Page 4 of Mob Star

We have plenty of bottles that line the wall behind the bar, but the ones we serve from are under it. That way, at ten, we switch out and start using the watered-down shite. Their fault for getting too intoxicated to figure it out.

“What about after that?”

“I don’t know. I’m hoping to get out of there early. We’ll see.”

Chapter Two

Thea

It has been a long fucking day. Twenty-four-hour shift. Six newborns delivered in distress. That was just the first thirteen hours. I had to give heartbreaking news to parents that left me crying in the breakroom. It’s been a long-ass time since that’s happened. Then back to rounds to check on infants who’d recently come out of surgery and were remaining in the NICU along with the other babies receiving ongoing care. All those surgeries were successes, but none of them come without serious chances for post-operative complications.

I really want to go home. I really want to shower. I really want to go to bed and sleep for a week. I really don’t want to go to Tony’s birthday party. I’ve told him I don’t want to go, but he’s been insisting since it’s his thirtieth. What can I say? I’m a cougar, but what I’m pissed about is he insisted on having it at McGinty’s. His brother’s dating a bartender. I guess the red-headed guy from the other day won’t be there tonight. Even if he isn’t, nothing good can come from going back there. But I feel responsible for Tony. Which I fucking hate. I’m not his fucking mother, but I can see how I could turn into her.

We’ve been going out for two months, but I’ve known him since I started working at the hospital as a resident. He was one of the first nurses I worked with. He seemed like a nice guy, but I was seeing someone else at the time. I’ve had four boyfriends— including Tony —since I started at the hospital nine years ago. I broke up with my last boyfriend eight months ago.

I finally said yes when Tony asked me out after he hinted at it for weeks. This was like the third time we’ve both been single at the same time. Third times the charm. At least for him.

He is completely different as a boyfriend rather than a friend. He’s so fucking needy. I can’t with him. If tonight weren’t his birthday party, I would dump him. His birthday was last week, so I thought I was in the clear to do it, until he announced this party at lunch three days ago. We were sitting with a bunch of coworkers in the cafeteria, and he made a big thing about having me on his arm.

A couple of my friends looked at me, and I just smiled. They know I’m nobody’s arm candy. I didn’t work as long and as hard as I have to be reduced to a pretty doll a guy takes out to dinner then takes home to play with. Tony is a himbo— ya know, the male version of a bimbo. I didn’t think he was before we started dating. He’s a fucking nurse anesthetist. But away from work, he’s— too much.

Lord, let me survive tonight, then I’ll be done with him.

I’m practically dead on my feet now that I’ve changed into jeans and a cute top. I have ankle boots on, and I feel good about how I look. Too bad it’s wasted on a night that I’d rather spend curled up with my pillow. I’m off tomorrow, so at least that’s a plus.

I walk over to McGinty’s with Tony and a handful of his friends that went to high school with him. They met us outside the hospital. I haven’t met too many of his friends, but now that I’ve met these… It makes so much more sense. They’re straight up gumbas. Like complete idiots. They should have left their sense of humor back in middle school. I have nothing in common with them. It wouldn’t surprise me if at least one of them is a flat Earther.

As we walk into the bar, I scan the crowd that’s already gathered. A woman waves to us. It’s Tony’s brother’s girlfriend, Shannon. She works here, so she’s generous when she serves us. If I drink, I’ll have fucking heavy head and be asleep in five minutes. Besides, Tony’s already talking about getting wasted because he has the next four days off. Drunk Tony as a friend is different from drunk Tony as a boyfriend. He clearly isn’t still trying to make a good impression on me.

In all fairness, it hasn’t been horrible dating him since day one. It’s just gone downhill over the past two weeks. It started just before our last time here. I don’t know what he said that pissed the owner off so much.

The owner. The man is the hottest guy I have ever seen. Like if he told me to strip, I’d run around like fucking Lady Godiva. If he told me to bend over a table, I’d clear it with one of those TV arm sweeps. If he wanted to tie me up and do dirty, dirty things to me, I’d hand him the rope.

He was calm and confident as he threw my boyfriend out of the bar. He could have been an asshole in response to whatever Tony said. My soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend refuses to repeat it. I haven’t seen the guy he was sitting with that night and don’t know him, so he wasn’t an option to ask. McGinty’s owner seemed like a man while Tony was a boy.

I’ve bitched about my boyfriend in my head for the last fifteen minutes. I’m ending it in the morning. Let me just get through tonight.

We slide into a booth with five other people, so it’s cramped. We wait for a waitress, but no one comes. It’s obvious they didn’t expect a crowd like this tonight. The last time we were here, it was an office party. It was booked in advance. Tony might have been planning this for a while, but they must have assumed he wouldn’t come. He clearly didn’t let them know. He couldn’t since he’s banned.

“Whatcha want?” Tony’s staring at me as though he’s annoyed I’m keeping him waiting. I know he hasn’t asked more than this one time.

“Gin and ginger, please.”

He curls his nose, but I don’t care. I watch him cross the bar, and I breathe easier. My friend, Dana, leans across the table to whisper.

“I thought you were going to dump him.”

“I am. But I felt obligated to come to this with him since I didn’t break up with him before I found out about it.”

“I can’t believe what an a-hole he’s turned out to be.”

“Me neither. It’s a total Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde. It’s weird.” I twist to see him at the bar, and my heart sinks. “Fuck me.”

“Huh?”

“The red-headed guy over there is the owner. Tony had a run in with him. He banned Tony from here.”

“And you let him come back?”

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