Chapter 3

I met Greta's gaze, another barmaid, on my way to the elevator, she had followed the whole scene and she had the look that asked me what was going on. I shook my shoulders to say that I too didn't know.

The elevator opened as soon as I clicked the up button. I had never been to the boss's office, for the simple fact that we simple employees reported to Fred. So we had nothing to do there. We rarely even seen the boss in person.

Once in the elevator, I started to overthink, what was going to happen to me? Who was this guy? Why was I going to talk to him in the boss's office? What were we going to talk about? Maybe he's the one who bought the nightclub. That might explain why he knew my name, even though the last boss didn't know our names. It could also explain why Fred was clearly scared in front of him. If he's the new owner, what should I expect, was it good or bad that he called me into the office?

Coming out of the elevator, I had no idea what to expect. In front of me there was a hall with chairs. I sat on one of them. Throughout the room, all I could hear was the sound of my foot tapping the floor because of the stress I felt. In front of me was an office with floor-to-ceiling windows. I couldn't see inside because the curtains were drawn and there was no light inside.

I waited almost five minutes and heard the click of the elevator. I straightened up, I felt anxiety wash over me as I stood. My God don't let me lose my job, I was praying inside.

Mr. Davis got out of the elevator, he walked past me, opened the office door, turned on the lights and asked me to come in. He tinted the door for me as I entered and then closed it behind him.

The room was made up of a desk, in the corner and a sofa. There were photos of Mr Keith, the former owner and his family. In a corner of the office there were a pile of boxes. I figured it was Mr Keith's affaires. From where I was standing I could see that the office had a great view.

He invited me to sit on the sofa. Then he took off his jacket and took off the cuffs of his shirt, then he rolled up the sleeves to the elbow. There he looked more relaxed, he settled behind the desk.

"Tell me Miss Wyatt, how long have you been working here?" He asked staring at me.

"Seven months." I avoided his gaze as best I could, he had a way of looking that unsettled me.

"Is that the only job you have?"

"No sir, I'm a restaurant waitress during the day."

"And here your service ends at what time?"

"It depends on the customers."

"What time do you go home when there are not many customers."

"Between 2 and 3am." I felt like I was being interrogated, but I think maybe if he was the one who bought the nightclub then he needed to do a survey.

"Are you fulfilled in your work here?"

What is that question? I thought.

"You know sir, there are people who have no choice but to do whatever job comes their way." I answered not really understanding the turn of this interview.

"That doesn't answer my question. Did you or didn't you find fulfillment in your work?"

"Uhh..." I started to stutter because I didn't know what to say. I couldn't say yes because that would be a lie I did this job out of obligation, I had to pay for my dad's insulin. It wasn't out of pleasure that I went to bed almost every morning at 3 a.m. and woke up at 7am. But I couldn't say no either because I risked losing this job. There was no longer any doubt that Mr. Davis was the new owner of the nightclub and he had every right to fire me. He was still staring at me waiting for my response, but I was saved by a knock on the door. He looked away and asked the person to enter.

It was Bobby, he had a bag in his hands. He looked surprised when he saw me sitting on the couch. But he hid it right away.

"I have what you asked for Mr."

"Thank you Bobby" Mr Davis stood up and took the envelope from Bobby. And the latter got out as he came in.

Mr. Davis put the bag on the table, he took out a takeaway, so I thought maybe he was going to have his dinner, so I got up.

"If we're done, I should go get to work."

"I'm not done with you yet Miss Wyatt."

Again the authoritative voice.

I looked at him confused, there were now two takeaways on the table. He threw the bag in the trash, and brought the dishes to the sofa, he put them down and sat down facing me.

"I heard you didn't have your lunch, so sit down." he had resumed his calm tone.

"With all due respect sir, what I should do now is get to work because as you saw I arrived late, and it's not right for my colleagues to do my job in my place."

He looked up and looked at me. He was annoyed, I avoided at all cost to meet his gaze.

"In case you haven't figured it out, I'm the new owner of this nightclub so your new boss, which means you do what I tell you to do. So sit down and eat."

