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INTERNET STALKING WAS a bad thing. I knew that in theory but, since Holden King had come into the bar, I needed to find out what his plans were. It wasn't really stalking so much as self-protection. If I knew his schedule, I'd have an idea if he was going to stick around.
Only, once I got on those sites and read some of the stuff fans said about him, it made me sick to my stomach. I mean, some of it had to be lies. No man had enough jizz in him to sleep with all those chicks. Then there were all the other rumors. Stuff about his childhood that I knew were blatant lies and a whole thread of debates about what car he drove. Even that was conflicting information.
Wow, the world was full of people who had nothing better to do than write stuff about Holden King on the internet. This story was about how his family were a troupe of traveling circus performers only his mother had had a tragic accident so they'd quit performing. Holden would love it if that were true. Well, obviously he wouldn't want his fictional mother to have a tragic accident but he'd love the rest of it, for sure. It was so much better than the truth.
There was nothing about him being married or even having a girlfriend. Sure, there were rumors about him dating Taylor Swift for a while but there weren't even photos to back that up. Not that I looked for that kind of information but if he had someone then he’d be out of my hair.
Even after all that research, I had no idea what he was up to. There were touring plans for later in the year but nothing for the next few months. Lots of self-congratulations about the success of “Rock Princess”.
Bastard. I should at least get some royalties from that song. I never even got a credit. Not that I wanted my name associated with Holden King in any way but still.
No news about him going back into the recording studio. No overseas dates that would get him well away from me. The only things he had on were some television appearances and a festival.
That worried me. It gave him plenty of time to annoy me. Rock stars should be much busier than that. They should be on tour buses driving all over the country or going to big rock star parties. All the kinds of thing that didn't happen in this town.
Of course, that might just be me being egotistical. He'd be well away from this place by now and I'd be long forgotten. He'd just dropped by on some kind of stupid impulse. I was in no danger of ever seeing him again. Especially if half those stories on that forum were true.
I don't know why the rumors even bothered me. I'd have thought Holden would've forgotten me about two years and eleven months ago, maybe even sooner. When he'd decided to leave, he hadn’t been able to get away from me fast enough.
What I really needed to do was find a hottie to flirt with and maybe have some sexy times to get that jerk out of my head. The trouble with that was that I didn't know any hotties. Just guys at the bar, and I'd have to see them week after week once we were done, which got awkward.
I thought about that mystery man who worked in the upstairs bar. Burke. I could go there without ever seeing him again since he'd worked upstairs for six months without me realizing. But, if I slept with him, that might change. Guys you work with are even worse than customers. You can't get away from them afterward and they can just hang around anytime they liked. Plus, what if he talked to the other staff? That'd be embarrassing.
Some band passing through town and playing at the bar would be perfect. I could have a fling with no strings. A no string fling! Pity Alex had decided to renovate. There'd be no bands in this place in the near future. Maybe I could do something really fierce and shocking, like going to another bar. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been to a bar that wasn't Trouble.
Some loser had given me his phone number a while back. He'd been boring as all fuck but he'd known what he was doing in the sack. Maybe I could call him.
Except, when I thought about it, "a while back" had been a year or more ago and I'd probably long thrown out that phone number. Surely I'd tidied my room some time in the last year.
There were a few guys at the gym who'd have a bit of a chat when I was working out. Any of them would be up for it. Except they were total meatheads and most of them were on steroids. Not my kind of thing at all.
It hadn't struck me before that my dating life was totally bleak. I had guys flirt with me but most of them ran away pretty damn quick. Mainly because I threatened them with bodily harm.
Maybe I should soften my image.
Nah.
Those losers needed to stay away from me. What I needed was to find a better class of loser.
I'd be better off cruising dating sites than the Holden King forum.
"I don't even know why I'm here." Violet came out of her office and sat down at the bar. "I have nothing to do. Nothing. I've contacted everyone who was playing for the next month and rescheduled them. I've dealt with the fallout and the bitching. I've even caught up on every crap bit of admin shit I've put off forever. What else is there?"
I put down my phone and poured her a drink. She needed it. A workaholic with no work to do, that had to be infuriating. She was almost twitching from lack of work.
"I have no idea. Maybe you could have naps."
"Naps are not nearly as much fun when you aren't using them to procrastinate. And that sofa in my office is getting even shittier and lumpier. Hey, if Alex is doing the place up, maybe I can get a better sofa. I'll ask him when I see him."
A new sofa in Violet's office would be a fine thing. She wasn't the only one who needed to nap although she had more napping time than I did. Alex hadn't really defined what he wanted Violet to do until upstairs opened and he hadn't been around to ask.
"Where's Alex been anyway?" I asked.
