Forgetting about home, I looked forward to getting into the bar and being so busy I wouldn’t have time to contemplate the amount of time my ex, Jared, was spending in my house when I wasn’t there. He was an all right bloke, kept mum company but he bored me to tears. I’d known him for too many years for the sex to have been comfortable, maybe he’d thought that too when he’d added the word cheater to his relationship resume. Staying friends would have been better, less awkward, especially since the guy was pissing me off more than he should have been able to.
Off one Tube and onto another, three stops, and I was at Caulder’s, ready to throw my weight into an eight-hour shift, hoping the place was busy enough to accrue some half decent tips. Thursdays were always touch and go. Not quite the weekend - it would be busy, or it wouldn’t - I crossed my fingers for a reasonable showing.
“Hey, Carol,” I called out as I walked into the break room at the back of the building.
“Hey, girl!”
Carol was this fantastic lady I’d instantly liked from our first meeting over two months ago. The older woman had taken her time to show me everything I’d needed to know, impressed I was a fast learner and there to work, not find a sugar daddy like some of the younger servers coming through the bar like a revolving door. Oh, I could flirt all right, was naturally sunny in my disposition, buoyant when the need arose, but as for wanting an old man with money to look after me? No, thank you. Each to their own, but not for me.
“Busy yet?” The club opened around half five and I hadn’t been in the bar having come through the side door.
“Nah, not yet. Jenny says VIP is booked for later, the big boss is coming in with his guys. Best service required. She’s asking if you’re up for it?”
“Yeah, sure.” It took me off the main floor for most of the night. I’d never met this ‘silent’ boss of ours yet. When Bill had employed me, I’d got the impression he owned the bar until Carol mentioned there was an owner who rarely showed face, that Bill did the grunt work and kept the place afloat. There was no reason to ask any more, I was perfectly happy working for Bill, the man was pleasant and fair.
“I’d rather have a sensible head serving his group than any of those gold diggers. I know serving comes with a certain level of flirting but ugh…”
I laughed. “It’s okay. You don’t need to tell me.”
“Between you and me, right?”
Carol didn’t need tip money. She worked a decent office job that gave her little social interaction or stimulation, had a fella at home with a good job too, but she loved working the bar and had been at Caulder’s before she’d been employed in her office job. Some weeks she did just one shift, some she did four.
“How many this week?”
“You have me the rest of the weekend, darling.” Winking, she went back to whatever she’d been doing on her phone.
“Great. Some intelligent conversation then.”
Carol snorted. “Starved for it, are you?”
“Most days. Then I see you and all is right,” I smirked.
“Bill’s wandering around.”
“Well, thank fuck I’m not late again.”
“Truth. Bill’s all right, you know. I reckon he’s just a little enamoured with those cute pink buns of yours. You know they look like cat ears, right, and he has a thing for pussy.”
Gaping at her, I couldn’t hold in the laugh and ended up collapsing into the chair in a fit of giggles. “Pussy, you say?”
“Oh yeah. Seriously Jolie, you may be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, darling. You’re sexy as fuck too, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, okay?”
“Nothing innocent going on here, Carol.”
“No, I know, love. You’re a rare creature, don’t let the fuckwads snuff it out.”
The door to the break room crashed open and in flounced one of those fuckwads. Dramatically falling into an unoccupied chair, CeeCee flung her bag on the table, coffee spilling over the side of Carol’s cup.
“Hey, ladies.” Carol spared CeeCee the smallest of glances before going back to her phone. “You got VIP again, J?”
“Guess so, and it’s Jolie,” I reminded for the umpteenth time.
“How comes you get special privileges, you ain’t been here long enough to keep bagging VIP.” She eyed me with a shrewdness that often made me uncomfortable, the woman was full of menace underneath her fake smiles and mumbled underhand comments she didn’t try too hard to disguise.
I shrugged while Carol forcefully put her phone down on the table and turned to CeeCee. “Because she’s not the one fucking the customers.”
“Nah, J’s probably fucking the boss,” she laughed.
“It’s Jolie.”
“Not everyone thinks with what’s between their legs,” Carol snapped, standing. “Watch yourself, CeeCee.”
Grabbing up her bag and phone, Carol disappeared out of the door taking with her the extra layer of protection she often gave me against the vile woman glaring daggers in my direction. I didn’t particularly need Carol to run interference, but she was always welcome.
“I don’t get it.” CeeCee dug about in her enormous bag, pulling out a neon pink makeup case and snapping it open.
“What?”
“You’re not terribly amazing to look at no matter what that bitch tells you. Small tits, no