Right then, I hated Flo for talking about the lunch I forgot. I sat down and take the dish he had placed in front of me. He took his and began to eat. It was a dish of rice with lentils and caramelized onions. I would have normally enjoyed it but with Mr Davis's gaze which was fixed on me I felt like the food was stuck in my throat .

We ate in silence, my eyes glued into my plate. A few minutes later, I had finished my dish, when I looked up and saw that he had finished before me. So I got up, took our two empty takeaway plates and walked to the trash can, I was halfway there when I heard the door open and I turned around. An elegant woman stood in the doorway.

"Mom!" Mr. Davis got up from the couch. And went to greet her. "Are you there already?"

Mr. Davis's mother gave me a questioning look, she must have wondered what a barmaid was doing there. I threw the dishes in the trash quickly.

"I thought you would be there to greet us." the lady was talking to his son but she was still staring at me.

I muttered an "I'll leave you" and hurried out.

Once downstairs, Fred came to ask me questions, he wanted to know what the boss wanted and everything we had said to each other. I just told him that he had asked me questions.

Some guests of the evening had already arrived, they were all installed in the VIP area. There were others still arriving. There were also photographers who had started taking pictures. We then got to work.

The evening went off without a hitch, I met Mr. Davis' eyes from time to time while I was busy serving the guests, and each time our eyes met I had to hold on to myself so as not to fall.

There wasn't as much work as the days when the nightclub was open to the public. There were only about thirty people there, and we were three six bartenders, which meant that we didn't have too much work.

The guests were divided into two groups, there were the people who were with Mrs. Davis, they were the old ones, then there were the young people elsewhere. They were all elegant and wore expensive clothes. Mr Davis had stayed apart with another guy

It was almost midnight when Mrs. Davis got up, took her glass of champagne and motioned for the DJ to turn down the music. Everyone paid attention to him.

"I thank you all on behalf of my son for coming today, I know most of you have come from afar, so thank you. That being said, we are here to party, but at a certain hour we old people need to rest, that's why before leaving I would like to make a toast to my son". She turned to him "Come here." Mr. Davis walked over and stood beside his mother. Their resemblance was striking. Mrs. Davis turned again and stared at someone else. From behind the bar where I was standing I couldn't see who it was. Mrs. Davis held out her hand to the person, then I saw a pretty blonde wearing a yellow dress walk towards them.

"To my son, and his upcoming successes, and also to his upcoming engagement." She looked at the girl in a yellow dress.

Then everyone started clapping and then they raised their glasses when Mrs. Davis said, "To Greg" and everyone repeated in chorus.

I felt my throat knotted, I had the impression that someone had just given me a blow on the head. What the hell is wrong with me? I said to myself.

I heard someone say "Another round!" so I asked Denis who was the bartender who was behind the bar all evening, to replace me and do the service so that I would stay behind the bar .

A few minutes later I saw Mrs. Davis and the people who were at the same table as her slip away. As they were leaving I heard someone yell "DJ turn it up."

Throughout the evening, no one had approached the bar but there I saw a girl heading towards me.

"My God, I thought they would never leave." she said smiling.

"Can I get you something?"

"A beer please."

No one had ordered a beer all evening, it was champagne and liquor.

"Don't look surprised."

I didn't even know I looked surprised.

"Oh I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, I know it's not common for someone to ask for a beer at this kind of party. The thing is that at this kind of party I'm not at all in my shoes"

I served her the beer. She was a pretty woman too, she wore a beautiful blue dress, she had short brown hair dyed blue on the ends. It suited her really well. She sat there, and sipped her beer, eyes glued into her phone.

I was busy preparing drink after drink, when I saw Mr Davis and the guy he had been staying with all evening walking towards the bar.

"But look who's there! Gina and her beer." the latter shouted.

The girl sipping her beer turned to face them with a smile.

"Matt! It is nice to see you" she and the guy with Mr. Davis kissed each other, then she said hello to Mr. Davis too.

"I'm glad you came" Said the latter

"Come on! You know the old lady would have killed me if I hadn't come. But I also had to be there for my brother."