"Who knows? After his grand takeover speech, he never even mentioned he'd be gone for a few days. Do you think he has some dark secret? Razer seems to think so."
"It makes sense. He has money to burn and he suddenly appeared in town."
For a few seconds, I gave Alex a thought. He was hot, that's for sure and he looked like he'd go off in the sack. He’d probably want to keep it quiet afterward too. He could definitely keep secrets.
There were so many advantages to Alex as stress relief but no.
No.
Even if he wasn't my boss and wasn't crazy over Violet, I just couldn't go there. If the other staff found out, they’d think I got promoted because I’d screwed him. Also, no.
"All I know is that he has some secret plan for the reopening. You'd think he'd tell me on account of me being the band booker and it being my job to organize this stuff but he's not saying a word."
Alex wanted a super sensational opening night for the band room after the renovations. Something people wouldn't be able to shut up about. The biggest thing to hit this town in years. He'd been talking it up in the staff meeting but he hadn't given away any details. Violet sure was getting frustrated that he hadn’t filled her in.
"I need to know. I have to organize things around it."
"You just do what you do. It's not going to interfere with your work," he'd told her. That did not go down well.
"He's going to screw up my whole schedule. I just know it."
It didn't really concern me except in the way that I was super curious and needed to know.
"He'll probably just book himself," said Jackson. "He's that kind of guy. Total wanker."
I didn't think so, though. Sure, Alex could be a bit full of himself but he had a great business mind and him playing in his own bar wasn't that newsworthy. Any kind of secrecy in this place led to wild speculation. People loved to talk and make up stories. It gave them something to do.
My time to spend on speculating about Alex's plans was limited. He'd been right about more responsibility. I had to roster the staff which ended up being a nightmare because already people were bitching about their shifts or canceling them at the last moment. I'd had to fill in two shifts already on top of my own workload. When Chuck had run the bar, he didn't care. If we were short-staffed, he'd just expect everyone else to work harder.
I couldn't be like that, though. I knew how hard it was on the staff left working. Babs and Sally were the only ones who could be counted on and they worked upstairs most of the time.
Part of me wondered if it was me. They thought it was okay to dick me around because they didn't really see me as a tough boss, or else they thought I would be on their side when they slacked off. If I had to make a tough call, I'd have to do it soon so that they knew I was serious. Otherwise, they'd think they could flake any time they liked.
Violet checked the messages on her phone and smiled in that sickly sweet, love-radiating way.
"Aren't you super busy with all this love stuff? I thought that would be all-consuming."
She sighed. "Razer's old boss wanted him to come in and do some work for the next few weeks. It means he's earning the bucks but a lot less time together. And he's super tired after work."
Wow, no wonder she was so edgy. Not only no work but no sex. Well, less sex. Still more than me, though. Because nuns had more sex than I did.
"The extra money must help."
"Yeah, he's talking about going up the coast when the job finishes. Combining a holiday with some touring for the band. The guys have been offered a spot on a festival line-up and, if we're headed that way anyway, he figures playing some pubs while they’re there will help. Making the most of summer before it ends. Once we get the dates sorted, at least I can organize that. I can ring places and book some definite gigs. Alex should give me the time off since I'm so super bored."
She leaned on the bar, twirling the glass in her hands. The break-in conversation worried me. She was building up to something and no prizes for guessing what that something was.
"So, Holden King?" she said. Subtle. Real subtle.
"Holden King is not a topic of conversation in this bar."
I knew she couldn't hold back forever. The curiosity must've been killing her. I should give her some of the details, not the whole awful story. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, it was far too dreary, but there were blanks I could fill in. Before I could say anything, Drew popped up from nowhere. Like some kind of creepy rodent.
"You were really mean to him, Carlie. That poor guy. You punched him. Not just a punch on the arm like you punch me but a proper punch. That could've really hurt him, even killed him. That's not nice at all."
"Shut up, Drew. You don't know a thing about the situation so keep your trap shut."
"It's not like you're a normal girl, either. You work out a lot and have muscles. You do boxing training."
"Drew!"
I glared at him in the way that normally made him quiver and run away but he was impervious to that for once. I hoped he realized I had the power to fire him now. Not that I would. No one would run around doing the shit jobs like Drew did.
"No matter what he did, you should give him a second chance. Everyone in this world deserves a second chance. People can change and become better."
What the hell was going on with Drew? Had he found religion or been reading those inspirational quotes on Facebook? Or maybe he had a crush on Holden instead of Alex now.
"What about Hitler? Would you give Hitler a second chance?"
Ha, that would shut him up.
"Holden isn't Hitler. He's a really nice guy. And you can't use Hitler in every single argument."
"Just keep sweeping, Drew."
Violet sighed.
"It was a killer punch," she said. "Have you been training?"
I nodded. I'd been training but not hard enough.