Page 1 of Feline Good

Chapter One

Maya poured yet another shot of whiskey for yet another patron, and slid it across the bar with a sigh, the smooth liquor dark under the bar lights. The blonde snatched it, tossed it back and slammed the glass against the polished mahogany, tears a brilliant gleam across her cheeks.

“Hit me again!” she slurred.

Valentine’s Day was officially the worst fucking day of the year.

It was only Thursday, and she had already thrown out four belligerent men who were drunk off their asses, sobbing and wailing and making a mess in her bar, Feline Good.

Over a holiday about love.

It shouldn’t even be considered a holiday. Valentine’s Day existed only for suckers, people too blind to see that love was a fairytale and ‘happily ever after’ lasted about as long as the hairspray in the bride’s hair. Corporations cashed in on desperation, while people like Maya were left to mop up the mess of tears and bleeding hearts that infiltrated her bar every year. And no, Maya did not think she was projecting her own feelings about everything relationship-related onto a stupid day about love.

All of this and she still had the damned weekend to get through. As well as a hundred needy customers tonight, she thought as she moved onto another patron, whom she dubbed Danny-boy.

Not that I had other plans…

Maya sighed as she swiped a rag across her bar, collecting a few drops of spilled alcohol before it could dry, and tried to scrounge up the last bit of her patience and pity that remained. Unfortunately, her stock of fucks to give was running low. She snatched up the fiver the newest customer had dropped on the bartop and slipped it into her apron pocket. With a sad smile, Danny-boy retreated back to his lonesome table with his drink in hand.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his pathetic demeanor, Maya turned to the other employee sticking it out with her. A chuckle threatened to spill out as she watched Theo adjust the sparkly cat ears atop his head. He caught Maya’s amused expression and turned a glare her way before leaning over.

“I’ve told you a million times, these stupid headbands are nothing but a nuisance. Why do you insist I wear these again?”

“Because, Theo, I need some form of amusement in my life. Plus, they match the theme, and, well...I’m the boss, dammit.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Well, not everyone can look as adorable as you do in them, what with that perfect blonde hair and edgy little septum piercing.” After Maya rolled her eyes, he continued and wiggled his eyebrows, “I don’t suppose your cute self has some amusement planned for when you get off tonight?”

Maya methodically folded her dishtowel to avoid his knowing stare. “A date? No, thanks. You know that’s not my scene.” She waved a hand around the bar as if the patrons’ very existence proved her theory. “Dating reduces you to this. I want no part of it.”

“You’re how old, Maya? I know you’ve dated at some point in your life. It’s not all fuck boys and desperate losers. You just gotta put yourself out there.”

Maya gritted her teeth against the same logic Theo spouted at her once a week. Happily married, he had nothing to worry about anymore in the way of dating, and he was perpetually trying to set her up with someone. She couldn’t blame him entirely. After all, he didn’t know the full extent of how bad the clusterfuck of her last relationship had been. She absentmindedly touched the scar on her forearm, a permanent reminder from the bottle that had once sliced her open.

Maya cut off his tirade with a raised hand before he could continue his lecture, throwing out an excuse that she needed to collect more booze from the basement. As she made her way across the bar floor, she hoped the night would be over soon. The desperation, sadness, and loneliness permeating the air of her bar was stifling at best, and at worst, like tonight, created a greasy miasma to wade through. She welcomed the cool air from the basement with relief, grateful for short respite.

Couldn’t more people think with their heads, not their hearts?

Some of the patrons battled the solitude with attempted connections.The nauseating pickup lines and flirting was driving Maya to the brink of insanity. As if a one night stand on the most overrated holiday of the year would solve their loneliness problems. With a deep breath, she leaned against the cold wall of the basement storage room and slid down to sit on one of the crates, her cat ears knocking loose in the process. Yanking them off, she brushed her fingers through her straight blonde hair before righting them with a huff.

Honestly, this day just brought back shitty, awful memories better left buried. Sometimes I think I need something a bit more exciting in my life than the music, lights and smell of booze in the bar.

Don’t get her wrong, Maya loved the bar. She also owned the bar, worked in the bar, lived above the bar. Her whole life revolved around this bar...but sometimes the bar wasn’t enough. However… when she compared her life now to what it had been like when she’d had a significant other… Alex that fucking bastard, and she remembered bar life wasn’t so bad.

Shaking the ugly thoughts away, lest she start to sound like one of the pathetic fools upstairs, she decided she’d left Theo alone long enough. She stood and grabbed a new case of beer before heading back up to the noisiness of the bar.

Unfortunately, her reprieve in the basement hadn’t magically cured her of her bitterness, as she made her way across the floor. The worst pickup line of the night drifted to her as she passed a table.

“You must be a campfire.”

A smile twitched her lips as she held in her laugh. The woman at the mercy of the joke smiled politely, waving a hand for him to continue. Maya slowed her steps to hear the punch line.

“Because you’re super hot, and I want s’more.”

Shaking her head, Maya returned to the bar and stacked the case of beer to the side. Another customer rapped their knuckles on the bar before she could even finish stocking the beer she’d brought up. After serving them, she shared with Theo the cheesy line she heard. They’d kept a tally of how many bad pick up lines they heard throughout the night, and they were up to thirty-two. When their laughter died down, she packed the rest beer into the back of the fridge behind the bar, bored expression firmly in place at the monotonous work, as Theo served customers. Maya was just glad not to have to look another sad John in the face as he drowned himself in liquid pity.

Too soon, she emptied the crate and stepped around Theo to set it just under the bar, out of their way. When she stood, a deep breath helped calm her frayed nerves and a small cat statue caught her eye. Spotting her reflection in the mirror behind the bar, even she could see the bitterness in her hazel eyes. Maya plastered on her best smile and tapped the cat statue on its nose for good luck. She would need it to get through the rest of this terrible night, and then maybe after closing up, she could lose herself in a weaving session or that book she started the day before.

Theo snorted at the sight of her routine. “What is your obsession with that thing?” Voice full of amusement, he handed over a fresh bottle of beer to another waiting customer.