Whisky State of Mind (9 page)

“No,” she sighed.

“You will,” Bella said with a confidence Sky was far from feeling.

“I don’t know. I’m kinda’ hoping he doesn’t. How am I going to tell him about my father? Maybe it’s better this way.”

“Oh for goodness sake. You call
me
a drama queen. Who cares what your father is.  It’s nothing to do with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome.”

“He’s a cop,” Sky pointed out.

“So? Your Dad says he’s going straight these days? Even if he isn’t—you haven’t had anything to do with the guy since you were a little kid. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“He’s not going to want anything to do with someone who has a father with underworld connections!  Call me stupid—but if his superiors found out it probably wouldn’t look too good on his record.”

“If he’s meant to be—he’ll look past all that.”

And that was the crux of the whole sorry fantasy. How did you know if someone was meant to be or not? And if not, then wouldn’t it be smarter to walk away from the whole mess before you got hurt?

****

The next morning Sky had just taken a table order when she looked up to see Sawyer walk through the door.
Sonofabitch,
she muttered beneath her breath as she quickly crossed toward him. “What now? I did what you wanted, I went and saw him.”

“Easy there,” he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I came in to say thank you.”

Sky narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. “You could have called. Why the special trip into the city?”

“I like the food here,” he said, his gaze shifting toward Marcy as she leaned on the counter, making a show of her cleavage and sending Sawyer a wink.

Sky grimaced. “I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.”

“Aww, come on Whisk. You’re not threatened by her are ya
’?”

“
Excuse
me?”

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you were jealous.”

“Are you serious? I couldn’t care less who or
what
you were doing. In fact, you two would probably be perfect for each other.”

“I’ve put the offer out there more than once, Whisk. Any time you wanna’ pick up where we left off the other night…all ya’ gotta
’ do is say the word.”

Sky bit back her frustration and ignored his grin.
That sexy, bad boy thing he had going on might make most women weak at the knees, but not this little black duck
, Sky thought, turning on her heel. It had no effect on her whatsoever. No siree, Bob. The fact that she couldn’t quite forget the feel of his kiss or the way he molded against her body like a second skin was entirely beside the point. She quickly went back behind the counter to put the order she’d just taken up for the cook.

Glancing up as the bell tinkled, Sky stared in disbelief at the three other men who walked into the diner and speared Sawyer with a deadly glare.
Oh, this was low. This was beyond low, this was…bringing back too many memories.

“Hey! Whisky! Hey, Darlin’” the longhaired, denim
-clad biker called out, slapping his buddy next to him cheerfully. “Johnny was right—she’s the spittin’ image of her mamma.”

The smaller Mexican beside him wore a grin that split his face and Sky had to blink back happy tears. “Shaggy.
Gomez?
” she gaped, coming around the counter to hug the two men.

“Hey
, darlin.’ We were outta’ town when you came to visit your dad. When Sawyer said he was comin’ in to see you today, we thought we’d tag along. Man, you done growed up fine, little Whisky. Look at her, Gome.” Shaggy shook his head, giving his friend a nudge.

Gomez just shook his head in silent agreement and kept grinning. Gomez didn’t talk…at all, but what he lacked in words
he more than made up for in expression and his grin was as contagious as ever.

Sky shook her head at the tall man’s admiration as he held her hands out and inspected her from head to foot.

“Miss McKenna.” Sparkles’ cold disapproval tipped over her like a bucket of ice water. She sent the men a small grimace in apology as she pulled away from Shaggy, and crossed to her employer.

Oh man,
she thought with a silent groan.
He was pissed.

“Have you forgotten that this
is a place of employment? What are those…
men,
doing in here?”

“They’ve just dropped by to say hello. I’ll seat them and get their orders,” she said, backing away, reluctant to draw this out in front of witnesses.

“No you won’t,” he snapped. “I told you before; their kind is not welcome in here.”

“They’re customers…you know…those things you need to stay open?”

“I don’t care for your tone.”

“Look, they’ll order some food, you’ll make some money, and then they’ll leave.”

“I don’t need their money. I need them out of here.
Now
.”

“Darlin’? Is there a problem?” Shaggy called out
, standing up from the booth he and Gomez had settled into beside Sawyer.

“No, no problem. I’ll be right there to take your order,” she said with added emphasis.

“I don’t think you understand me, Miss McKenna. I want them out of here and if they ever set foot back inside this diner again I will have them arrested.”

“Arrested? For what? You can’t just go around accusing people of something they haven’t done. They’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I don’t care for their type.”

“Well, I don’t
care
for
your
type,” she said, jabbing a finger at his chest angrily.

“How dare you—”

“How dare
you!
”

“As of this moment, consider yourself unemployed,” the snooty
-nosed manager said, crossing his arms over his chest to rest on his large stomach.

“Fine! Saves me the trouble of resigning.” Sky pushed through the swinging doors to grab her handbag and threw her apron on the floor.

As she stormed back out she pointedly ignored the stunned look on Marcy’s face, and hitched her head at the three men who were now all glaring at the fat manager in a somewhat intimidating fashion, if the beads of sweat on the older man’s face was anything to go by. “Come on guys, the food here sucks anyway.” She pushed open the door and stepped outside, taking a deep breath and fought to control the impulse to hyperventilate.

