Ahead of the Darkness Read online

  “Mia’s already broken my heart.” Jules emerged from the store room with a crate in his hands. It was an impressive display of strength, and I couldn’t help but admire the way his arms flexed with the effort as he carried it to the bar. “She didn’t bat an eyelid at me. I’m losing my touch.” He winked as he entered the bar, and begun restocking the other side.

  “Mia?” Drew sounded gruff.

  “Yes?”

  “Ye think ye can ask Angus what he wants to drink?”

  “Oh ...”

  “Don’t worry lass, I was distracting ya. Besides, I don’t normally have to be asked. Ya slacking there, Drew.”

  “Sorry Angus, what can I get you?”

  “Make me whatever ya want, darling.”

  “Well, if I had to guess, I would say you look like a Scottish whisky kind of man.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned. Ya hit it on the head. Scotch and Coke if ya would, lass.”

  I turned to the wall of liquor and groaned. There was no rhyme or reason to it: it just looked aesthetically pleasing.

  “Here.” I frowned at Drew as he passed the single malt. “Blame Mac. She likes to keep it purdy. Ye’ll get used to it.”

  I found a rocks glass from underneath the beer taps and made his drink. After, I took his fiver and went to cash it up, but Drew beat me to it handing Angus his 50p change.

  “Drew?”

  “Aye, sorry. I should have let ye do that.”

  “No kidding. Can you show me the till now?”

  It was one of the newer high-tech tills with the square touch panel. Each liquor had its own icon and individual cocktail listing. This was one of the most accurate and easy machines to use, and I smiled with relief.

  “So, ye’ve seen these before, I take it?”

  “Yeah, each drink has its own button. Easy.”

  “Aye, but each liquor has sub-categories, ‘ere.” He moved me in front of him so I could see what he was doing, and his sweet scent overwhelmed my senses. I took a deep breath of the heady mix. He smelt like fresh linen, and woodsy cologne.

  “Don’t fret, it’s nae difficult to pick up.” I bit my lip in amusement. Better he think I was sighing rather than smelling him.

  “Ye just press scotch and up pops the options of what ye want with it. It’s a little much, but ye get used to it, like.”

  “Yeah, these systems are better to keep track of the expenditures. It also makes stocktake and tax stuff easier.”

  “Aye.” He looked at me with his head cocked to the side, brows draw together.

  “Yeah, I’ve worked at a few different bars. I know a reasonable amount of useless stuff.”

  “Aye, the rest should be easy enough, then. What other useless stuff do ye know?”

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” I winked at him. I actually winked.

  “Oh, I like this one. She’s a keeper, and she doesn’t seem to wanna crawl up ya arse like someone we know.”

  Angus sniggered at Jules.

  “Hiya Angus, old chum.”

  “Get back to work ye lazy git.” Drew was fighting his own grin.

  “Oh, look, it’s playtime. It’ll start to fill up pretty quick now, Mi, ya gonna love it,” Jules said.

  In walked a small group of girls, laughing. Mac finished off the tables and came round behind the bar to turn up the music, and Jules started to move towards the front of the bar to serve them but Drew cut him off.

  “Easy, Jules, let Mia get some practice in. Ye can get the next purdy lot.”

  “Ya such a killjoy sometimes, mate. All yours, Mi. I’ll disappear downstairs.” He winked and took the remainder of the crates down into the cellar.

  “I’ll leave ye in the capable hands of Angus. Don’t use them though, Angus,” Drew said and Angus laughed heartily. “I have to finish some paperwork. I’ll be back in a wee bit, aye?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Aye, good luck wid dat.” He gestured with his head to the approaching giggling girls, and disappeared out the back into the office.

  “Hi ladies, what can I get you?”

  “Oh, hi. You must be new?” Is everyone a regular?

  “Sure. First day, so go hard on me.” They giggled at that.

  “Alright then, are you any good at making cocktails?”

  I smiled to myself. I was better than good.

  “Hit me with your best shot.”

  “Oh goodie, make mine Sex on the Beach. They don’t really make cocktails here, but the boys sure are pretty like them.” The loudest of the three giggled at her own joke.

