𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝

Chapter One

B E L L A M Y

Loud music boomed in my ears, the smell of alcohol and mixed perfume filling my nostrils as I carried my tray around, bringing our customers their drinks.

A noisy group in the back had been whistling and looking at me all night, and I was about to snap when Andy, my co-worker, pulled me back behind the bar.

"Just ignore them," he told me, and I rolled my eyes.

"It really bothers me that I have to ignore their shit, and they just keep going." I placed the empty glasses on the bar, loading a new set of orders.

I stumbled ever so slightly to the left, making a move to leave, I lost my balance for a second, before I regained composure, pretending I didn't notice Andy's eyes narrowing at me.

"Bella..." he started, but I walked away, ignoring him. I wasn't in the mood for another lecture.

It took me about ten minutes to lose my shit.

After I had cleaned one of the tables, I walked back past the noisy group, keeping my eyes on my destination as much as I could. Maybe if I didn't give them any attention, they would leave me alone.

"Hey, Mami," one of them said, his hand leaving the table and landing on my ass. Oh, hell no.

"Excuse you?" I exclaimed, placing my tray with a loud thud on their table, knocking over a couple of glasses in the process.

"Feisty," he added, wiggling his brows and making another attempt to touch me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled back my arm and hit him hard in the face. I instantly shrieked from the contact, feeling like I broke my fingers on his boney cheekbones. Quickly, I took a step back.

"What the fuck?" the guy yelled, a few of his friends jumped out of their seats, ready to charge at me.

"I..." I cradled my hand in the other, looking from one guy to another. There was no way I could take on all of them.

"Powell!" I heard my last name behind me, and I closed my eyes with a sigh. Of course.

I turned as my boss, Will, walked up to me, her face almost as red as her hair and her glasses nearly leaving her nose.

"My apologies, gentlemen. Your drinks are on the house and I'll personally make sure something like this never happens again," she said sweetly, getting the guys back in their seats without protest.

Her smile quickly faded when she grabbed me by my arm, dragging me to the back.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed after closing the door to her tiny office. It was more of a broom closet, but I guess she made the best of it.

"He touched me inappropriately," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and daring her to say that it wasn't an excuse to punch someone in the face.

She looked at me, her brows furrowed, and I suddenly felt uneasy about the way she thought about her next move.

Justified or not, punching a customer—or anyone for that matter—wasn't getting me into Will's good books.

"Bellamy, I've given you a lot of chances over the last couple of months," she finally said, walking around her desk and taking out the massive file with my name on it. "I've ignored your alcohol abuse for a while, but this is the final straw."

I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off.

"You're fired."

Thinking about various ways I could try to turn this around, I stayed silent, but after coming up empty, I just scoffed. Fuck this.