally, who shook her head

“Dude, you look like walking death,” Luke said. “Good thing I’m here to rescue your ass.”

“I might be sick but I can still take you.” Jack smirked and feinted a punch at his little brother.

“I tried to keep him home,” Ally said, an affectionate scowl on her face. “But the stubborn ass had to be here. He thinks this place will crumble without him.”

“Something exciting might happen, and I’ll miss all the fun,” Jack replied. He pulled Ally into the curve of his arm and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

Randy returned behind the bar. Luke poured out a dozen shots of Jaeger. The bar crew, along with the band members, circled the bar as Randy passed out the shots. When he handed the glass to Karly, his fingertips grazed the back of her hand and lingered longer than necessary. Shivers of attraction raised the fine hairs on her forearms, and she sucked in her breath. When her gaze flew to his face, she found him watching her, and one corner of his mouth twitched in a tiny smile of acknowledgment.

Their silent exchange ended when a dozen shot glasses rose into the air, and everyone looked at Jack expectantly.

“It’s a tradition,” Ally whispered to Karly. “Every night before we open, they have to go through this.”

“Here’s to kicking ass and taking names,” Jack croaked. “Let’s do this thing.”

“Hell, yeah,” everyone shouted in unison. The group broke apart and scattered to their respective stations. The air cracked in anticipation of another night at Felony Bar.

Chapter 13

Around nine-thirty, people began to trickle into the bar. By ten o’clock, the line for admission snaked down the alley and around the corner. The band started a little late, but no one seemed to notice once the lead singer took the stage and belted out an impressive cover of Marilyn Manson’s “This Is the New Shit.”
People spilled onto the dance floor, moshing to the pulsating beat, a tangle of tattoos and limbs in a sea of leather, fog, and laser lights.

Karly pushed her way through the crowd, drinking in the atmosphere. Crossing the dance floor was like running uphill with the wind in her face. The crowd pressed in from every side, making it impossible to move, even more impossible to carry a tray full of drinks.

Remembering Tasha’s advice, she shouted over the music, “Move it, people. Drinks coming through.” With a tray of whiskey shots balanced on one hand high above her head, she nudged an elbow into the person in front of her. To her amazement, a sliver of space opened in the crowd. She slid into the abyss. The shots belonged to a table of guys with long, stringy hair dressed in head-to-toe black. They tipped her a twenty and ordered a second round with the suggestion to “keep them coming.”

Now and then, she caught a glimpse of Randy skulking through the shadows of the room. For such a large man, he possessed the uncanny ability to disappear into the background unnoticed. He seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“I need four Bud drafts and six vodka shooters,” she shouted at Luke on her next trip to the bar.

He glared at her from the center of a swarm of sweating, thirsty bodies. Customers stood three and four deep around the bar, money gripped in their fists, waiting impatiently for service.

“You’ll have to wait a minute, sweetheart,” Luke shouted. Dark circles of sweat stained the underarms of his T-shirt. He leaned across the bar to hear someone’s order, swept money from the counter with his hands, and closed the cabinet door below the register with his foot. “This is some crazy shit right here. I’ve never seen it this busy.”

“It’s okay. I’ll get it.” She pulled herself onto the bar top, swiveled her legs over the counter, and hopped inside.

The back bar sported an impressive array of backlit glass shelves with an efficient layout. After a quick perusal to acclimate to the bar’s setup, she poured the drafts and shooters. Two guys with multiple facial piercings shouted an order at her. She nodded. “Right. Two Jack and Cokes coming up.”

Tasha sauntered up to the bar, looking unaffected by the craziness. “Suckered you in, did he?” She winked at Luke then turned with a scowl for the overzealous platinum-haired girl dancing beside her. “If you step on my toes one more time…” The girl shrank back with a grimace, while Tasha flashed a triumphant smile at Karly. “You want me to take those out for you?” She nodded to Karly’s order. “Looks like Luke needs you more than the floor. Where the hell is Randy?”

