Rock Star Returns: Carlie's Story (Access All Areas 2)

"I figured since you were giving people second chances, you might put Drew back on."

Fuck. I knew he'd figured it out. But it was only Jackson. No one else knew.

Drew didn't make eye contact, he just huddled over, staring at his drink.

"What do you think, Drew? I asked him. "Are you willing to come back?"

I'd not had time to call any of the other applicants for the busboy job and, to be honest, none of them had been that promising. I'd also found out the beer tap had been faulty and needed to be fixed, so it wasn't totally Drew's fault. But I couldn't give in too easily. That would be a mistake after the way the staff had been acting. I had to make Drew work for it.

Chapter 20

BEFORE I SAT DOWN AT the Galaga table, I had every intention of letting Drew win. That would be the easiest option. Instead of seeming like a softy for letting him back, he'd win it fair and square. Well, seemingly fair and square anyway.

But, as soon as I pulled out that stool and sat down, I knew I couldn't do it. I didn't have that “letting someone else beat me” thing in me. It was like that gene was missing from my DNA. It'd been replaced with an abundance of killer instinct instead. I looked at his hopeful face and even that didn't sway me. That might make me a bad person but it made me a bad person who was undefeated at Galaga.

"I'll put $10 on Drew," said Jackson. "I reckon it's his day."

"I'm putting my money on Carlie," said Alex as he came down the stairs. "What are we betting on, anyway?"

Jackson filled him in on how I'd told Drew he could have his job back if he beat me.

"That seems a very random way of staffing."

"My bar, my rules," I said. Hadn't he just said that I was competent? He should have more faith in me but then I guess that was better than Jackson betting against me. Jackson just did it to pump up Drew's confidence. It

was his money and, if he wanted to blow it, he was free to do so.

"Are you ready?" I asked Drew.

He gulped and nodded.

The music started up and Alex sat drinks for us both on the table. I grinned then got ready to kill some pesky little alien bugs. I got to the end of the stage with a decent score. Far from my best but good enough.

Wow, the way the lights twinkled really reminded me of Holden's eyes in the moonlight. He had the kind of eyes that really caught the light. Intense eyes. When those eyes became focused on me, my knees trembled. No other man in the world made my knees tremble. You'd have thought I'd outgrown that by now but —

"You're dead, Carlie. Dead in stage two!"

Fuck, one lapse of concentration and I screwed myself. I wouldn't be doing that again. Steely focus.

Drew giggled like a little school girl. He'd be crying before I'd finished with him though.

Then Drew started. He usually made rookie mistakes but he was so focused. He couldn't maintain it, though. He didn't have my steely focus. When I played Galaga, nothing broke that focus.

I took a sip of my drink and waited for him to finish.

Had he been practicing in all his spare time since he left here? The way he played showed a maturity he'd lacked before. More strategy and less firing at anything that moved. He got through the first stage easily. Then the second.

"So, Drew," I said. "How's things been while you weren't working?" It was a dirty trick, trying to distract him but he always fell for it.

Except this time. This time he grunted and kept his eyes on the game.

My mind wandered since it was taking him so long to die. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes.

"Darn it!" Drew yelled. Like he always did when he died. Ha.

But he'd gotten further than I ever expected.

I laughed as I took control of the game again. This would teach him a valuable life lesson about messing with me. I wouldn’t let myself be distracted again. Love, be buggered. This was war. Surely I wasn't so brain-addled by a night of hot sex that I lost all ability to destroy Drew.