Page 30 of Lucifer's Hounds

“You aren’t happy anymore like you were. So, what changed?” Mindy asks.

“Nothing. I’m just tired and hungover. I was putting on a front earlier and I’m about to do it again,” I say, faking a smile.

“Okay, I’ll buy it, but only because you got some ‘splainin to do,” Mindy says with her hand on her hip, making me laugh.

“Of course. Later, though, because I got a job to do.” I walk over to the register to count it while Mindy finishes up her paperwork. The bar has a few of the construction workers in it and the amount of progress they’ve gotten done is out of this world. These guys are working their ass off. It looks great in here and they’ve done it in under two days. It’s already a completely different bar.

“Can I get a Redd’s Apple?” I turn around from the register to see Scott standing at the bar.

“Sure,” I say, popping the top on his beer and handing it to him.

“I have a tab back there,” he points. “You don’t seem as feisty as you were earlier.”

“Oh, trust me. I’m still just as feisty. Just not as feisty in this particular moment.” I smile.

“It looks really good in here.” I look around the bar. The stage in the far-right corner opposite the bar has a black wall behind it where only plywood had been before. The carpet is new, there’s a mirror in the center of the wall covering a window, and they painted the walls a light color that’s somewhere between beige and tan. The bar itself has been replaced and now has a marble top swirled with tan and grey.

“We try. Our team works well together.”

“How is it that you do both road construction and interior remodeling?” I ask, curious.

“I’ve always been good at anything I’ve ever actually tried to do. Anything I’ve put effort into, I’ve been good at.” His tone is neutral. He isn’t bragging; he is simply stating a fact.

“I think that’s awesome.” I turn around a mark his beer down on his tab.

“Did you find your boss?” Scott asks.

“Yes.”

“I take it you aren’t interested in talking about it.”

“Not in the least.”

“Well, it looks like it’s going to be an early night. I know we should be out of here shortly,” Scott says as he grabs his beer and walks over to the pool table to join the rest of the construction workers.

I’m tired from my encounter with Cass earlier and I need sleep, desperately. Cass. What the hell is he doing? What is his issue? I make a mental note to pry into his personal life a little more when I get the chance to talk to him alone. There’s so much I want to know and he’sgoingto tell me, whether he knows it yet or not.

“What’s got you lost in your head tonight?” Scott’s voice startles me and pulls me back to reality. I was in the middle of pouring myself a Sprite and I tossed the cup when he spoke.

“Damn it.”

Scott laughs at me, but offers me an apology. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. What’s got you so jumpy?”

“I’m not jumpy,” I grit, turning around to reveal my reddened cheeks. “I just wasn’t prepared for a deep voice to break the silence.”

“I’m sorry. You still didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh. Yeah. That. Just trying to think about my situation. I don’t want to be the one to look stupid in the end. You know, the naïve little girl. I don’t want to be the laughing stock of everyone in this town,” I admit. I don’t know why I find it comforting to open up to him, I hardly know him and besides, he’s Cass’s friend, not mine.

“I don’t think it’ll be like that. You worry too much.”

I continue to work on closing the bar. Everyone else has already left. He sits at the bar in silence while I wipe down the bar and gather the ashtrays to wash.

“Scott, you can leave. I don’t have much more to do, then I’ll be getting out of here myself.”

“How about I stay until you get done and walk you out? I don’t like you staying here alone.”

“I’m okay, promise. I do it all the time and I keep a pocket knife on me,” I say proudly, pulling a purple spring-assist Kershaw from my front pocket.

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