Hickeys and Honey

Life Sucks Balls

I knew what the people in this miserable town thought of me. I mean when you can hear everyone's thoughts there's no preventing it. The stuck-up southern sweet tea-drinking Civil War-obsessed old ladies would do anything for a lick of gossip. They were all a bunch of self-righteous old prunes with each other's canes shoved so far up their butts it seems to cloud their judgment.
My mother is probably rollin' in her grave right now at just the thought of how my life has been led. I never wanted to have to wait tables, and work at a strip club, to fund my gran's health care. I didn't do the strippin', or at least I haven't been made to yet, I work behind the bar. We lived in an old farmhouse out on Shrensler Road. If you kept drivin' past it to the left you would make it to my day job, at Loretta's Bar and Grill. Then to the right, you would run into a secluded buildin', in the middle of New Orleans, where the infamous Lucerne De La Cruz spends his occasional nights. In the bar that he owns, that goes by the name Sex and Sin. As I said, my mother would be rolling around in her grave right now, if we had the money to bury her, or found her body.
I pull the black scrunchie off of my wrist and tie my auburn hair up into a low messy bun. I stop by Loretta's office to check in for work, but abruptly stop when I hear sounds of pleasure coming from behind the door. I could recognize the voices anywhere. Sam. Hell, I had made those sounds with him on top of me numerous times. I shouldered open the door and punch my card before shuttin' the door with my left foot. Loretta was on top of Sam, bobbin around like someone was fishin'.
"Care! Please! It meant nothin'!" Shouted Sam, as he tried to pull his blue jeans over his big ol' bubble butt, while chasin' me out the back door. "You know I love you."
I look at him and nod.
"I would never hurt you. I love you." You already have. The words hang in the air, like strands of meat in a butcher shop. "Do you not love me?" His hands clenched into fists.
"I do! I do!" I repeat over and over until even I half believe it. "I love you so much!" I take his hands and kiss them. He nods and fists my hair pullin' my face towards him, pressing his lips against mine roughly.
"Now while I love you, honey, I need to get back to work," I say, pullin' away. I was too scared to look into the thoughts swarmin' his sick sadistic mind.
Sam nods before stompin' off. I sigh, before walkin' back into Loretta's. I'd quit this job in the blink of an eye if I could afford it. Loretta's had dark wooden floorin's with a matching bar top, that had all kinds of alcohol linin' it. There were booths and matchin' tables, some with people sittin' in them, waitin' to order off the breakfast menu. A pool table sat on the left-hand side of the bartop. The kitchen was behind the bar, where my best friend, Shakel worked. Loretta walks out and sneers at me. "Get a move on. What is this? Turtle day?"
The door rings as Ryker and Kitch walk in. I strut over to my brother, Kitch, and kiss both of his cheeks, as I pull him into a hug. He hugs me back and I have them follow me over t0 a table in Clarissa's section. "Clarissa will be with y'all in a second." I drum on the table and walk off.
Willow walks in, her shoulder-length brown hair looked as if it hadn't been brushed in days sat loosely around her face, complimenting her siren-like green eyes. She had her work uniform on, along with all the other workers. Myself included. The girls wore short black cotton or spandex shorts, with a shirt that said Loretta's on it, with some sort of stupid catchphrase. It's not like there was another family-friendly bar in town she had to compete with.
Every small town had its secrets. Hell, it's practically in the guidelines. You don't have some secret danger lurking behind each corner? Guess you don't qualify! But the secret in Ancoco seemed like a lie. Maybe that's the reason why the population is a little over eight hundred. Unless you count the undead folks. Then it's about three thousand. There have been more vampires than actual people in Ancoco since the 1300s, that is documented.
"Hey Caroline, I need you in my office," says Loretta, could she not tell I was tryin' to serve a customer?
"I'll cover your tables." Says Jill. She never liked me, but she loves money, and when she has extra tables she gets extra tips.
"Thanks, babe," I say and head to Loretta's hell hole. I pushed open the dark wood door, it had a glass window in the top center that said 'Loretta's, foods good, beers better.' "What's up?" I take a seat in the brown leather armchair across from her desk.
"I'm promotin' you. I was thinkin' manager," she states. "Lord knows you're the only one that works aroun' here." Is this the same Loretta that just slept with my boyfriend? What in the cattywampus?
"Well, I reckon," I say my eyebrows scrunchin' together. "Thank you so much!"
"Well, you're gonna be busy as a cat on a hot tin roof."