As much as she hated to do it—an honest day of work—she was situated behind the bar, getting drinks up and out when they were ordered. For the time being, most of the men in the room had their eyes directed toward the stage. The girls were up doing their thing and keeping the men engaged. Most of them had a beer in one hand, and were preparing for later by clenching their free hand into a fist. The rapt attention of the room to the stage was almost senseless. All of the eyes were wide and entranced, as though they were being hypnotized by the movements of the female body. Men, as it was, were easily distracted. It made it easy for Jackie to pick a few pockets when nobody was paying attention to the girl dolling out the booze.
They should have known better.
She wasn’t legally able to drink or sell alcohol, but with Roxy and Ella running the show, nobody questioned it when they put her on bartending duty. With Leblanc out as her source of income, Jackie needed to do something in order to get an inflow of cash. Hunters were not the best tippers, which is why she felt justified in stealing what she wanted from them. Besides, if they were stupid enough to make it easy, so easy that it was barely sporting, why should she feel bad? She didn’t. If they could waste the money on a girl’s g-string, they could give a little more to the girl keeping their drinks topped up. It was all fair play.
With a good show going on stage, nobody was really ordering or requesting any drinks. Jackie sat behind the bar, counting some cash beneath the counter where no one could see. Seventy-five bucks was the intake from the last three hunters she’d scammed, and she pocketed it quickly. A naked girl showing off their assets wasn’t really her preferred entertainment, so all in all, Jackie was bored. She did her twentieth scan of the room in about five minutes, and was shocked to see a familiar face standing awkwardly in the doorway of the strip joint.
In spite of herself, she smiled, which turned into a cat-like smirk, and she was climbing over the bar to greet Liam. “Well, well,” she said, straining her voice over the thumping music. “Didn’ think I’d actually be seein’ ya again, stranger.” She nodded toward the bar, and motioned for him to follow her. “Come on, I’ll get ya a drink.”