Page 19 of The Ghost of You

I walk away from my crazy friend to serve others. Liam is easy on the eyes and tonight I don’t mind looking at him either. Last night I told him I was going to be a cop so he decided he wanted to be a fireman. And he looks fucking fine.

He has on fireman turnouts with suspenders. That’s it. No shirt. And he is pure muscle. An eight pack of abs, biceps the size of my head, pecs that are hard as rocks. His tan skin plays well off the yellow reflective material. And when he throws that pearly white grin to the ladies, dollars just float from the sky.

He works as a personal trainer when he isn’t bartending. And I am pretty sure he models for romance book covers. He’s sworn off love just like me. We like to make fun of the lovebirds in the bar. Mostly just the sad people trying too hard for a hookup. I know he is a total slut though, just like them, but he is happy living his life that way. He is one of my best friends besides Seraphina and he is always there for me when I need someone. He is a truly genuine nice guy and I hope one day he finds Mr. Right.

“I think you should dress like that every night,” Liam says to me as I squeeze past him to grab a bottle of tequila.

“Yeah, not going to happen.”

“Girl, you are bringing in more tips than I am.”

“No, I’m not.”

“I don’t know about that,” he says as he mixes a cocktail. “There are a shit ton of guys around this bar staring at you. Lots of cash in hand.”

I look around and notice there are a lot of guys around. “How do you know they aren’t staring at you?”

“I wish they were. But those boys.” He nods where about ten young guys stand at the end of the bar. “They aren’t gay. You should pull your boobs out a bit more. I bet they will give us a huge tip.”

“Not happening.”

“Please, I want to see this happen.”

“Are you batting your eyelashes at me?”

He grins. “Only for you, baby girl.”

“Hey, can we get some service down here? You two can stop flirting and work,” a customer shouts at the end of the bar.

“Oh brother. Do you want to serve that asshole or me?”

“Boobs, girl. He’ll forget being an asshole any second.”

I huff as I walk away from Liam toward the asshole at the end of the bar. Turns out Liam was right. I bent over and let my boobs fall out of my dress a bit more and when I went back to set down his drink, his eyes were glued to my chest. He tipped me twelve dollars for his eight dollar drink.

Joey, the third bartender, started just as the bar got slammed. But thanks to Liam’s advice and my luck of being the only girl behind the bar, I was rolling in the tips. Liam and Joey, who was also dressed like Liam, decided to only serve the ladies and I took on all the guys. We had to empty our tip jar out four times by midnight.

The costume contest was wild and obnoxiously loud. Too bad no one told me there was also a staff contest. I am glad it’s dark in here or else everyone would see my face looking like a tomato.

“Umm, why did no one tell me this?”

Liam laughs. “Because we know you wouldn’t do it.”

I stare at him, slack-jawed and speechless.

He grabs my arm and hauls me up on stage after the servers all walk downstage. “Now you should really play up the part. Swing those handcuffs, smack that baton around.”

He pulls my shades off my hat and puts them on my face. “The staff winner gets a thousand dollar bonus and New Year’s Eve off.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s why we always dress up. Now go,” he says, pushing me toward the front of the stage. “Act sexy. The customers choose.”

I could kill him right now for not telling me earlier in the week. Hell, any single one of my co-workers could have told me this. I am the only new person here in the last year, they all knew about this. And I bet a hundred bucks, Seraphina knew too.

I suck it up as a bunch of hootin’ and hollerin’ goes on. I glance down and see my cleavage is looking on point. I take a deep breath. I try to let go of all the things that usually hold me back. My fear of just about everything, loneliness, love, loss, acceptance, but when I look down at myself, I see all the flaws that I’ve let bury me. But since I am on stage, I put on the façade I work hard at every day. I grab my handcuffs from my belt and swing them around as I walk. When I reach the front, I take the baton and smack it a few times in my palm before turning around and heading back. I didn’t give it everything I got. The Anna ten years ago would still be out their wild and crazy, but at least I didn’t chicken out. Ididsomething.

Liam smiles at me as I strut back to jump off the stage but it’s his turn and he decides to make me part of his act. He throws me over his shoulder. I smack him against his back numerous times before he finally puts me down. But my embarrassment isn’t over. He uses me as a pole to grind on me just as Joey walks on stage and joins him. I have no idea what to do. I’m frozen in place. Their act is soon over and Joey swoops me up and carries me with one arm around my back and the other under my knees off the stage.

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