After last night's shift, Jai told me that he wasn't going to be at the bar for two weeks, but Max will be. He'll be the Manager until his return.

I just hope that Max can do a good job and not make me do everything so he could sit in the Jai's office playing on his phone.

Pulling my car into the parking lot of Lusive I see Ethan at the door talking to another security guy. He says something to the guy before heading in my direction. I park my car under a light close to the bar. Reaching over to the passenger seat I pull my bag towards me.

Before I have time to open the car door, it's opened by Ethan who has a smile on his face. "Good evening, Chloe. How are you?"

A smile spreads across my face as I step out of the car. "Good, how about you, Ethan?"

"Great, now that you're here." He closes the door for me. "Are you ready for your first shift without, Jai?"

"Yeah, I'm ready for the first shift without, Jai. Do you know where he went?"

"No," we cross the parking lot. "Jai, never tells anyone what he's doing. Something tells me that whatever business trip he's on will be the last time he spends away from Los Angeles."

"Why would you think that?" I ask him.

Ethan remains quiet, before scratching the back of his neck. "Just forget I said that."

That's impossible for me to do. I'll have to find out what he meant in due time.

Looking at him I ask. "Who's on tonight? I really want to make a good impression on the people that I haven't met before. I have to show them that I didn't get the job because I'm a female, but I got it because I deserve to be here like everyone else."

Ethan touches my arm. "There are a few people that you haven't worked with before and they might not like you because you're the first woman to get a job here." He looks at the door. "At the door with me, tonight is Brady. He can be an ass, but I think he'll be nice to you. Inside you have Max, who you've been working closely with. Keith and Lance. Both of them are bartenders and they think they're reasons why woman buy drinks from them. Just be careful of those two. I've heard they slip drugs into their drinks. Just keep an eye out for that and if you see a woman in danger just give me a call. Then there's Alex and Eugene they will be the security inside. Eugene is married and he will treat you like his younger sister, as you are close to the age of his sister."

"Thanks, for the small rundown on everyone, Ethan. I appreciate it."

"Anything for the new bartender."

As soon as we reach the door of Lusive I see a queue of people waiting to get in. "Are you going to let them in?"

Ethan shakes his head. "They aren't allowed in until seven. That's Max's rules. He's a lot stricter when Jai's away, but I'm sure you will be fine. If not I will call the boss and tell him what Max is up to."

Someone yells. "Why's she allowed in?"

Ethan looks into the crowd. "She works here."

"No, she doesn't." A guy yells. "I would remember a beautiful thing like her working here if she did."

Looking at him I say. "I recently got a job. So, of course, you wouldn't have seen me." I turn away from him and look at the tall blonde, blue-eyed, tanned god in front of me.

He looks me up and down and licks his windblown lips. "I'm Brady. I've been here for a couple of years and I haven't seen Jai hire a woman since I've been part of Lusive. He surely knows what he's doing." He holds his hand out to me.

I place my smaller ones his calloused hands and say. "Chloe," he pumps my hand a few times and I pull it out of his grasp, "It was nice to meet you, Brady."

"You too, darling." He leans forwards and his lips brush my ear as he says. "I'll see you after you're shift. Maybe, I can walk you to your car and get a goodnight, kiss?"

That's not going to happen.

Moving away from him. "I'll stick to Ethan and Alex to walking me to the car. At least I know I will be in safe hands when it comes to them."

Ethan opens the door for me. "Do you want me to walk you to the bar?"

Shaking my head. "I've got it from here, Ethan. I'll see you after my shift." I step inside the bar and follow the dark corridor until I reach the bar. There are groups of people sitting at some of the tables."

Max walks over to me. "It's about time you got here. I need to do some things in the office. You'll be looking after the bar for me." He waves two guys over. "Chloe, I want you to meet the guys you will be working with." We stop at the bar. "The sandy blonde is Keith and standing next to him is Lance."

Waving at them. "Hi," looking at Max I say. "I'm going to get started on some work." I walk behind the bar and place my bag under the counter. My phone goes off and I pull it out of my bag. I look at the phone and see a number come across the screen with the message. I open it and look at it.

I put my phone on silent before putting it in my bag and zipping it up. I walk over to a customer who's been trying to gain Keith and Lance's attention for the last couple of minutes. "Good, evening, sir. What can I get you?"

He smiles at me and there are some missing teeth. "Can I get a jack and coke, please, darling? Why don't you pour some for yourself?"

