Page 19 of Play to Win
7
Ethan counted without stopping.
There were forty different beers stocked behind the bar in the Sky Box Lounge. This was Game Changers’ upper level where a cigar bar and lounge seating were available for group reservations or special events only. Black leather low-back couches and red ottomans provided seating for up to thirty guests in the rectangular shaped center area of the floor. While on one end a full-service bar allowed for an additional dozen guests. The other side of the room had been transformed to resemble a 1920’s speakeasy with its silver tin ceiling and black leather harlequin-patterned club chairs. Rock was a former wrestler who’d picked up the cigar habit while he was on the professional circuit. It had been his idea to add this section and so he made sure to keep only the best cigars, humidors and other paraphernalia for the pastime in stock.
Tonight, was the frat party and a group of twenty-seven guys would be here within the hour to celebrate the upcoming fall semester. There really didn’t need to be a reason to have a party, Ethan recalled from his college years. Still, all hands were on deck to make sure the party went off without a hitch and that the customers still visiting the lower level restaurant and bar weren’t inconvenienced in any way.
He’d been at the bar since early this afternoon, eight hours and counting. That wasn’t normally a big deal. All of the guys spent an insane amount of time working there. This was a new business venture, their livelihood and their lifeline. Except for Ethan, tonight felt like a graveyard shift that he’d never surface from. He’d been moving around methodically, doing whatever needed to be done. Checking inventory, stacking menus on both levels, talking to customers, bussing tables, working the bar, any and everything, he’d done it today. His body felt tight, a headache threatened to break through, and it had been two days since he’d seen or heard from Portia.
The morning after their night on the phone, he’d sent her a text message. Just a simple “good morning”, but she hadn’t responded. He’d forced himself not to send another message. He didn’t beg, nor did he chase a woman who didn’t want to be bothered. Especially not a woman that he was sure had more issues than he did. That was absolutely the last thing Ethan needed to deal with. He had his own weight on his shoulders, no need adding more. But he couldn’t forget what they’d shared that night, nor could he dismiss the truthful words he’d said to her before she’d gotten off the phone. That had been the best orgasm he’d ever had, with or without penetration. And thinking about it that way was making him cranky as hell.
“Let’s do a quick rundown for the night before things get crazy around here,” Del said as he walked toward the bar.
Ethan had been standing with his back to the stairway that led up from the front entrance. There was a hostess station at the bottom of the stairs and a smaller one at the top. When he turned it was to see that the gang was all here. Del and Noah took seats at the bar, while Jeret, Lance and Rock stood behind them.
“Make this quick, Del, I gotta get back in the kitchen. Those culinary school kids get delusions of grandeur whenever I leave them alone,” Jeret said.
Jeret ran his kitchen like the Army Sergeant he’d been before volunteering for the Ranger program. He inspected the supplies, the food and the uniform of every worker entering his kitchen at least three times a day.
“Think they can cook a hamburger better than you can, huh, Chef McCoy?” Rock asked with a grin.
“Kiss my ass, Einstein,” Jeret quipped.
Jeret had always called Rock Einstein because between the six of them, Rock had always been the smartest. Especially when it came to numbers, which is why Rock was in charge of the books at Game Changers.
“Come on, we all know Mal Penning and the rest of his City Council ball busters are going to be watching us like hawks tonight. He and his wife already have a table right by the entrance downstairs so they can see and try to hear what’s going on up here,” Del said seriously.
Del and Mal had a history. It was a dark and sometimes dangerous history stemming from the time Del broke Mal’s nose when they were sixteen and culminating with the reason Del resigned from the DEA. The fact that Mal was now in a position of authority over him wasn’t sitting well with Del. But as always, he was trying to handle the situation as diplomatically as possible.
“He’s right,” Ethan said, trying to give his friend a hand with this meeting. “We have to stay on point tonight. No bullshit. The town’s watching and waiting for us to mess up.”
Noah nodded. “They’ve been waiting since we all left the House.”
“Because a leopard can’t change its spots,” Lance added. “Remind me again why we wanted to come back here?”
“Because it’s our home,” Del said. “We belong here just as much as Mal and his family.”
He was right. But Ethan knew what Lance was feeling too. From the time each of them had landed in the House, the good citizens of Providence had written them off as delinquent failures. That’s why they put them all in the same house when their situations had been drastically different. Nobody wanted to take the time or the energy to figure out what each of them needed to succeed. They just knew that something had happened with each of them, something they deemed so bad and unforgiving that they needed to be shunned by the good society folk of this small town.
It was all bullshit then and it still was now, which is what fueled Ethan to work so damn hard to prove them wrong.
“Maxie is the hostess up here tonight and Joy will be downstairs,” Del continued. He stared down at his clipboard as if the words there would somehow erase the anger, resentment and hurt they all felt at the hands of the good citizens of Providence.
“I’m going to be up here helping Mickey at the cigar bar,” Rock said.
Del nodded.
“I’m good at the bar alone,” Ethan told him. “But two servers on the floor would be good.”
“Right,” Del said as he scribbled notes. “I’ll send Glory and Kasey up here.”
Ethan agreed. They were both experienced and dealt well with all types of customers.
“I’ll manage the bar downstairs,” Lance said. “Camy’s agreed to help out tonight. She’s on her way in and we’ve got four more on staff down there.”
“I’ve got two-line cooks and four preppers in the kitchen,” Jeret added.
“I can work the floor,” Noah stated. “Make sure everybody has everything they need and nobody drops any balls.”
