Page 1 of A Highland Gargoyle's Lucky Star
Chapter one
Noah
Mama Delilah’s Daily Horoscope Reading
Uh oh, Sagittarius! The stars are not aligning for you today. Trouble’s brewing and you need to watch out. Or maybe you should just roll with it? After all, what will be, will be. Roll with the punches and protect yourself as best as you can. Things will get better… eventually.
Getting fired is likea box of chocolates. You never know what flavor of rejection you’re going to get.
At this point, I’ve sampled the entire box of chocolates and then some, to the point where being booted doesn’t even surprise me anymore.
“Sorry, kid,” Jared says, shaking his head, “I have to let you go.”
The flavor of this firing is rather bittersweet. Working as a server at Jared’s bar had been a lot of fun, but I knew it wouldn’t last from the start. Trouble always manages to find me no matter how hard I try to avoid it. If my math isn’t wrong, this is the twelfth job I’ve lost in the last nine months.
A new record.
Although this was one of the positions I’ve managed to hold on to the longest—Jared gave me plenty of chances and was more than fair.
Unfortunately, good intentions don’t have much of an impact on the chronically bad luck that is my personal plague of doom.
My mind drifts back to the events of the evening.
It’s a typical busy Friday night at The Watering Hole. I’m making some good tips as I bustle around the place, taking orders and serving up everything needed for people to get a head start on their party weekends.
It’s just after nine o’clock when things suddenly go haywire.
I swear, it isn’t my fault either. Not exactly, anyway.
I’m carrying a tray full of drinks for a table of six when some big, beefy guy who’s already three sheets to the wind comes stumbling back from the bathroom. Before I can react, he collides with me and my full tray, sending us both flying in different directions.
The beers have the grave misfortune of landing on a group of young guys who’ve been drinking and watching a football game on the television. Beer goes everywhere.
For whatever reason, they’re primed for a fight and my bad luck is the spark that ignites a powder keg just waiting to blow.
Within seconds, tempers flare when the drunk guy starts laughing his ass off at the beer-soaked college bros. I manage to duck low just before the fists start flying and scramble outof the way—being smaller than your average Joe does have its advantages!
At first, it’s five against one belligerent asshole. But then some of the asshole’s pals see what’s happening and join the fracas.
Slack-jawed, I stare in disbelief while the situation turns into a campy fight scene right out ofRoadhouse. But I sure as shit am no Patrick Swayze, so I will not be kicking any ass tonight. Instead, I opt to hide out in the relative safety to be found in the space behind the bar. I’m joined by Susie, our surly bartender of the evening, who’s tucked into a corner texting on her phone while chaos engulfs the entire establishment.
A chair goes sailing through the air and crashes against the wall near us, splintering in pieces on the ground.
Talk about a little too close for comfort.
I peek over the edge of the rail just in time to see someone get slammed down on a table, which collapses under them. Bottles and glasses shatter on the floor and people scream as they hurry to get out of the way of the melee.
The heavy thud of fists thumping into flesh has me returning to my hiding spot. By now, our more sensible patrons have gotten wise to the situation and skedaddled, most of them leaving behind their open tabs.
Fuck.
By the time Jared comes out of his office to break things up, the damage has already been done.
Jared sighs.
I peek at my soon-to-be-ex boss as he leans back in his creaky office chair, folding his hands over his gently rounded belly. “You understand, right? Nothing personal against you, but tonight was the third incident this month.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” I manage to mumble pathetically.
