Page 1 of Set Me On Fire

Chapter 1

Millie

I thought the Christmas spirit was about family and goodwill towards all mankind, not big, boofy men shoving themselves closer to the bar waving money in my face. Right now, it was more like working in the middle of a footy field than a pub.

“Four schooners?—”

“A couple of rum and Cokes?—”

“Tequila shots?—”

Things could get a little hectic on a Friday night, but this was next level. Half the businesses around the pub had decided to hold Christmas drinks tonight of all nights.

Without giving me a heads up so I could put more staff on.

“Millie…” The frantic whine of one of my more experienced barmaids had me moving.

I reached under the bar and grabbed the baseball bat I used when things got seriously hairy and slapped it down, silencing every single one of them.

“Can you all just chill the hell out for a second?”

Mouths snapped shut abruptly, and suddenly I had all eyes on me. The dulcet strains of Steve Tyler from Aerosmith playingthrough the jukebox ruined the effect, but I had the quiet I needed. I regarded each and every man, then caught the eyes of my harried staff.

“We want to get you your drinks.” I said, then frowned slightly. “Except for you, Bluey.” The man was barely able to stand, let alone find money to buy another drink. “You should’ve been cut off ages ago.”

“I’m fwine…” he slurred.

“Yeah, because that’s a word.” I looked over at the door and then nodded to the bouncers standing there. Jonah, a massive man, ambled over and then started to shepherd Bluey towards the door where he’d call the man a cab to get him home safe. “Now everyone else…”

I had three brothers. The only way I was going to hold my own with those dickheads was if I learned how to assert myself, so I drew on that little sister energy as I regarded each man with a steely eye.

“How about you all stop barking orders at my staff? They’re moving as fast as they can and?—”

Of course, the minute I got silence, everyone else decided to take that as an opportunity to raise their concerns.

“Millie, the keg’s run dry.” Annie, one of my longest serving staff members, pulled the tap, the subsequent ejaculation of white foam and no beer underscoring the point.

“I was supposed to go on break an hour ago,” one of the guys that picked up empty glasses said.

“My babysitter just rang.” One of the kitchen hands came rushing out through the swinging doors. “I need… Oh fuck!”

That, that panicked tone had me spinning on my heel. People swore like sailors here, because hey, it was a bar for working men, but this…? It was something else again. I was moving before I could even think about a response, striding overto the kitchen doors, just in time to see fire flare bright in the deep fryer.

Oh fuck, indeed.

For a second, I just stared at the flickering flames, unable to process what I was seeing. I wish I could say the same for my staff. Geoff, one of the cooks, went running over to the sink and filled a bucket half full of water and then ran towards the fire.

“Nooo…”

It felt like my shout stretched out the word so far it became unrecognisable. Everyone was screaming all at once, not paying any attention to me. Geoff rushed forward, slopping water as he went, resulting in one of the kitchen hands slipping in the puddle he left behind, forced to grab the kitchen bench with white knuckled fingers lest she go crashing down onto the tiled floor. Raj, another one of the cooks, looked just as stricken as me, snatching up a tea towel and lurching forward, as if that would help.

“No water!” I roared, my brain coming abruptly back online.

I’d been forced to sit through a long and boring fire safety training session with this crusty firefighter guy who wasn’t even hot, but that was the problem with working in hospitality. The high turnover of staff meant things like training and safety went out the damn window, as evidenced here. Geoff’s head snapped around, his eyes meeting mine, but that didn’t stop his feet from moving. Instead, I watched his eyes go wide as he tripped and the bucket went flying towards the oil fire.

“GET BACK!”

My mum was a petite little thing, but she could conjure a mum voice from the depths of her soul that had us all shutting up and doing what she said without question. I experienced a brief moment of joy when I channelled that same energy right now. Everyone leapt backwards, and thank god for that. The bucket didn’t hit the oil, but the water did, and just like theyshowed us in the scratchy old footage, the flames exploded upwards.

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