Rolling her eyes, she looks all around at everything except for me. I know she doesn’t want me to, but I start laughing. And once I start, it just gets funnier and funnier. She leans toward me, waving her hand in my face to get me to shut up.
“Hey! What are you doing? People are staring!”
“Mona, that’s funny!”
She shakes her head in exaggerated disgust. “Whatever. It’s just a job. You should see the other things that people have to do when they work for Ty.”
“Wait… like what?”
Her mouth pops open in surprise, as though she said too much. Then she presses her lips tightly together. “You know what? Never mind. Just suffice it to say you are opening beers. That’s it. When we get to the lingerie show, try to enjoy yourself, okay? I know how you like to watch, after all.”
I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, doing my best impression of Ty as I look her up and down like she is a pork chop.
“Oh, baby… I am definitely going to enjoy myself!”
She opens her mouth in outrage and picks up an ice cube from the bin, flinging it at me.
“All right, smarty-pants! You are on your own!”
“Wait, no, I’m just kidding!” I call out as she walks away. “Mona, come back!”
But it is too late. As she turns her back to me, she raises one fist and extends one, single, middle finger in my direction. I know she is kidding, but I guess that’s the end of my training.
Two hundred dollars, I tell myself again as I survey the dark room and the people in it. Some look like military, most look like townies. They have the expectant attitudes of people who are definitely here for the show. I kind of half knew what Mona was going to say, but hearing her say it took me a little bit by surprise. I thought I was supposed to be the freak?
Well, I guess tonight will be entertaining. I’m glad I’m not on the menu.
Chapter 6
Libby
The first twenty minutes are a little bit rocky, I have to admit, but after that I seem to get the hang of it. The trick is to know where all the beers are. Miller Lite
is in this corner, and Bud Light is in this corner. Also, the back of the bottle opener is useful for opening up those big cans. Good to know, because I only have ten fingernails.
The guys hand me cash with a smile, sort of hopeful and open, like maybe buying a beer from me also gets them some conversation. I am polite and eager to move onto the next customer though, so that is just not going to work out no matter how hopeful they are.
After all, it seems like a dollar a beer is the standard amount of a tip. And if these guys drink five beers each… Maybe forty different guys…
Two hundred dollars is a definite possibility! I guess Mona wasn’t just shining me on after all!
And, yeah, I guess being a blonde gets me a little bit of a training bonus. Or being female does, anyway. Even the few times that I had to dig around in the ice with my bare hands, trying to find the exact combination of beverages, nobody seemed to get very impatient. It is still early, though. I suppose once they really get to drinking, their attitudes might get less friendly.
Or more friendly. Which is its own kind of situation.
The music isn’t so bad. I actually find myself getting into it a little bit. I am more of an indie rock kind of gal, but I appreciate the lovelorn poetry of a good country song as much as anybody. I’m not entirely sure any of these country songwriting billionaires have ever actually ridden in a pickup truck or been on a dusty road, but maybe a few have. By that standard, I am 100 percent more country than they are, even if I grew up in Seattle. They’re catchy, at any rate. I have to give them that.
And moving really helps out with these shoes. I have wished at least a thousand times that Mona had let me keep my sneakers on. I can feel the heel scraping the skin off my foot. Make that one thousand and one.
“Music is good, huh?” comes an oily voice.
I flinch automatically, then try to cover by reaching into the ice and rearranging some of the bottles. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to meet Ty’s picket fence smile.
“Yeah… I’m kind of getting to like it,” I answer truthfully.
He looks me up and down again, and I can almost feel his eyes circling the outline of my nipples underneath my T-shirt halter.
“Well, you sure are doing a good job,” he grins. “Looks like you’re a natural.”