  “I’ve always wanted a Martini.”

  “Apple?” One of the others nodded enthusiastically “And you?” The quieter one had yet to speak.

  “Do you have a blender?” I looked to Mac who’d started chatting to Angus while watching me. She shook her head with a certain amount of pleasure. I wondered how pleased she would be when a blender turned up tomorrow. I’m sure if I asked Drew he’d get one.

  “What about a Cosmo?”

  “I’ll see what I can do about next time. I love a good daiquiri.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “It’s one of the best things you can make with a blender in a bar.”

  She laughed. “I guess so.”

  “Give me a minute while I find all the things, but ID’s first, ladies, can’t be getting fired on the first day now, can I?” They smiled, pulled out their ID’s, none were above the age of 20— and began gossiping amongst themselves.

  The bar wasn’t set up to be a cocktail bar, even with the impressive wall of alcohol it more like a pub. I was going to have to do something about that. The best part of working in a bar was making elaborate drinks.

  I found most of what I needed except olives, pineapple and apple slices, but was sure the girls would overlook that small detail.

  I set a highball glass and two shakers in front of me and filled each with ice. I put two cocktail glasses in the fridge to chill while I mixed the drinks. This was where the girls stopped and paid attention, their gaze were glued to my hands as I poured first the vodka. Two shots in each, three in the Martini. A shot of triple sec in the Cosmo, a shot and a half of peach schnapps in the Sex and half a shot of apple liquor in the martini. I added equal parts of cranberry and pineapple juice to one, and a splash cranberry and a squeeze of lime to the other.

  I placed the slightly cooler cocktail glasses from the fridge in front of the girls. I shook both shakers, strained them into the glasses, gave a little stir with a straw to the highball glass and placed it between the two.

  “Voila, just minus the fresh garnishes.” They stared at me, open-mouthed. The most vocal of the three recovered first.

  “Wow, just wow! Where’d you learn to do that?”

  “That was fantastic!”

  “Well bugger me!”

  “I’ve worked in a few bars. You pick up a few things.” I’d done a lot of classes with my excess free time.

  “So that’s a tenner each.”

  “Oh ...”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sorry ...”

  They handed me their cash and took big swigs of their drinks, moaning in delight. I hoped they’d had big meals earlier, otherwise I was predicting a messy night.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. Where did you come from? Little Mi has some skills.” Jules, appearing out of nowhere, startled me.

  “Oh, please. Just because you can’t pour a beer without getting it everywhere.” Mac was clearly unimpressed, and walked off to serve a few guys that had just walked in.

  “So, Mia. Tell me all about yaself; favourite colour, cup size, sexual position, phone number, ya know, the usual.” Jules seemed to have waited long enough to bombard me with questions.

  “Favourite colour?”

  “Out of that list, you found that one the strangest?”

  “From the little I've seen of you, yes. What value could the fact I like green be to you?”

  “Well, now I k
now what colour to wear when I take you out, now don't I?” I looked at him, confused. “You don't like it when a guy wears your favourite colour?” Oooh.

  “Not especially. If I don't like them it could ruin the colour for me.”

  “You wound me.” He mocked, and laughed along with Angus. “So?”

  “So?”

  “Don’t hold out on me, what about the rest?” He smiled at me, full well knowing I wouldn’t give those details up. I just looked at him with a sort of bored expression.

  “Ye done harassing my staff?” I stiffened at Drew’s reappearance behind me, and frowned at the slight exaggeration of the word my.

  “I was doing no such thing to ‘your’ staff.” I hadn’t been the only one who noticed. What was that about?

  “Drew!”

  “Hiya Becki, what ye got there?”

  “Your brilliant new girl here made us all cocktails.” It seemed the drinks were kicking in already. “She’s our new favourite, and you need to get her a blender.” Yeah, Becki was on her way.

  “Aye?”

  “I told them to go hard on me, they picked cocktails.” I shrugged.

  “Aye, nae challenge there.”

  “Except for finding the right ingredients. You do need a blender, by the way.”

  “Aye, so it would seem.”

