Fierce - Brody (The Fierce Five Series Book 1) Read online

  That hit a nerve. He sat up straighter. “My revenue has steadily increased each month. I’m holding my end of the business.”

  “It’s not about money and you know it. It’s about respect. You’re the oldest, so act it.”

  The noose of being the “oldest” was tightening around his neck again. “By thirty minutes,” he argued. All five of them were birthed within five minutes of each other.

  She just walked by him, kissed his cheek, picked up her keys, and kept on going. Before she could leave the room, she said, “Brody, it’s time to move past things. It’s time to move past Craig.”

  He stiffened on the stool. That was a low blow. “This has nothing to do with Craig.”

  “It has everything to do with him and you know it.”

  Slaps You

  “It seems I owe you an apology.”

  Aimee pulled up short when Brody spoke those words. It was ten thirty and she didn’t beat him here. She’d been hoping to get everything set up, but no such luck.

  “What for?”

  “It was pointed out to me that I was a jerk yesterday to you.”

  She couldn’t imagine who stood up for her and hoped that it didn’t set him off even more. “Think nothing of it. We all have bad days.”

  “I’ve been told I’ve had several months’ worth of bad days, so if I was off base yesterday, I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.” She looked around the bar and noticed nothing had been done yet. Maybe he’d just showed up, too. “Can we just get to work?” Best to put it behind her right now.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to show up. I’ll watch you set up.”

  That was something at least. “Have you been waiting long?” she asked as she walked along the bar to see what liquor bottles needed to be replaced.

  “About twenty minutes.”

  Geez. “Do you sleep?” She knew he closed last night.

  “I was trying to today, but it didn’t go as planned.”

  She looked up, saw his grin, and decided to not question it. She probably didn’t want to know anyway. And since he seemed friendlier today, she wasn’t about to say anything to set him off again.

  When the bar was stocked to his satisfaction, she asked, “Is Jennie picking out the bartender combo when she comes in?”

  “No. I’m doing it today. Mason tapped a new brew this morning.” He grabbed a glass and poured some out. “What do you think?”

  She smelled the golden brew. “Floral with an undertone of something citrus.” After a sip, she savored it on her tongue. “I’m getting a pineapple finish, kind of tart actually, not sweet like the first sip.” She took another, the second one better than the first. “I don’t see too many men drinking this. Definitely a ladies’ beer.”

  “Which is why he tapped it today. Cade has been on Mason’s back to do something for ladies’ weekend. We’ll see how it goes over.”

  “Do you have weekends like this often?” She’d thought it was a nice idea, that there was a ladies’ weekend with food and drink tailored more toward them. Next weekend was scheduled for the men.

  “We try to twice a year. Cade does all the marketing and events. After the last one, he had the women fill out a quick survey on what they’d like to see more of. Same with the men. This is the first time we’re going to try to accommodate the requests.”

  She leaned against the counter. “Why did you wrinkle your nose?”

  He shrugged. “I know it’s good for business, but I don’t want to go overboard and get too gimmicky. There is a narrow line that Cade has to walk.”

  She understood that. They had a reputation for good strong beer and fabulous food. Entertainment came in often, but not so often people got bored with it. They were still able to maintain a family atmosphere during the earlier hours, though.

  “So what is Aiden preparing?”

  Brody slid the menu over for her to look at.

  “This is the only menu available for the weekend at the bar?”

  “No, it’s a supplemental one to the regular bar food. This will be served after the restaurant closes just like the other part of the bar menu.”

  “Do you still serve a lot of food at the bar before closing?” she asked.

  “More than you’d think. All easy stuff that just one line cook can handle. Weekends like this, though, we’ll have someone else on until closing.”

  “So what are you picking as your combo?”

  “The grilled chicken, pear, and walnut salad. It will go well with this new beer.”

  “What’s the name of the brew?”

  “Fiercely Jolene.”

  She smiled “That’s your mom’s name.”

  “Yes, it is. She’s all sweet at first, and then the tartness slaps you in the face.”

  “That’s not very nice of Mason.”

  Brody laughed. “It has nothing to do with being nice and everything to do with the truth.”

  ***

  By the end of Aimee’s shift, Brody felt like he’d made up some ground. They were chatting back and forth between customers. She was keeping pace with him well as he entertained some of the single ladies at the bar.

  The early crowd was more families, treating their mothers out to a nice lunch, even some tourists, but by dinnertime, groups of ladies flocked in and took up most of the bar and surrounding tables.

  The men that were there scoping the crowd didn’t seem to be having much luck. Of course, it was early yet and Fierce wasn’t known exclusively as a pick-up bar.

  “Is the turnout like this for men’s weekend?” she asked, while they both took a quick breather.

  “Worse. But not too many single ladies come out looking for dates on that weekend.”

  “It doesn’t seem to me the women are that interested in finding men right now.”

  “Not this early. In a few hours, the clientele will change over some.”

  She nodded her head. “If you don’t need anything else, then I’ll head out now while there is a lull.”

