Southern Secrets (Southern 7)

Chapter 13

Asher

"Do you want another beer?" I ask Ethan while I wipe down the bar in front of him. He shakes his head. I walk down the bar, ignoring the need to look up and find Amelia. The bar is slowly starting to get less crowded, and I look up and see that it’s almost one o’clock. The band finished their last song thirty minutes ago, and it’s just a playlist that plays. The dance floor is still semi full.

"Can we have more shots, Cowboy?" the group of girls yells from the other end of the bar, and I look at the ceiling and count to ten. I turn to walk toward them when Reed comes behind the bar to grab the dirty glasses.

"Shots, shots, shots," one of the girls says, laughing at herself, putting her hands in the air and dancing.

"If they vomit," Reed says, grabbing the bin, then looking at me, "I’m not cleaning it."

"That is what you are paid to do, little brother,” Quinn tells him, and he glares at him. "Hey, you think we never cleaned up vomit?"

"Not me," Chelsea says, grabbing her bottle of beer and taking a pull of it. "I was the one doing the vomiting most of the time." I laugh, and Mayson shakes his head, and she looks over at him. "Better or worse." She leans into him, and he kisses her lips.

Reed looks at me and then the girls. "Ladies." They all look at him. "Why don’t you go dance, and I'll fill up the shot glasses, on the house?” he says, giving them a smile.

"Really?" the blonde says, and I look over at Ethan, who just shares a look with me.

"You betcha," he says. "Six shots will be waiting here for you guys, on the house." He winks at them, and they giggle and take off to the dance floor.

Reed turns to me with a smug look on his face. "Now you can fill up six shot glasses with water," Reed says. "They won’t even notice."

He grabs the bin and walks out of the bar area toward the back. "I bet you twenty bucks they notice," Willow says, looking at Quinn. I grab the six shot glasses and fill them with water as the rest place bets and then leave them in front of their seats.

"Here they come," Willow says, and the six of them just sit at the bar watching the girls as

they come back, swinging their hips, stumbling, and laughing. They each grab a glass and raise it up. "To the cool cowboy," one of them says, and they take the shot.

"Smooth," one of them says.

"I’ve had this before," another one says while she looks into the empty glass.

One of them looks up at me. "What was in this? It was good."

I try not to laugh at them. "It was a secret drink only he knows," I tell them, and they turn around, going back to the dance floor.

"You owe me twenty bucks," Quinn says to Willow, "but I can be persuaded to take other forms of payment."

"You’re gross," Chelsea says. "We are right here." Ethan laughs at them bickering.

"Where is Amelia?" I finally say, looking around the bar and not spotting her.

"Probably in the bathroom," Chelsea says.

I look over the heads of people, trying to spot her. The crowd has thinned out even more than before. "I’m going to check around," I tell Ethan, and he nods, coming behind the bar. I walk toward the sports room and open it to see it’s almost empty.

"Hey, Dolly,” I call her name, and she looks up from cleaning the bar. "Have you seen Amelia?"

"No." She shakes her head. "I’ve been slammed all night, so I haven’t seen anything." I nod at her and turn to walk out of the room, going to the pool table area and seeing that only one game is going on and there are six people there.

"Hey," Christopher says, looking at me while he walks around the area, picking up all the empty beer bottles that have been left. "What’s up?"

"Have you seen Amelia?" I ask, looking around toward the bar to see if she got back.

"Not in a while," he answers, placing the bottles in the bin with the sound of clinking.

"If you see her, tell her I’m looking for her." I walk toward the dance floor, looking through the crowd. Maybe she got sucked onto the dance floor, and I didn’t see her. The burning in my stomach starts, and my heart beats faster as the time goes on and I still can’t find her.

Making my way past where the band is loading up their stuff, I look in the back room but don’t see anyone there. I even go to the office. The soft light on the desk is on, but it’s empty.