  “You’re not seriously going to get a blender because the new girl wants to make some fancy cocktails no one is going to drink? That’s crazy, Drew.” HA. I’d seen that coming.

  “Oh we’ll drink them!”

  “Yes! Oh please, Drew?”

  “What else can you make?” all three said simultaneously.

  “That settles it. Mia gets whatever she needs to make the bonne lasses what they want to drink.” He winked at them, and they cheered loudly. The smile Drew gave me said a great deal.

  “You planned this?” I said quietly to Drew.

  “I dinnae know what ye’re talking about.” But his dimple said otherwise.

  More bodies started to file in. Drew nodded to Jules to get on it, and stopped Mac in her tacks.

  “Did ye get the bathroom sorted?”

  “But—”

  “It’ll take ye five. Go on, before it gets busy.”

  “Do you not have a cleaner come in?” I asked.

  “Aye but only every other day. It just needs a quick spray of disinfectant and refill.”

  “And it's normally not done by me,” Mac muttered.

  “Alex quit. Get over it, princess, it's not like you never get your hands dirty.” I wasn’t sure what Jules was insinuating, but Mac got the hint.

  “Sod off!” Mac stormed off to the bathroom with a scowl on her face. Drew just shook his head at the pair of them.

  “I saw yer performance, by the way.”

  “My what? Oh, the drinks.”

  “Aye.” He pointed up at the camera above us and I nodded my head in understanding. Of course he had cameras on his tills. It was the only way to run a successful business. It protected him and the staff. I tried not to breathe him in again as he moved a little closer, and lowered his voice.

  “I thought ye were quick before, but that was somethin’.”

  “I’m quick with my hands and have a strong memory.” I shrugged off the compliment.

  “How many drinks can ye make off the top of ye head?”

  “You mean from memory?” Umm ... four ... nine ... thirteen ...

  “Aye?”

  “A few ...”

  “Enough to make a menu?”

  “You want to make a cocktail menu?”

  “Aye, I’ve been thinking about having a cocktail night.”

  “But if I’m the only one who can make them?”

  “Ye not, but ye could teach the others.”

  “Oh yes, teach me your wicked ways Mia.” Jules waggled his eyebrows at me. The men he was serving all chuckled while eyeing their eyes travelled my body.

  “Knock it off, ye dirty bastard.”

  “What about a cocktail hour instead?”

  “Aye, that could work. What did ye charge them?”

  “Oh, ten?” Oops.

  “Aye, that’s good. Cocktail hour it is and if it takes off, we can have a night of it.” Baiser. Mac will love it ...

  “Okay, you’re going to need to go shopping then.”

  “Make me a list and it’s done.”

  “Mia, was it?” One of the girls interrupted.

  “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “Can, we get another?”

  “Oh yeah, sure. Do you all want the same?” It was making me uncomfortable the way Drew was watching me.

  “What else can you make? We don’t really know a lot of cocktails,” Becki said.

  “Ah ... hmm, let’s see.” I did a quick inventory. “Well, with what we have here I can make most martini’s, or a Manhattan, a Screwdriver, a Margarita ...”

  “Yes!” They all said in unison.

  “Margarita? Do you have salt, Drew?”

  “Aye.” He handed me the salt with what I could only describe as a cocky grin on his face. I needed to knock it off.

  “I have an idea, girls.” Their faces lit up. “I think Drew here is holding out on us, and we should see what he’s made of.” Drew’s eyes went wide as the girls squealed with delight.

  “Oh yes!”

  “He’s always holding out on us.” Becky pouted playfully.

  “Do it!”

  “What are ye planning?” He squinted at me good-humouredly.

  “Drink-off.” I smiled gleefully at his less-than-confident face. “Do you know how to make a Margarita, or do I need to teach you, too?” I knew that would have his attention.

  “Aye. What are ye rules then?”

  “Three points: one for time, one for taste, and one for presentation.”

  “Aye, and whom do we get to judge?” Hmm ...

  “Angus?” I laughed.

  “We want to be on Mia’s team. Are there teams?” I’d made patrons for life, it seemed. I smiled at the girls.

