Bella
I'm two hours into my shift at McCarty's. Apparently being a woman working at a sports bar, you get tipped senseless. At least that's what Rose tells me. It's one of the only reasons she's still working here a couple of nights a week. I don't blame her. After all, she's got a little boy to feed. And she's got to do it all by herself since her husband passed away. It's tough to know she's not even thirty, yet she's a widow. Rose went from living the American Dream with her husband, a little house, and a kid to living the single mother life. I feel for her, so much. Then, I feel something else entirely. Panic.
"Oh, my God." I grab Rose by the elbow and drag her around the corner, where we stand in the little hallway where the stockroom is.
"What's wrong?" She looks at me with curious eyes, Edward's green eyes. I blink rapidly, looking over my shoulder to see if I am right about this.
"That's…Mike. He just walked in."
Rosalie looks alarmed, her ponytail almost swatting me in the face when she turns to look.
"He can't see me here." I shake my head furiously. "We agreed to keep a low profile, and Edward would tell him I quit because I thought I didn't get good money out of it…" I still can't believe I have to look that shallow. But I guess that would mean I take after my mother. Maybe Mike wouldn't even question it.
"Yeah, and if he sees you here, tending the bar that would be like waving all sorts of red flags in his face." She frowns, then knocks twice on the office door and opens it after. "It would place us together, and there's no way you'd find a job here since you live on the other side of town."
"Hey, Emmett?" She pears her head into the office, and I notice how she's smiling at the bar owner. I met him earlier tonight, expecting him to be a forty-something with a receding hairline and decked out in sports jerseys. I couldn't have been more wrong. Emmett was definitely not the original McCarty who created the name and fame of this place. Apparently, that was his grandfather. And he just took over the business when his dad retired. I'm starting to think maybe the great tips aren't the only things that make Rose work here.
"Ro, what's up?" Emmett peers up from his computer screen, a wide smile on his handsome face. I don't give him a day over thirty-two but I'm not the greatest at guessing someone's age. He's hot, for sure.
"We have a little situation out front. Can you keep Bella busy with something behind the scenes until said situation has left the building?" Her voice is sweet as candy as she smoothes out her long, golden ponytail, her tank top tight around the chest.
Yes. Something's definitely going on between these two. Whether they know it or not. I see the way Emmett's crystal blue eyes keep flirting with her neckline. It feels as if I really shouldn't be here.
"Uh, do you need my help? Someone trying to start shit?" Emmett wonders, eyes flashing over to me.
"No, no!" I interject. "Nothing like that." I wouldn't want to start trouble on my first shift here.
"Ex-boyfriend?" He guesses again.
I scowl, shaking my head.
"Ew, no." I almost projectile-vomit at the thought.
"Then, by all means, enlighten me!" Emmett laughs, raking his fingers through his dark, shoulder-length curls.
"God, we really don't have time for this, Emm…the place is packed!" Rose pinches the bridge of her nose, dramatically sighing. She makes me snicker.
"My brother has a wife, total bitch," Rose starts. "He also has-had-a business partner, a total snake," she starts. "The bitch and the snake are fucking and trying to take away Ed's business."
Emmett's eyes grow large.
"So, wow…and who's here, then?" He crosses his arms over his broad chest.
"The business snake, Mike."
"And you don't want to see him, because?" he asks me, clearly confused. "What's this got to do with you, Bella?"
"Because Rose's brother is the love of my life and I've started working at his company as the office administrator, but I can't anymore because Mike absolutely can't find out about me and Edward." I feel ridiculous explaining it like this.
"Yeah, because he'd tell the wife he's screwing someone else behind her back, right?"
I take a steadying breath while Rose just starts laughing.
"Yes," I say finally. "But the wife is also my mother."
I bite my lip, waiting for the information to get through to Emmett. He sits back with a frown before his mouth drops open, letting out an 'oh', still looking a tad frazzled.
"Yeah, we just dropped a shit ton of confidential information on your ass so you better be on our side, now." Rose inspects her nails, glaring murderously at our boss.
"You," he motions to Rose. "Go back to the bar and act like nothing's wrong, okay? We can't just have one person tending the bar, so I'll come out in a bit to help out."
She nods.
"And you," Emmett looks at me. "Since you're experienced, you can go over the paperwork and the stuff that needs to be done for the orders and such. Do a good job and I might even promote you, Bella." He throws in a wink, making me feel giddy about this opportunity.
"Wow, really?"
"Consider this a trial period," he laughs. "Now, I'll keep an eye on that Mike." His eyes flutter to Rose. "And I'll make sure he doesn't hurt Ro."
"I don't even know if he'll recognize me. I haven't seen the dude in ages," Rose shrugs. "Not since the Fourth of July, like ten years ago." She shrugs.
They leave me to it, Emmett giving me all the passwords and stuff I need to place orders before he follows Rose to the bar.
All I can hear inside this office is the muffled music and voices coming from the front of the building. I sit back in my chair, thinking about what Emmett was willing to do for me—an employee he barely even knows, one who just started tonight. I'm convinced there's something going on between him and Rose. One hundred percent. He's trusting her judgment, our story—no matter how bizarre it actually sounds—and he looks at Rose like she's the sun of his existence. I wonder if Rose knows. And I wonder if she knows she's kinda exploiting his Golden Retriever ways.
I chuckle to myself, wondering what the hell I am doing with my life when I suddenly hear the loud crash of glass breaking, the voices and the hairs on my arms stand on end.
