Page 76 of Lucifer's Hounds

I hang up as I whip into the empty space next to Mindy’s car. Surely, she’s inside preparing for our meeting. I fling the door to the bar open to find Mindy behind the bar, dancing and signing at the top of her lungs. The jukebox is cranked so loud that I can hardly hear my own thoughts. It’s too early.

Mindy’s in the middle of singing a high note into the spray bottle filled with cleaner when her eyes land on me and she stops abruptly. She flashes me the most innocent grin she can before bursting into song again. Mindy’s energy emanates across the room. She’s happy and I canfeelher happiness in the air.

“Damn, that girls got some lungs on her,” I say, walking behind the bar to greet Mindy with a hug.

“You know it,” Mindy embraces me in a warm hug. She always knows exactly what I need, even when I don’t have a clue. She clamps her hands to each side of my shoulders.

“Okay, so about the schedule. I was thinking we could put Ryan and Lucy on two or three shifts per week, and then you and I could fill in the rest.” Mindy gestures for me to follow her as she takes off toward the lounge.

I follow to find the calendar laid out on the table. Mindy has the schedule made for the rest of the week.

“I put you working tonight, is that okay? I wasn’t sure if you and Cass had plans or anything.”

“Yeah love, that’s perfectly fine.”

“Have you talked to Ryan and Lucy? Does this schedule work for them?” I ask, looking back down at the calendar on the table.

“Yep! They’re both good with it. Ryan should be here any minute now so I can run her through the opening process, but she can’t work today because she’s got something going on in the middle of the day. So, I’ll be here all day until you take shift at six.” Mindy glances at the clock and nods her head.

“Yeah, I need to work on some things in the office, organize that disaster-piece.”

I pop my head in the office to gauge the current condition. Still in the same condition I left it last week, which means it most certainly needs to be organized. I immerse myself into work. I’m in a great mood, which makes the work seem better somehow.

I stuff headphones in my ears and blast Breaking Benjamin’s Pandora station. The music blaring in my ears makes my already good mood even better. I always had a love for loud music, especially when I want to focus. Not unexpectedly walking into the bar at nine in the morning though. Right now, I want to focus on organizing papers on the desk into folders in the filing cabinet.

The door to the office swings open, scaring me half to death. Cass’s thousand-watt smile makes my heart flutter inside my chest. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing that.

“Hello, beautiful,” he says.

“Hi,” I say softly, rising to hug his neck. “Did you miss me?”

“What kind of question is that? I missed you before I ever walked out of the front door.” Cass smiles before his lips are on mine.

He wraps his arms around my waist, interlocking his fingers at my lower back. An endearment I have grown quite fond of.

“Get to work.” He motions in the direction of the paperwork stacked on the desk. The smile on his face takes my breath away.

“Sure thing, boss,” I reply, biting my lip.

Cass groans in response. “If you keep that up, neither one of us are leaving this office for the next two hours, and we have things to get done, Miss Summers,” he whispers, his voice a low, feral growl.

I grip the back of his neck and pull his face to mine, foreheads touching and gazes locked in.

“Then get. The fuck. Out,” I whisper, enunciating each word.

“I’ll be by later, but I can’t stay to help you close up.”

When I turn my head inquisitively at him, he shrugs his shoulder. “Club shit.”

“I think I’ve closed the place up a time or two by myself,” I say to his back and turn around in my chair to face the desk.

The door clicks shut behind me and the sound of muffled voices echoes in the distance. I can’t make out any words, but laughter is loud and clear. I hate that I’m not out there to participate but work has to be done. I sift through the paperwork on the desk and start filing papers accordingly into the filing cabinet. This shit is for the birds.

The day drags on slowly as I work from the office of the bar. It’s nice to be alone sometimes and lose yourself inside of something, anything, forgetting that you have a name, or that there’s a whole world out there.

After hours of solitude, I say to hell with it and walk to the bar. My eyes are so tired from looking at the computer screen.

“It’s alive!” Mindy mocks as I sit down at the bar.

---