Page 8 of Minotaur Bar (Minotaur Bar #1)

This is the busiest shift I’ve ever worked. I have no idea how the minotaurs are even moving with the amount of horns I see floating around. I’ve cleaned up eighteen broken glasses, two piles of puke and sent three pairs of fighters to the ring outside to duke it out. Cash is on edge because his tip bucket is half full when I’ve had to dump mine four times from the amount of tips I’m raking in and Havoc is watching it all like a hawk, his concern making me anxious.

“Please be careful,”

he says to me quietly. We’re both at the tap, filling pints as Cash fills double shots on the bar behind us.

“I have a bad feeling, red.”

“What are you talking about?”

I ask, my heart beating quickly, my stomach sinking. He shakes his head, his ear twitching.

“I don’t really know. It’s just something I can feel. Call it a fucked up gift, but when we get this full, I can always read the energy of the crowd. I feel like a brawl is bound to happen. I don’t want you getting hurt. Promise me you’ll stay behind the bar tonight, Tess.”

His eyes are so sincere. I open my mouth to retort and defend myself, but Havoc just shakes his head.

“I’m serious, Tess. Stay. Put. If something happens to you, I’ll…”

“You’ll what?”

I ask breathlessly, realizing that I desperately want him to finish that sentence. We both finish filling our pints before he goes to turn away. “Havoc!”

I shout as I grab his shoulder. He’s wearing my favorite crop top tonight. It’s a black shirt, the sleeves and lower half cut off, with the word Buckin’ written in white block letters. It always brings the dirtiest fantasies to my mind when I read it thoughtfully throughout my shift.

“Stay behind the bar,”

he says before turning back to the bulls who ordered the IPA’s. I sigh and throw my hands up. I can’t really justify disobeying him. It’s not like I can take on one minotaur, let alone a fucking group of them hell bent on clashing horns. I grab the beer I just poured and turn to deliver them.

“Fucking move!”

Cash says as he slams into me, spilling beer down my shirt. I make a noise of disgust at his attitude as I slam the half-empty pint back under the tap.

“Fuck you, Cash!”

I say with the flip of my middle finger as he ignores me.

Fucking arrogant asshole.

He thinks he can bully me now that I’ve proven myself and haven’t been fired.

Over the last month his attitude towards me has gotten increasingly shittier each shift we’ve worked together.

It makes his customer service, and his tips, suffer simultaneously. Fucking idiot.

Havoc has said multiple times he’d talk to Cash, but that’s the last thing I want.

I don’t need him fighting my battles for me and making me look weaker.

So for now, I’ll put up with his shit, but I do need to take five and try to rid myself of the beer that’s soaked into my fucking bra.

“Bossman! Taking a piss break!”

I shout over the raucous as Havoc nods, showing he heard me.

I run to the bathroom in the back, realizing quickly we have no fucking paper towels.

I roll my eyes.

I’d bet money on the fact that fucking Cash didn’t replace them again.

I swear, he’s slacking just to make my life a living hell.

I have no time to replace them myself, so I just run out to the customer bathrooms and barge in.

A couple of female minotaurs are primping, checking themselves out in the mirror.

“Hey, ladies,”

I say quickly, walking over to the paper towel dispenser and grabbing a handful of them.

“Hey, Tess!”

one named Maggie says with a genuine smile.

“Weird night, huh?”

“Yeah, Havoc is tense. He thinks something wild is about to happen,”

I reply, soaking up the beer from my sopping cups.

“Shit. He’s never wrong about those premonitions, girl,”

Ginger, Maggie’s friend says as she applies her lipstick.

“He can call that shit from a mile away.”

“Great. Just what I need to deal with tonight while Cash is on my last fucking nerve,”

I say with a roll of my eyes.

“He’s such a jealous bitch,”

laughs Maggie.

“He loves to hate you.”

“Don’t take it personal. Rumor is things with his girl are on the outs. He’s making you an easy target,”

Ginger says, capping her lipstick.

“That’s shitty,”

I say quietly, feeling bad.

“Some things don’t last. Just the way the world works,”

Ginger replies as she looks at my boobs.

“What’s going on here?”

“Cash spilled the beer in my hands when he bumped into me,”

I complain as Maggie snorts.

“What a prick,”

she says. Ginger nods in agreement.

“My tits are sticky now.”

I throw the wet paper towels away and then grab fresh ones, wetting them before swiping them through my cleavage. “Yuck.”

“Good luck with that, Tess! We’ll see you out there!”

Ginger says with a sympathetic look.

I wave to them both as they leave.

I throw the wet towels away next and grab the sink in front of me, looking into the mirror.

I smooth out the dark makeup under my eyes that’s smudged from sweating and fix my messy bun.

I take a calming breath before stepping outside into the chaos.

The first thing I notice is shouting.

The bull’s bathroom is right next the one I was occupying, and I’m currently trapped on both sides in the crowded hallway.

The next thing I realize is that the bodies to my left are pressing in on me, squishing me against the wall.

I try to yell, but it’s obscenely loud as four or five minotaurs begin to shove one another.

I’m doing my best to get out of the tight hold one has on me because he’s being pushed back when a pair of long horns charge at me violently, aiming for the minotaur pinning me to the wall.

I try to dart away when his body surges forward to meet the attack. But he’s shoved backwards again from the momentum.

And because of it, I’m pinned to the wall once more, this time by the long pair of bull horns piercing my side.

I cry out in anguish as my skin burns in searing pain.

Instantly, my eyes flood with tears.

I try desperately to suck in a breath.

I do my best to fall to the ground, crawling through hooves as I try not to get stepped on by the raging bulls.

I’m shaking as I tuck tail and retreat back into the bathroom, locking it behind me.

My hand, now coated in blood, shakes profusely while it holds my wounded side.

I scream, scared as hell when the bulls slam into the door behind me, cussing each other out and pounding the shit out of one another.

I vaguely hear the sound of Havoc yelling, breaking up the fight outside the bathroom.

I’m frozen, shock setting in.

I don’t know what to do.

He told me to stay behind the bar earlier.

And since I can’t get there safely right now, I’m staying in the fucking bathroom, alone and terrified on the dirty floor.