  There was more going on in the restaurant out back than the bar area. It had been lively during the lunch and dinner crowd, and from what Brody was saying, any time now the bar would pick up again.

  “Actually, before I forget, I want you to close with me on Wednesday night.”

  She paused, not sure what to say. She thought this might come up but was hoping it wouldn’t be this soon. Not when daycare was still sketchy. “You want me to work eleven to close?”

  “No. You can come in at five. Midweek, we should be able to get everything cleaned up and closed down by twelve thirty at the latest. Is there a problem?” he asked, frowning.

  “No, no problem.” She’d see if Rick would be okay with keeping Sidney overnight. She couldn’t ask him to watch Sidney in her apartment. Rick didn’t do well with stairs after his injury.

  “Okay. Well, have a good day off. See you Monday.”

  She walked out the door, the heat of the day still lingering as she made her way to her car. One of the line cooks was out back having a cigarette and stopped her. “How’s it going up front with the big man?” he asked.

  She thought it was funny considering Mason, Aiden, and Cade were all roughly the same height, maybe an inch, tops, shorter than Brody. And though Brody did seem to be slightly more muscular, it wasn’t enough to distinguish him as the big man. Had to do more with his personality, she was guessing.

  “It’s going good.” She stopped for a second, thinking maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get to know some of the other staff. “How long have you worked here?” He looked to be about her age.

  “Five years. Started out as a part-time job washing dishes.” He put his cigarette out and tossed it in the bin next to the door. The property always stayed nice and neat, even on the outside. “I’m Tyler,” he said, extending his hand to hers.

  “Aimee,” she said.

  “We know who you are. Heard lots of rumors this week.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t sure she wanted t
o know, but felt she better.

  “Not about you. Just why you’re here,” he said, grinning.

  “The last person quit,” she said. “Ella told me that. Felix, right? About six months ago?”

  “No, not that. The fact that they hired you behind Brody’s back. Did it while he and Cade were sent away for a few days to lick their wounds.”

  This was getting weirder and weirder. “Wounds?”

  Tyler laughed. “Not Brody. No wounds on him. Not much takes him down. Didn’t you notice the remnants of the shiner on Cade’s eye?”

  She had, but didn’t ask. “Brody hit his brother?”

  “I guess he had it coming.”

  “You guess?” She should probably just walk away and not listen to gossip, but her shoes felt like there were fifty-pound weights in each one.

  “Yep. Everyone has been pretty tight-lipped as to the cause. Those five may fight, but they’d never betray each other. Thick as thieves.”

  “The Fierce Five,” she said.

  “That’s right. Nothing breaks them apart or tears them down.”

  “Not even flying fists.”

  “It’s not the first time, from what I’ve heard. Still, Jolene and Gavin come marching in when they need to and get everyone back on track.”

  She remembered that Jolene was the first one to call her about the job. Now she was thinking she was the result of the fight no one knew the details of. Probably not the best way to begin her employment.

  “Well, thanks for the information. I’ve got to get home now.”

  “See you around,” Tyler said, opening the door and walking back in. She made her way to her car and pushed her new boss out of her head. The only problem was, tall, dark, good-looking, cocky men happened to be her weakness. You’d think she would have learned her lesson by now, but it seemed her hormones had a mind of their own.

  My Thing

  Aimee was getting the hang of the night crowd. For the most part they were pretty tame. It was midweek and she didn’t expect anything different from this caliber of bar.

  She was more used to the Friday-night hot spot or downtown pub. Guys picking up girls, or girls picking up guys. College kids that barely had enough for their drinks, let alone a tip.

  But tonight…well, tonight, she’d pocketed more tips than she had in a whole weekend at other jobs, and there was still three hours left to go.

  “How did you get into this business?” Brody asked her as he started to put glasses away that had been returned to the bar clean and sparkling. If she glanced at his biceps flexing under the sleeves of his fitted shirt, she wasn’t telling.

  Nor was she saying that every time he innocently brushed by her or lay a hand on her arm to move by, that it wasn’t so innocent to her. That she wished he’d do it again. That she was building little secret fantasies in her mind at the worst possible times.

  “Probably the same way most people do. My first job was a waitress at a family restaurant, then when I turned eighteen, I moved on to nights and serving liquor. There’s more money in that, as you know.”

  “No college?”

  “School wasn’t my thing.” Even if there had been a parent home enough to push her to do her work, she wouldn’t have. Her mother had no higher education than high school, and her stepfather the same. Manual labor was in her blood. “How about you?”

  He laughed, a laugh she was trying to get out of him more and more. When he wasn’t being a grouchy jerk, he was pretty cool to be around. The way his brown eyes softened with a touch of mischief and secrets mixed together like one of his sweet drinks. Soft and smooth and gliding down your throat with a pleasure that made you hum.

  “I was born into this. School wasn’t my thing, either. I’m sure you’ve figured out we all have our niche here.”

  She turned and leaned on the counter after she filled another beer for her customer. “I’d like to think so.”

  “Tell me what you see,” he said.

