Riley took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pulled herself backwards. With the same strength Santino had once taught her, she grabbed an empty bottle of beer and slammed it against the man’s head, causing him to fall out of his chair. The others stood in unison, ready to attack. Riley dropped the rest of the broken bottle onto the ground and, with both hands in the air, stepped backwards. One frowning man pushed the table out of the way with so much force all the remaining drinks fell to the floor at their feet. He was bigger, clearly stronger than Riley, but that didn’t stop her from defending herself as much as she could. The man stepped forward with his arm cocked to punch her in the face. Riley shifted her body toward his left side, blocking the blow with her forearm, then struck him in the chest with her fist and slammed her knee straight into his stomach, sending him to the floor in pain.
The noise the fight had made drew more people; someone Riley hadn’t seen when she entered was holding her by the arms. The two men were still standing, but barely, physically hurt and visibly embarrassed to be attacked by a woman.
Riley struggled as the adrenaline slowly washed away, and she suddenly felt too tired to fight back.
“There are no fights allowed in my bar,” declared the man holding her.
“There shouldn’t be pigs allowed, either,” Riley replied.
A chair tipped as one of the men she referenced stepped forward. “She attacked us!”
“Because you grabbed my ass, you dick!” Riley snapped.
“All right, that’s it! Out of my bar, now!” the owner screamed at the group before turning to Riley. “As for you–”
“Listen, I’m not here to pick a fight with anyone, but I won’t let someone disrespect me, or any other girl around,” Riley said.
“Those were my best customers,” the owner complained.
“And if you wanna have more, I’d be careful who I let in.”
“Are you telling me how to run my business?”
“No, I’m educating you.”
“Well, why don’t you educate someone who asks you to? Now get the hell out of my bar!”
Riley looked at him and shook her head. As she made her way toward the door, both girls made brief eye contact with her. The one Riley had helped smiled gratefully and politely, while the other murmured an apology with a somber look.
Before she disappeared through the door, she took one last glance at the place—she could certainly erase the bar from her list of potential jobs.
Chapter Two
“Did you get a job?”
“Well, good morning to you too, sis,” Riley replied as she chewed her cereal.
“You haven’t answered my question.” Lydia demanded.
Riley suddenly lost her appetite. “Does it look to you like I’ve got a job?”
“No, and it looks to me like you’re not trying hard enough. I knew you were still the same old Riley, the one that never did anything to succeed, the one who just found comfort in doing God-knows-what,” Lydia ranted.
“Are you done? I’m sure you have better things to do than give me a sermon I don’t give a shit about,” Riley snapped.
Lydia, red-faced with anger, slapped her hand against the wooden table and glared at her. Riley had a brief flashback to their childhood years, when Lydia was a bossy teenager with anger management issues and used Riley as an emotional punching bag. Back then, Riley had been too shy to defend herself.
“This is not a joke, Riley. I’m not one to play around. Get a fucking job, or get the fuck out of my house. You have one more day.” On her way out, Lydia slammed the door as hard as she could.
After leaving the house, Riley started her day by jogging around the town square, deciding she could use the opportunity to exercise and enjoy her solitude. At least until that solitude was interrupted by the bubbly girl from the bar wearing the same wide grin.
“Hi, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you from across the street and I thought it must be my lucky day,” the girl began.
Admiring her energy, Riley still wondered why she’d want to speak to her after the scene in the bar. “Why is that?”
“Lily quit. Yesterday. She said she couldn’t take it anymore and left, just like that. Can you believe it?”
Assuming Lily was the waitress, Riley replied, “Well, I can’t blame her. That is the worst place for a girl like her. Actually, it’s not a great place for you, either.”
The bubbly girl shrugged. “I don’t have a choice. My dad owns it. I grew up there. Lily, on the other hand–”
“Was smart enough to walk away. Good for her. Bad for you.” Riley started walking back toward her house, suddenly no longer in the mood to go for a jog.
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you,” the bubbly girl said, running a couple of steps to catch up with Riley. “Would you like to work with us?”
Riley stopped and stared at her for a moment. “Do I need to remind you that I got into a fight and your father kicked me out?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about that. I talked to him, and he’s cool with it. You’re perfect for this job, so–”
“You don’t even know my name, or anything about me.”
“Okay, yeah, you’re right. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Paige.”
“I’m Riley.”
“Great, now we’re acquaintances. So, will you work with me?” Paige asked with less confidence than when she’d proposed the arrangement. “We could use someone like you, someone who’s not afraid like the rest of us are.”
Riley considered the opportunity. She couldn’t deny her desperation to acquire a job, and Mr. Eaton’s Bar was good enough, if only because it reminded her of her job in the city. On the other hand, there was something about the group of men that had terrified Lily. Riley could recognize evil when she saw it, and if there was something she
