Page 8 of The Associate

I park my bike out the back of the bar near the bins and lock it behind the cage.

“Well, if it isn’t little Viv!” I heard a slurred voice call from the bar.

“Hi Gary.” It looks like my shift is off to a good start. I always enjoy talking to him; he is harmless and just wants someone who will listen to him. “I hope you haven’t been drinking too much now, I don’t want to have to kick you out again.”

He smiles at me and that smile tells me that he has indeed been drinking already and he will most likely be getting kicked out before my shift is over. Gary is a good man though, he treats me like his own daughter and if she hadn’t died alongside his wife in a car accident, I know that we would have been great friends. I feel like I know his daughter personally because Gary spends all his time gushing over how beautiful she was and how smart she was. I felt sorry for him and I just want to keep an eye on him.

Turning around, I remove my apron off the shelf of the back counter. It is black to show fewer stains if idiots on a night out throw up over me, and Lord only knows it is bound to happen. It is a Friday night and that’s when all the dickheads come out. It is quiet at the moment but people don’t start coming in until about nine at night, which means I only have to put up with jocks and sleaze bags for two hours before my shift ends, which suits me fine.

The next few hours pass uneventfully. Just me cleaning glasses and talking to Gary. He is still gushing over how amazing his daughter was and that we would have been the best of friends. Every time he mentions her, his eyes well up with tears and he swallows another mouthful of whatever it is he is drinking at the time. I know by the amount he has already drunk that I am going to have to throw him out early. And it isn’t long before I hear the crash of glass on the ground and a slurred curse come from his direction.

“All right Gary, I think that’s you done for the night,” I sigh as I make my way over to him. His eyes are glassy and bloodshot as he looks up at me. “Shit Gary, let’s call you a cab.”

I pick up the phone and call a cab for him. The phone rings twice before an unamused, gruff voice answers. “Hi, I would li—” I start before I’m cut off.

“Cab for you or someone else?” the voice asks.

“Someone else,” I respond, letting this guy get through his questions.

“Name?” he asks.

“Gary Michaels.” I am about to just tell him where but he cuts me off again.

“Pick up point?” The phone creaks on the other end like he has squeezed it a little too hard.

“Gravel & Grit bar.” I sigh.

“Right, a driver is on the way.” There is the sound of papers being moved around and then the line goes dead.

Well he is an arrogant piece of shit.I put the phone back on the cradle and walk over to Gary, who is swaying on his stool.

I give a sad smile to Amber, the other waitress tonight, and she smiles back. I glance down at my watch. It is ten fifty-five pm and the cab will be here around eleven o’clock. “C’mon Gary, let’s get you outside.”

“Come on Viv, why ‘ave you gotta kick me out?” His words are slurred. He has already forgotten that I have told him we are sending him home.

“Because, Gary, you’re too drunk. Now go get into that taxi.” I point across the car park.

He doesn’t disagree with me, he just nods and makes his way over to the cab that is parked under one of the three street lights. I wait for him to stumble his way across the parking lot before returning inside. A rowdy group of frat boys has shown up.

I hear the doors open and, as I glance up, I am expecting to see the frat boy group walking in; instead, it is a tall, dark shadow. He blocks the light coming from outside. He pauses for a moment before making his way across the room and sits over in a booth along the back wall.

Amber walks over to give him his usual drink but I put my hand over it. She raises a brow at me and I just give a small nod before taking the glass over to him. He is staring in the direction of the group of frat boys that came in just after he did. Placing his drink on the table, I lean forward. “Didn’t your mother tell you it is rude to stare?”

All I get is a grunt, not even bothering to turn his head in my direction. “Aren’t you a talkative one tonight?” I say, trying to get his attention again.

His head turns and I find myself frozen in an icy blue stare. I know this stare though, those eyes are hard to forget, even though I last saw them ten years ago. Those eyes have haunted me ever since that day.

I used to follow him around when our mothers had lunch. He hated that I clung to him.

Now, he’s my father’s second. If my father isn’t around, then it is Mason they listen to.

“My name is Viv, what’s yours?” I step back slightly so that I can see him a little better. Will he recognise who I am?

I remember him as a boy. He was skinny and always getting into trouble, but when he was put in charge of looking after me he took his job seriously. By the time my mother left my father, Mason was seventeen and was already being sent out on jobs as part of his training. The day that we left, he was nowhere to be seen. I never even got the chance to say goodbye to him.

The sound of a glass breaking makes my head whip around. I don’t even know if he responded to me asking his name but it didn’t matter because I already know it.

When I turn around to see who broke the glass, I see Amber running from the table full of cheering frat boys.

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