  She’d seen a lot tonight. She’d seen him smile and flirt with patrons. Direct them to the best on tap for the night, and slyly push away phone numbers that she wasn’t supposed to notice being slipped toward him on napkins.

  “Well, Aiden, for starters. Talent like I’ve never seen before. You can tell he wants to go French and fancy, but he reins it in to match his surroundings. I’d say he works the dinner crowd because he has a better chance of spreading his wings with the menu there than the lunch crowd.”

  “That’s exactly it. He’s good at coming up with tastes and combinations that I’d never think of. It’s harder for him to do it for the lunch menu than the dinner because, as you said, he has talent and dinner fits him better. Still, he understands he has to be able to do both. What about Mason?”

  “Mason is like a mad scientist. All serious and full-on concentration. He walks around the brewery the same as I’d expect a professor to with a stick in his hand slapping people to pay attention, making sure no one was missing a direction.”

  Brody’s lips twitched. “Not quite, but you’ve got the mad scientist part right. He majored in chemistry in college. The rest of us hated science and wished we were identical so he could go to our classes and take our tests.”

  “On to Cade,” she said. “He’s smooth. Almost annoyingly so, if you know what I mean.”

  “Oh, I know exactly what you mean. He’s been that way his whole life.”

  She smiled, her cheeks hurting. She’d found she’d done that a lot today. “Seems to me people are drawn to him and his energy. Always running around and spewing ideas off the top of his head. Surprisingly, they’re really good ideas.”

  “Why surprisingly?”

  “I don’t know. At first glance you don’t want to take him seriously because it’s like he never shuts up, but then you realize he’s brilliant at what he does.”

  Brody snorted. “He is. Drives us insane. You’ve pegged him perfectly. We usually want to deck him and then congratulate him right afterward.”

  She wanted to make a comment about the rumor she’d heard with Brody punching Cade, but decided not to. She was having too much fun with this conversation to sour it.

  “Ella. Well, Ella runs the show and you guys all let her.”

  “That’s not hard to figure out,” Brody said, those full lips of his twitching. Nice kissable lips. Damn, there she went again.

  “But no one gives in to her just because she’s the only girl, though,” Aimee said.

  “And the baby of the group.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that. Anyway, she fights you guys tooth and nail to get her way.”

  “And she gets it pretty much every time,” Brody said, grinning.

  “It’s because she’s usually right. That’s why she gets her way.”

  She’d noticed that a few times already. Ella seemed to have to work harder and smarter to get things done, even if her ideas were the way to go, but in the end it worked out.

  “Right again. We don’t let her know that though. Then she’d think she could just come to us with any old idea and have her way. She has to prove it to us, just like we all do to each other.”

  “And then that leaves you,” she said, winking at him. “You run the hardest part of the business.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because the bar is the hub. Everyone else’s work is centered right here. You run it because you read people the best. You know what they’re looking for, and you direct them to it. You keep them engaged and coming back for more. You talk and you listen to them; you hear what is going on outside these walls and you play off of it. A lot of the people at the bar, the regulars, they come to see you. To talk to you. To be your friend.”

  His smile dropped. “Yeah. You’d be right there, too.”

  He turned away from her to fill another beer for someone and somehow what she’d said ended up putting a damper on the night anyway. Only she had no idea why.

  ***

  Two hours later, the last of the customer
s were walking out the door. “We can start to clean up now and get out of here before closing,” he said.

  “That’s okay?” she asked. She’d been restocking the bar steadily all night as it was, following his lead. Closing would be fast.

  “If the owner is telling you to close, then it’s okay to close.”

  He grinned at her. Her mood had dropped down a few degrees after their last conversation regarding her description of him. He was trying to warm her back up.

  She’d unnerved him more than he wanted to admit to himself. Yes, she pegged each and every one of them quickly. For someone who said school wasn’t her thing, she was damn smart.

  She picked up on everything fast, never needing to be told more than once. She had a great palate for not just beer and liquor, but also the food and how well they paired together.

  The customers liked her. Some more than he felt comfortable with, considering the amount of flirting she’d been on the receiving end of. But she dodged it well. Kept it friendly, kept them engaged, but turned them down like a pro. “You couldn’t handle me, Bob,” she’d told someone, laughing. “You need a sweet girl to have dinner on the table for you each night. Like that girl at the end of the bar there. She looks like your type. Maybe you should buy her a drink?”

  Bob did just that, then walked out with the woman’s number, he was assuming, since they’d left together looking pretty cozy.

  It wasn’t just that time, but other times as well. The way someone winked at her, and she’d smile and say, “Do you have something in your eye? I can get you a mirror if you’d like.”

  There was a friendly seriousness to her tone. One that said, “I’m onto you, but I’ll let you off with your pride intact.”

  She didn’t wear overly fitted clothing, but he noticed her body just the same. Slim hips, toned arms, and a tiny waist. Little to no makeup, but that did nothing to stop a mature innocence she portrayed. It seemed like an odd combination, but one that she carried off well.