  “Yeah mate, we’ll get ya back.” A few of the guys Jules had been serving had piped up at the festivities.

  “Aye, too right ye lads will. So it’s settled. We make four drinks each: one for each on our team, and the final judge, Angus. Angus, you in, old chap?

  “Too right I am.”

  “I’ll be needing your tie then, Drew.” I walked up to Drew and gripped the end of his tie. He looked at me curiously. “To blindfold Angus, of course.” The girls loved the idea and made room for him to stand between them.

  Before Drew could disagree, I’d begun to remove his tie. He didn’t protest, but watched me intently. My pulse quickened, and I was acutely aware of how sexual it felt. If it hadn’t been for the cheering in the background I could have forgot we weren’t alone. I snapped to, pulling the tie out from his collar quicker and turned to Angus.

  “This won’t hurt a bit.” Angus laughed as I covered his eyes.

  “Ye ready?” The bar seemed to be much fuller than I had noticed. Everyone was watching the two of us, including a bitter-looking Mac.

  “Ready.”

  “Set. Go.” And he was off.

  Drew and I bumped into each other repeatedly trying to collect the lowball glasses, lime wedges and salt. We butted heads over the tequila and he beat me to it, but I reached for the triples sec first and ran around the other side to get the other bottle of tequila. I grabbed the biggest shaker—surprisingly, there was one—and filled it with ice. Drew was muttering under his breath about needing a better-stocked bar, as he only had a smaller shaker to use.

  I added enough tequila and triple sec for five, just in case, and half a fresh lemon and lime. I was shaking my mixer before Drew. He was wasting time by pouring each shot in separately.

  Then it was my turn to waste time trying to find a flat dish for the salt, and I was about to give up when Jules passed me one.

  “Ye cheating bastard! Ye cannae help her.”

  �
��No fair, Boss, she doesn’t know where half the stuff is.”

  “Ah, sod off.” I laughed, and instead of taking the dish I improvised.

  I washed my hands real quick in the sink, rubbed the lime around the edge of the glasses and then filled my left hand with the salt.

  “What are ye doing, ye daft?”

  The girls cheered and laughed as I ran the edge of each glass along the salt in my palm, making sure the rim was covered. Dusting off the excess salt, I strained the shaker into the four glasses. Perfect!

  “DONE!” I jumped up and down on the spot with a little too much excitement.

  “Ah, bollocks!” He was still rimming the glasses with lime.

  “Mia wins the first point,” Becki yelled out, the other two cheering when I gave them their drinks. They eagerly dived in then squealed in delight.

  “Easy, girls. You don’t want that to repeat itself in an hour.” They laughed, but slowed down all the same.

  Drew finally finished his drinks and the last one came up short. I fought my laugh, and slid him the remainder in my shaker.

  “Ye a clever wee shite, aren’t ye?”

  “Aye.” I mocked. “But don’t give that one to Angus.” Drew laughed, and shook his head. We put our drinks up on the bar in front of Angus. I added a sneaky lime wedge on the edge, and winked at Drew’s wide-eyed look.

  “Ye sneaky bitch,” he muttered to me. I smirked at just how clever I really was.

  “Angus, you can remove your blindfold now.” The girls helped, and threw it back at Drew, laughing all the while.

  “It took ya long enough, son. Oh, these look fancy.”

  “Which one looks the best?”

  Drew reached forward and removed the lime wedge from mine, and threw it in the sink.

  “Aye, which one looks the best?” I elbowed Drew in the ribs, and he chuckled lightly.

  “This one. The salt stuff on the glass looks more even.” HA! Drew grumbled incomprehensively to himself.

  “Aye, and which one tastes better?” He took a big sip of Drew’s first, and then mine. He took a few small sips of both, and hmmed and ahed. It was plain to see that he couldn’t tell the difference, but Drew was eagerly waiting for an answer.

  He needn’t have bothered. “Mia wins, hands down.”

  I laughed. Drew folded his arms across his chest. “Sorry son, it has a clear woman’s touch.”

  “Aye it’s bloody rigged.”