But then he showed up at my apartment to ask me to return to the job after that Mika mess, full of apologies and willing to give Lola her rightful place among the staff, and it began to be harder to see him in such an entirely negative light. He’d turned into someone I could like and respect, at least a little, and once those feelings weaved their way into my brain, lying to Lola grew harder and harder.
Not that she wasn’t lying to me too. I had no doubt that she and Stefan had something between them, whether it was in the past or still going on. That was probably why she was so curious about my feelings about him.
I walked into the club with all of this on my mind and wondering what kind of reception I’d get from Stefan after leaving him high and dry the night before. Most men would be complete and utter bastards after being teased and dropped like that, so I prepared myself for an even angrier version of the Stefan I’d met that first day. How I’d explain his sudden change toward me to Lola when she was standing right beside me I had no idea.
I found her behind the front bar getting ready for the club to open and steeled my expression to hide what I expected to come from our boss. She greeted me with her usual sweet smile, and I noticed her outfit looked even tinier than usual.
“Hey, Shay! How’s it going?” she chirped.
“Pretty good. What’s new with you?”
For a moment, a strange look crossed her face but then it was gone and she was back to her usual happy self. “Not much. Just getting ready for the night. I’m thinking Stefan will have the two of us up here again, like usual. It should be a good crowd tonight, so we’ll make a killing.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Bring on the money!” I said with a chuckle.
Lola nodded. “How long do you plan on staying, Shay? I know you said you were going somewhere, but when?”
Only once before had she expressed any interest in anything about me other than my work with her, so instantly my suspicions were raised. Something in her eyes told me this newfound curiosity about my life outside of Club X had more to do with Stefan than truly wanting to know more about me.
“I’ll be here until the end of the semester, so once the new year rolls around, I’ll be gone.”
“That’s only a few months,” she said in a faraway voice like she was thinking about something other than how long we had to work together.
“Yep. You only get a couple months more of me and then I’m Copenhagen bound.”
Lola was quiet for a few minutes while we busied ourselves behind the bar until she asked, “Does Stefan know?”
“That I’m only here until the end of the year?”
“Yeah.”
I remembered back to my interview with Cassian and Kane. I’d definitely informed them of my leaving in January, but since Stefan hadn’t showed up that day, he’d never heard from me what my plans were. I had to assume, though, that one of his brothers had told him.
“I’ve never said anything about it to him, but I’m sure he knows. I made sure to mention it when I interviewed for the job.”
Lola smiled fakely and nodded again. “Oh. Well, I’m sure he knows, but maybe you should mention it to him, just in case. I’d hate to see the club suffer because he didn’t hire someone to replace you.”
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about her tone of voice made me think she was counting down the days until I was no longer around. A stab of hurt hit me at the thought that Lola had turned from someone I’d considered a friend to just another coworker like Mika.
“I guess,” I said, feeling slightly shell shocked at her behavior toward me.
We went back to getting the bar ready, and I tried to make myself feel better by remembering that if it weren’t for work, someone like Lola and I would never have even spoken to one another. We had nothing but the club in common.
It didn’t make her change toward me any easier to take.
Silently, I resigned myself to feeling defensive and let the walls I often kept around me rise until I could think it all didn’t hurt. From behind me, I heard Lola finally say, “I think Stefan will miss having you around, Shay.”
I turned to look at her, unsure of where she was going with all of this but pretty fed up with her sneaky attempt to find out if I was competition for him. “I’m sure he will, Lola. We work well together, he likes to put the two of us here on the front bar because he never has to worry, and the few times he and I have spoken alone, he seems to have enjoyed himself.”
Her eyes opened wide in surprise at my comment about us being alone. “I didn’t realize you two were close like that. You know, to have spoken alone. You don’t really have anything in common.”
I couldn’t help but smile. She was fishing to find out if Stefan and I had slept together. Maybe I should have played her game and led her to believe there was some big thing between us, but at that moment I was too hurt by her treating me like I was Mika to play along.
“We aren’t. He’s my boss and I’m his employee. That’s it.”
She looked like she wanted to pump me for more information about how close Stefan and I were, but I was done. Turning on my heels, I walked out from behind the bar and headed for the ladies’ room to be alone.
Before I could get there, though, Stefan caught me. Grabbing my arm, he stopped me and flashed me a smile. “Hey, what’s up?”
Suddenly, a flash of anger spiked inside me. First Mika and now Lola had given me a hard time because of this guy. And I hadn’t even gotten much but a night of great sex for my trouble. “I want to be up on the fourth floor tonight. I need a break from the front bar.”
A look of surprise settled into Stefan’s features, and then as if what I’d said triggered something in him, his face darkened. “Why? What’s up there that you want?”
Was everyone in this place crazy? What the hell did he mean what did I want up there? “Money? You said yourself that the fourth floor bar often does as well as the front bar.”
“Is that it?”
I stared at him in confusion and shook my head. “What’s with you? I just want to be away from the front bar, okay? You know I can handle it. Lola told me it’s definitely a one-person job.”
“Is there some problem with Lola? If so, I can send her upstairs again,” he offered, as if he was worried about me. Maybe he wanted me to experience job satisfaction. I couldn’t tell what the hell was up with him or Lola.