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We follow the man inside. The area where the office is located is surprisingly well lit for a bar. He leads us to his office where he has a stack of papers on a round table on the left side of the room. A large wooden desk takes up the back of the room, and a comfortable looking couch sits on the right. The room is decorated with sports memorabilia mostly football related. Luke heads to a cluster of framed photographs on the wall near the desk just past the couch.
“I can’t believe you have this on your wall!” Luke exclaims, turning his chair to look over his shoulder at Jay.
“How could I not?” Jay laughs. “Those were the glory days, man.”
“For sure,” Luke replies with a smile. “We sure thought we were hot stuff.” Jay lets out a deep belly laugh, which gets Luke laughing as well. Jay pats Luke’s shoulder affectionately. I can’t help being curious, so I join them to peer at the picture. It’s a high school football team decked out in their uniforms. I spot a younger Luke standing tall and proud with a cocky grin on his face. It takes a minute, but then I see the younger version of Jay, too. He was definitely a looker in his teens, not that he isn’t a handsome man, now, but I can just imagine how many hearts these two broke back in the day.
“Occasionally I miss those days,” Jay comments. “But then Iremember how clueless I was about life and decide I’m much better off now.”
Luke turns his head to look at me. “Yes,” he says pointedly. “Definitely better off today.” I blush at the heat in his eyes as he looks at me. Jay looks back and forth between us as a sly grin comes to his face.
“Let’s get you fixed up, little lady,” Jay says as he walks over to the papers on the table. I take the seat he indicates and begin signing documents. Surprisingly all my information is already filled in. Luke must have given it to him.
Once the paperwork is complete, I expect Luke to leave me here, but he follows us out into to bar. It’s still early so there aren’t many customers, yet. I notice a couple of waitresses are hanging around the bar. One is a redhead with huge breasts that are about to fall out of her skin tight, low cut top. The other woman has long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She has on similar clothes, but her top isn’t as low cut nor as tight as the first.
A couple of bartenders are on the other side of the bar, one male, one female.
“Shelia?” Jay calls out as we approach. All of them turn in our direction. I can feel their eyes on me, assessing me.
“Yeah, boss?” the brunette questions as we reach them.
“Shelia, this is Marley Morrison.” Jay puts his hand on my back to urge me forward. “She’ll be in training with you tonight. Would you take her to the employee changing room and get her a set?” Shelia gives me a warm smile that reaches her soulful brown eyes. She takes me by the hand and leads me toward the back again.
We enter a room on the left side of the hallway across from the women’s bathroom. Tall lockers line the far wall. A couple of dressing tables with large mirrors and lighting are on the short wall to the right. A full-length mirror is hanging beside the doorwe entered. Next to it is a shelf with a long bar that’s hanging full of shirts, jeans, and shorts.
“What size do you wear honey?” Shelia asks, heading toward the rack of clothing.
“Extra-large,” I cringe inside as I tell her. No woman wants to tell her size to another woman, especially when that woman is gorgeous. Shelia is thin but appears toned and athletic with a perfect hourglass figure. She pulls out a red t-shirt with Jay’s Bar and Grill wrapped around an image of billiard ball and pool sticks.
She holds it up as she says to me, “This is the same shirt I’m wearing, but if you prefer, I can get you one like Nicole has on.”
“Nicole is the redhead?” I ask. Shelia nods. “I prefer this one, if you don’t mind.” Shelia smiles and hands me the shirt.
“I knew I was going to like you.” She laughs turning back to the clothes. “Do you need jeans or shorts? It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally we have some customers who drink too much and could spill their drink on you. You might want to have your own clothes to wear home.” I hadn’t thought of that when I’d gotten ready to come over here.
“I suppose I should,” I say uncertainly. “I’ll need a 20 in jeans.” Shelia flips through the rack before grabbing a pair holding them out to me. I take them in my hand. She points to a privacy screen located next the dressing tables. I slip behind it and begin to change. My nerves getting the better of me again. My hands are trembling as I change. I take a deep breath and blow it out before exiting the little sanctuary. Shelia assesses me from head to toe and back again. She nods with a grin.
“You look great,” she says. “Not trashy like Nicole but hot and available. You should make great in tips. Now it’s okay to flirt with the customers, but don’t overdo it unless you really are interested in the guy. Jay absolutely doesn’t allow prostitution, not that I think you are into that. I warn all the new employees. I’m not saying some here aren’t doing it on the side, but not onJay’s property. Jay is an upstanding guy. He’s a good boss. He’ll back you to the end, and he’ll never allow a customer disrespect us. By the same token, you can’t be rude or disrespectful to the them. His wife comes by sometimes, and she’s a real sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” I tell her. “I appreciate you being kind to me. It’s been years since I worked in a bar, and the last one that I did wasn’t nearly as nice as this place. Hence the reason I left. You are correct. I won’t be selling myself. I’m friendly, but I don’t flirt with my customers. I’m…I’m in a relationship.”
She smiles. “The hunk who’s with you?” she asks. I nod with a smile. “You’re a lucky lady. He’s really gorgeous. I’ve seen him and his brothers in here, a few times. They’re all panty-meltingly delicious. I wouldn’t mind hitting one of them.” I just gawk at her not sure how to respond to that. I have no idea if any of Luke’s brothers are attached or not. I haven’t seen any of them wear a ring, but that doesn’t mean anything. In their line of work, they might not want people to know they have someone at home who means something to them.
“Should we head out?” I ask to break the ensuing silence.
“Yeah.” She turns for the door, but it flies open before she can open it. Nicole storms into the room slamming the door behind her.
“I swear to God; if I wasn’t so fucking broke, I’d quit this place!” She begins to rifle through the clothes on the rack in a rapid fashion, causing the metal hangers to rake annoyingly loud on the metal rod they’re hanging on. “How the fuck does he expect us to make a living?” She looks over her shoulder at us. Her eyes land on me, and she scowls. “You’re not going to make shit dressed like that.” I look down at myself and back up to her.
“What do you mean by that?” I snap at her. My first impression was I didn’t like this woman and now I’m one hundred percent sure I don’t like her. She continues to throw the hangers aside as she searches for something. Finally she grabs a shirt and,without preamble, strips her shirt off over her head to replace it with the one she’s pulled from the rack.
“You have to show a certain amount of skin, sweetheart,” Nicole says to me in tone indicating I’m a complete idiot for not knowing this. “If you want to make decent tips. The men who come here expect to be entertained by us. Jay frowns on it, but that’s where the money is. I need money, and I’m willing to do what it takes to get, even though Jay tries to keep us from earning a living.”
“Nicole, you need to shut up!” Shelia yells. “You’re treading on very thin ice with Jay already. You’re going to get fired and trying to corrupt the new hires won’t help your cause. Jay is running a legitimate business here. He doesn’t need you causing trouble that could get his alcohol license revoked. If you want to hook, there’s the door. I’m sure you can find a street corner with your name on it.” Nicole looks as if she’s about to blow a gasket. Her jaw is set in a hard line as she stares at Shelia.
“You know I can’t do that,” Nicole bites back. “My former pimp is still looking for me. I might as well put a bullseye on my back.”
“Then I suggest you learn to live within your means and stop fucking your position here,” Shelia says in a much kinder tone. “Look, Nicole there’s help out there. You don’t have to stay a junkie, and you don’t have to keep selling your body. Jay will help you with all of that, and you know it. You just have to be willing to accept his help.”
