Page 20 of Ghosted By Texas

“Oh, yeah. They should have told you.” The woman turned and pointed to the swinging door that led to the back where I assumed the offices were earlier. “Just go through the door and veer left toward the washing station. Mikey is back there taking care of the dishes and the boys stock the bar again once their clean.” She started to walk off and turned back. “Thanks so much for doing that. Stopping to pick up the empties kills my tips.”

“No worries,” I announced as she walked away. Getting paid wasn’t on my agenda. I needed to stay occupied and as far away from the bar as possible. That was the goal until Clea eventually said we could leave for the night. My best friend didn’t even realize how much she owed me for coming tonight to help. Then again, she really owed me nothing because this was a job for her and it was going well, which meant her business was bound to take off into a new stratosphere. Anyone who could turn around the reputation of Ned’s Nest in one night was a damn hero to businesses.

The rest of the night, I ran empty glasses back to the dishwashers, kept up with dumping people’s garbage into the cans, and then informed the dishwashers when they also needed to go empty the trashcans in the club, since they were too heavy for me to take out on my own. Otherwise, I did everything possible to avoid being near the bar. All in all, I felt useful and only once or twice, maybe a half dozen times did my eyes wander over to see Austin, Jordan, or both behind the bar. Every single time required a quick trip to the dishwashing station or to the bathroom I discovered in the back that had no line to wait in.

No one saw my eyes grow misty. They certainly didn’t see the one time I cried over my own stupidity. Nope. Not a single witness in sight beyond my own reflection.

My feet hurt and I was exhausted physically and emotionally by the time last call hit. I redoubled my efforts to get glasses back to the dishwashers so they could get out at a decent time.

“Meet me at the bar, I’m just going to finalize everything with Austin and Houston, then we can leave,” Clea told me in passing.

“Headed to the bathroom first, then I’ll meet you there.”

It would be the one time during the night when I wouldn’t mind going near the bar because it meant being able to leave hell on Earth. Seriously, no friendship is worth having to watch your one and only love – ex-boyfriend or not – and his friend, fuck buddy, girlfriend, or whatever the hell she was to him these days as they frolicked and played behind the bar all night.

That probably wasn’t fair. The bar stayed slammed from opening until last call, so I was sure they didn’t do much frolicking, but in my mind, that’s all they were doing because this night had been my own personal living hell. I loved Clea to death, but never again.

After returning from the bathroom for the last time, I meandered up behind Clea as she mentioned my name. “I drove Becs here. I need to give her a ride home.”

“I can take Becs home.” I thought the world had opened up and swallowed me inside when I realized it was Austin who offered me the ride. A quick glimpse of Jordan showed that she was none too happy with his quick act of chivalry. I must have missed something though, because I didn’t understand why it was necessary.

“Why would you take me home?”

Houston was the one who answered. “I asked Clea to come home with me when we’re done closing down.”

I glanced between Houston and Clea, regretting what I was about to say before the words were out of my damn mouth. It couldn’t hurt any worse than the rest of the night, could it? Yeah, I didn’t believe that for a second. Still, I was a glutton for punishment, or at the very least for my best friend’s happiness since I couldn’t have my own.

“I don’t live that far. It doesn’t matter who drops me off. You should go with Houston. It was a big night and I’m sure you both want to celebrate.”

Clea leaned in and hugged me tight. “I owe you.”

If only she knew the price tag was in the priceless range. Still, I did get the tiniest bit of satisfaction when I watched Jordan throw a towel before she huffily grabbed her bag from beneath the counter and took off like a stomping toddler who just had her crayons stolen. I supposed that was a fair enough analogy, since she probably thought I would steal her man again. As if I’d put my heart in jeopardy all over again for a man who had no problem stomping on it with silence.

Austin watched her go too, and I was surprised when he didn’t attempt to stop the bitch or call her back to explain that he was just doing a favor for his brother. Then again, he’d never been known for his communication skills, so I wasn’t sure why any of it surprised me, beyond his offer to give me a ride. Clea leaned over toward my ear one more time.

“Be careful.”

“Aren’t I always?” I gave enough of a sarcastic response to let her know that I was perfectly cool and unaffected. In other words, I sold my friend a bunch of bullshit.

“No, that’s why I warned you.”

A genuine laugh burst free of my body without my permission. It was probably the exhaustion laughing. She wasn’t wrong though. Not being careful and listening to my gut is what got me in trouble with my heart in the first place.

“Whatever. I’m too tired to not be careful.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I have to make sure everything gets cleaned up before we can leave. I haven’t seen Dallas since the beginning of the night, Houston just took off with Clea, and…” Austin glanced in the direction Jordan had stormed off earlier. “Well, we’re short-handed.”

“No worries. I kept up with taking the empties to the dishwashers all night, made them take care of overflowing trash as I saw it, and picked up any garbage lying around, too.”

Austin stared at me for a solid minute before he managed to shift his focus and really assess the state of the emptying club. I think it was the first time he noticed that most of the closing work had already been alleviated. “Why did you do that?”

I scoffed at him. “This was Clea’s big night. Why did you think I came along?” Before he could answer, I stopped him. “She needed tonight to be a success. It didn’t matter who owned the business she was helping, so I came along and did my part. I would do anything to make sure she is happy and successful. I’m not a photographer or videographer. I certainly don’t fit the part as a model, so I did the job no one else seemed inclined to do all night. I kept the place looking good. I’m tiny, so no one even noticed me. It was like your bar had a house elf running around taking care of the little things.”

Austin stared, as if he’d never seen me before. “Word of advice, hire someone to do that job on busy nights. Your servers lose out on tips when they have to run the floor for garbage, dirty dishes, and then take everything to the dishwashing station in the back. By the time they get back to the floor, people are angry because they couldn’t find their server to help them, and their tips go down. Then, your staff won’t be happy enough to stick around.”

Austin continued to stand there and stare at me, so I pulled my smartass remarks out to shield myself from looking at him too long. “You might want to write that down. It’s solid advice.”

“Noted.”

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