“Oh, wonderful. Need some company?”
“I just can’t stand the fact that she’s here. She disappears for two days, resurfaces, and moves right in the middle of a couple of guys who were talking me up tonight.”
“Oh, shit. Are you serious? Wait, were they hot?” she asked.
“Lindy, not the point. I thought maybe they were nice guys, different from most of the rest. Then Gracie shows up and their tongues are hanging out like all the others. It just pisses me off,” I said, still unsure as to why I was so upset about it. Did I really want to be with men who wanted to be with my mother? Gross.
“I’m so sorry, Emma. You sure you don’t want any company?” she asked.
“I’m sure. I just had to fucking vent. I’m gonna have to go back out there and watch her get wasted and make a fool of herself. She’s probably already told them I’m her daughter, which means they’ll now think I’m like her.”
Maybe you are like her, I thought to myself, remembering being filled by three men at once.
“You're nothing like your mom, Emma.”
“It’s just irritating, that’s all,” I sighed into the phone, wishing I could tell my best friend the whole story. I wasn’t sure how she would react though, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Anyway, I gotta get back to work,” I said.
“Who’s bartending with you tonight?” Emma asked.
“No one. Just me tonight,” I said.
“Why the fuck has no one called me?”
“Because the manager’s an idiot. You know that. It’s fine, anyway. The more money I can make, the quicker I can fix up the loft and get the fuck out of my mother’s house.”
CHAPTER 7
I was on my last shift before the weekend, and none of the guys had come in that night. I searched for them the moment we opened at eight, but none of them stepped into the bar. Of course, my mother was there. She was being obnoxious, drinking all our booze for free, and falling all over the young guys she thought she could take home.
“Another one,” my mother said.
“You can’t even talk straight. I’m cutting you off,” I said.
“I said I want another.”
“No.”
“Just one more,” she said. “There’s this hot guy in the back who loves tequila. One shot of it on my breath, and he’s mine.”
“Haven’t slept with all the guys in town yet, I see.”
When my mother didn't give me a reply, I looked up into her eyes and was shocked to find that she was surprised at my comment. She tilted her head off to the side like she was studying an endangered animal or trying to learn a new concept. Her brow furrowed deeply as her eyes scanned my body, and I braced myself for whatever she was going to say next.
“What makes you think you can dictate what I do?” my mother asked.
“The least you could do is conduct yourself like a mother,” I said.
“I’m more than just your mother, Emma. I’m a woman with wants, needs, kinks, and fetishes.”
“Take that kind of talk somewhere else, please.”
“Give me a shot of tequila and I will,” she said.
“You’ve had enough alcohol. I’m not giving you anymore,” I said.
“You listen here, you selfish little brat. You don’t get to judge me after everything I gave up to have you. I made a mistake in having unprotected sex, and I paid the price with you. I dropped everything in my life so that I could raise you. Give you what you needed. Feed you and clothe you and school you and shit. And if you think that you get the right to be embarrassed just because I gave up my golden years to raise you, then you’re sorely mistaken. Now. Give me. Another. Shot.”