Holy shit! She just got fired!

“Whisk—”

She ignored Sawyer, and set a pace that bordered on a slow jog. She had to get away from here…now.

“Woman, would you wait a minute,” he growled, grabbing her arm.

Sky spun around and glared. “What? What could you possibly have to say to me that you’d think I would be remotely in the mood to listen to right now?”

“Hey. Calm down.”

“Calm
down?
Thanks to you, I just got fired. I
told
you not to come back here. Why the hell couldn’t you just leave me alone?”

“That guy’s a jerk.”

“He was a jerk who paid my wage. What the hell am I supposed to do now?” She shook his hand off her arm and dropped her gaze to the sidewalk beneath her feet.

“I have a solution.”

Sky sighed then looked up at him irritably. “I don’t need you coming up with solutions to a problem you caused.”

“If I caused it, then I should be the one to fix it. We need someone to help at the bar. We’ll pay you three times what you were earning here.”

“I don’t think so,” Sky declined with a touch of anger. It was so easy for him to casually toss a made up position at her and offer to pay her more money than she made in a month of full-time shifts. But she, better than anyone else, knew that
nothing
ever came that easy. There would be strings—there were always strings attached. “I’ll find another waitressing job.”

“Really? And how are you going to pay your rent until you do?”

“That’s none of your business,” she snapped, turning and walking away. She was so furious at him right now. Who did he think he was?

“Just think about it for a minute. We’re snowed under. Business is booming and we need more staff. You need a job. You can ignore the fact it would be doing us a favor—and just think of it as using us as a way to make some money.”

She continued walking.

“You could get yourself back on your feet and back into college faster if you made more money,” he added, dangling the carrot in front of her without any hint of remorse.

Damn him.

Her step faltered slightly as she slowed down and came to a halt on the sidewalk. She wasn’t seriously considering this was she? Somewhere in the back of her mind a little red flag was being waved urgently to get her attention, but she was fed up. She was tired of struggling to make ends meet and continuing to
put college back further and further as her meager wage failed to cover her expenses.

What were her options? If she didn’t find a job within the next week—she’d fall behind in her rent, then she’d lose her apartment. She would then have to head back to her grandparents’ house with her tail between her legs and beg their forgiveness and hope they’d take her back in…or there was her father.

She could ask for a loan, she supposed, but then she’d owe him something—and that was
not
acceptable. Asking for money wasn’t completely out of line—the man had abandoned her and walked out of her life when she’d needed him…it could be considered pay back of sorts now, but it didn’t sit right with her. She wasn’t a cruel person by nature. She’d rather not have anything to do with him than look for some kind of pay back.

That just left one other option.

She could work for them in the business her father and Sawyer had created, this supposed
legitimate
bar they now owned, and then she wouldn’t necessarily owe them anything—it would be an arrangement. She worked for them—they paid her a wage, she went home, and they were like any other employer…an employer who paid a generous wage that would help get her life back on track.

Sky turned and found Sawyer standing behind her, watching silently as she mulled over her possibilities.  “You promise me this thing is legit now? There’s nothing illegal about it?”

“I swear.”

Sky searched his gaze for a sign of deception—anything that would give her a reason to doubt him, but found nothing. Could she afford to take a risk like this?
Could she afford not to?
asked a little voice inside, reasonably.
We’re really not in a position to be precious about it. 
And the truth was, she wasn’t.

“Okay. I’ll accept the job. When can I start?”

“Tomorrow too soon?”

“Nope. I’ll be there first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll come by and pick you up.”

“No…thanks. I’ll get there. This is a business arrangement. I don’t want any special treatment and I don’t want any favors. I’ll do my job—and that’s it.”

“Fine. See you in the morning,” he said walking back to where his bike had been parked beside two other Harleys, the chrome shining brightly against the bleak day around them. Sky lifted her hand to wave to Shaggy and Gomez, and let out a sad sigh. Whether she wanted it to or not, it looked like her father’s life was slowly but surely encroaching on her own.

****

Sky arrived the next morning, without coffee and without having had breakfast. This was not a good start.

She had to catch more than one connection to get out this far and that meant getting up super early to do so. There was no way she was going to be late on her first day and give Sawyer any excuse to treat her differently from any other employee, so she made the ultimate sacrifice of going without caffeine.
God help her.
There was a brief moment when giving up her apartment and living on the street actually didn’t look too bad.

She was going to need to find a coffee shop on the way somewhere tomorrow.

“Morning,” Sawyer greeted her as she pushed through the kitchen doors.

Before she could reply, she was interrupted by a familiar smell that sent her cerebral cortex into instant overdrive as it registered the scent of coffee somewhere nearby, which then sent her entire central nervous system jumping in anticipation.

“I thought you might be needing this by now.”

She ignored Sawyer
’s dry remark, her gaze zeroing in on the extra-large takeaway cup he waved beneath her nose.

Reaching for the coffee like a thirsty man in the desert reaches for water, she took a long swig and then two more, downing almost half the contents before she remembered to glance up and thank him.

“I think you have a problem,” he said, shaking his head as he stared at her doubtfully.

“I have many problems, but there’s not enough hours in the day to even begin listing them. Where do you want me?”
she added without pausing.