So the beer girl was Mr. Davis' sister. I followed their discussion while being busy preparing drinks.

"Thank you little sister!"

"I saw you drinking champagne, that's a change!" Matt teased Mr. Davis' sister.

"You know sometimes I try to avoid the sign that says 'Disgrace of the davis family' even if it's only for a moment"

"You're not the family disgrace," said Mr. Davis.

"Tell that to your mother."she responded rolling her eyes.

Someone then shouted on the dance floor, it was Mr. Davis's fiancée dancing with another guy.

"Well then, you were planning to tell me when you're getting married, imagine the shame when mom announced it to everyone when I, your sister, didn't know anything about it."

I don't know why at that moment I looked at Mr. Davis, and I met his gaze, so I looked away immediately. It was the so-called Matt who answered in his place.

"That, my dear, is a taboo subject. Don't talk about it."

"Oohh I see!". Her sister answered.

The three stayed at the bar talking for a while. Then after a while Matt and Mr Davis's sister went to dance leaving Mr Davis alone at the bar. I don't know why, I felt his presence as if he were glued to me, but I pretended to ignore him.

At 2am, I started to feel a strong headache, maybe it was because I had only slept four hours the night before, and had to drive to west palm beach. Fortunately, I always anticipated this kind of case, I always had an aspirin on me.

I asked Greta to replace me for a moment, so that I could take her from my bag in the locker room.

Once there, I took the aspirin, and sat down a little on the bench that was there, my back on the lockers, I closed my eyes a little.

"You should go home!"

I jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Mr. Davis." I got up. "Excuse me, I'll get back to work!"

I was going to pass him, but he grabbed my arm. He looked me in the eye for a moment. "My service isn't over yet sir."

Then he released me and walked past me, this guy was definitely weird. I went back behind the bar where Greta was

"Well Meg, looks like the new boss likes you." she told me.

"But where did you get that from? It's nonsense"

"When he came to the bar, and he asked me where you had been, I told him that you had to go to the locker room. And he came after you"

"Stop, he just wanted me to do what I was paid for is all."

Greta was about to answer me, when we heard: "Your attention everyone!"

It was Matt speaking.

"Greg wanted to thank y'all for making the effort to come today. Now the party is over, the cars are waiting outside to take you back to the hotel, thank you."

People were not happy they all protested. Then I saw Fred, who had been discreet all evening, was beginning to direct the people who were the most drunk towards the exit.

"Phew, I thought it was never going to end." said Denis coming behind the bar.

We waited for everyone to leave, and only Mr. Davis, his sister,his fiancée, Matt and some two other other girls remained. So we started clearing the glasses. But Mr. Davis stopped us.

"You can go home! You'll do the rest tomorrow."

So we all went to the locker room to get our things. Everyone was talking about Mr Davis.

"Did you know he had nightclubs all over the world?!" Fran another barmaid said.

"But of course, I'm sure he'll make some changes to make this one more classy." Denis said in turn.

Everyone had their word to say about him except me, apparently he was very well known. Me the only thought I had was that he was very weird but of course I wasn't going to say it.

We all exited the back door at the same time, and that's when I remembered that I didn't have my car with me. Why didn't I think of that before. I said goodbye to them because they all lived near the nightclub. But I lived half an hour away on foot, and I couldn't walk there at this time of night.

I pulled over to call an uber, i couldn't afford it every day, but today i had no other choice. I was diving into my phone when a car pulled up in front of me. Him again.

"Get in Miss Wyatt."

"Oh thanks, but I've already ordered an uber and it's coming soon."

LIAR.

"Are you that kind of girl who has a trouble accepting help?"

"What? No, I told you I ordered an Uber."

"Yes and it shouldn't take long. except you and I know very well that it won't be here for a good ten minutes. So put your pride aside and get in!"

This guy was starting to get on my nerves, but the problem was, he was right. If I ordered an uber right now, I would have to wait for another ten minutes or so. And I was very tired so I swallowed my pride and got in the car.