“In the office with Jack, I think,” Karly said and nodded to the door where he’d disappeared a few minutes earlier.

Chapter 14

The atmosphere of the office was less crowded but no less intense than the dance floor. Randy found Jack seated behind the dinged-up metal desk, eyes glued to the computer screen and brows deeply furrowed. He nodded his head toward the door, indicating a need for privacy. With an ill sense of foreboding, Randy shut the door behind him. The shouts and rollicking music faded to a muffled murmur through the walls.

“I’ve seen that look on your face before, and it’s never a good thing,” Randy remarked.

Jack heaved a heavy sigh and kicked back in the chair, the springs groaning under the strain. Before he spoke, he scrubbed both hands through his dark hair, searching for the right words. “I don’t know, man. I got an email from David today. Says he’s getting out.”

“Out?” Randy’s mind struggled to encompass Jack’s statement. Strange how one tiny word shifted his entire future in the space of a second. It was his turn to scrub his hands through his hair. “What do you mean,
out
? As in paroled or what?”

“Who knows what the fuck he means,” Jack said. His expression darkened as he powered down the computer and faced Randy. “We’re talking about David. All he says in the email is he’s getting out, and he’ll let us know the details when he gets here.” Jack gusted another heavy sigh, looking older and more tired than Randy had ever seen him. “I do not need this shit right now.”

Randy shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned his back against the door. “Okay, well, I guess we won’t know anything until he gets here. No use worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet.”

Jack snorted, his features relaxing into a humorous smirk. “But they will happen. You know how David is.”

“Yeah, I know alright. He’s like the devil.” Randy completed Jack’s thoughts for him. “Have you told Ally yet? She’s going to need to know the situation.”

“Naw, not yet. I mean, she knows he’s in prison, but I haven’t told her about the other shit.” Their eyes met across the desk with perfect understanding. “We need to have a plan for when he gets here. You know, keep a united front. Or before we know it, he’ll have us in trouble up to our necks. Especially you.”

Jack’s last sentence ignited Randy’s temper. His chest swelled at the affront. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, big guy. It just means that David has a way of manipulating people into doing things they wouldn’t usually do. You know that. I’m as susceptible to him as anyone. So let’s get our shit together and be ready for him.”

A knock on the office door caused him to flinch. He moved aside to open it. Ally crossed the threshold, took one look at their faces, and raised an eyebrow in question.

“What’s wrong? Why do you guys look like you ate something bad?” Her eyes flitted from Jack to Randy and back again.

“Have a seat, baby doll.” Jack patted his knee in invitation and gave her a sheepish smile. “We need to talk.”

“I’m out,” Randy said, recognizing his cue to leave. “We can talk about this tomorrow, I guess.”

Outside the office, he paused to light up a cigarette in the dark hallway. The only illumination came from the strip of yellow light beneath the office door and the red glow of the exit light at the end of the hall. The nicotine surged through his blood but did nothing to calm his frayed nerves.

David was coming home. Like Jack, Randy had mixed emotions about seeing his longtime friend. The three of them had been thick as thieves once upon a time, in the days of their youth. Back then, they were three foolish and arrogant young men who thought they ruled the world. Jack had always been the fun one, relentless in his pursuit of all things hedonistic, while Randy had been the more sensible, serious one who kept them grounded. But David? David was the one who had big balls and even bigger aspirations, a few of which landed him in a minimum-security prison in upstate New York with a little help from Karly’s brother. Trouble followed David everywhere he went, and now it was on a direct flight to Felony.

Chapter 15

The band left the stage for their first break, and the crowd jammed the bar area. The fast-paced work kept Karly’s thoughts from straying. Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye. As soon as the band started again, Luke went outside for a smoke break, muttering beneath his breath. Randy rolled up to help her, a curious look of introspection on his face. They worked side-by-side in silence, pouring drinks and ringing them into the register, squeezing around each other in the narrow space. She was painfully aware of his proximity, adjusting her stance to prevent physical contact when he reached behind her for vodka on the speed rail or over her head for the premium liquors.