"I'm on the job, Sir."

He waves his hand. "It doesn't stop the rest of the men doing that here. I've seen a lot of them get drunk because they don't want to turn a drink down."

Lowering my voice. "I'm not one of them." Looking at Keith and Lance I say. "Why don't I give them a drink from you?"

He nods. "Okay, you should spit in it before giving it to them. Maybe, it will make them get off their phones and do some work around here."

I pour the guy his drink before grabbing a cloth and cleaning some tables before the crowd walks in.

At 7 pm, the doors to the club open to the public and they start to walk towards the bar. I smile at the woman that's approaching my side of the bar. "Hey, what can I get you this evening?"

"Can I have a chardonnay, please and keep them coming. I had a really hard day at work and I intend to drink my problems away."

Pouring her a glass I put it on the bar. "If you need someone to vent to I'll listen, but I won't be good at giving advice unless you work in an office that's a different story."

She looks up at me and smiles. "Then you know all the problems that comes with working in an office. I would love to hear your advice on a boss that keeps sexually harassing you."

A group of guys are waiting for me to serve them. "Let me serve everyone first and then we'll continue this conversation."

She salutes me. "Yes, Madame." She takes a drink from her glass and looks straight at the bar.

Moving over to the guys next to her I take their order. "Twelve, beers please." I pull out twelve glasses and put it under the tap. Quickly moving the first glass I put the next one under it. I do the same movement until all glasses are filled. I top up the glasses before telling them the price and collecting the money from them. I put it in the till and give them the change.

The guy looks at me. "Keep it, sweetheart. You're going to leave here tonight with a huge tip if you can keep our drinks topped up for the night."

"Okay," I move to the next customers. Once everyone has their drinks I move back over to the woman and see her glass is nearly empty. I pour her another glass and place it next to the one she's got in her hands now.

"Thanks," she throws the drink back and places it on the bar. "My boss has been placing his hands inappropriately on me. How am I supposed to stop that type of behaviour if he's my boss?"

"You could always talk to the CEO if you know who he is?"

She shakes her head. "I have no way of reaching him and if I report it in the office he's going to see it as he's the one that handles situations like that."

He's not supposed to handle stuff like that.

"What company do you work for, if you don't mind me asking?"

She sighs. "It's King Enterprises." She looks around the bar. "I hope nobody heard that."

That's one of the most respected companies in Los Angeles. I've heard a number of great things about them.

The daughter came back to town recently too. She might have taken her spot as the CEO. If that's the case, she won't like hearing this story of what's happening in the office.

Looking up I see beautiful blonde walks into the bar with a group of guys that look like bodyguards.

The woman I was talking too shrinks back in the corner. She whispers. "That's Leila King. She's the CEO now of the company I work for."

Looks like she'll be able to voice her concerns to the CEO of the company.

Leila walks over to us and she takes a seat next to the woman. "Can I have what she's having, please? That looks great."

"It's chardonnay."

She nods. "Just add some orange juice to it. I don't want to walk out of here too drunk. My father would have a field day with the paparazzi that are standing out there."

"Sure," I pour a small amount of chardonnay into the glass and a lot more orange juice. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She slides some cash towards me and I shake my head. "That one is on..."

"Me," the woman sitting next to her says. "I'm Meg." She holds her hand out to Leila.

"Leila, but I'm sure you know that." The two women start talking and I realise that I'm not needed there anymore.

I walk down the bar and serve the group of men their beer again.

Keith walks over to me. "I'm going on my ten-minute break. Can you look after my side of the bar?"

"Sure," I move to his side of the bar and start making drinks for people. I place jugs of water on the bar, for anyone that wants to stay hydrated while they drink.

After Keith's side of the bar is done I walk back to mine. I overhear the last part of Leila and Meg's conversation.

Leila moves forward and she nods. "You don't have to put up with that kind of behaviour from your boss. I will talk to him tomorrow and get it all sorted. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Meg."

Grabbing a jug I fill it up with water and place it in front of Meg and Leila. "You should drink some water."

Meg smiles at me. "Thanks," she places her glass of chardonnay on the bar and replaces it with some water.

"Can I get you another drink?" I ask the girls.

"No, thanks." Leila points to her drink. "I'm fine with mine for now."

Keith returns and he tells me that I can go on my break.

Grabbing my phone from my bag I walk into the office that Max is sitting in.

He looks at me as I enter the room. "Are you on break now?"

"Yes, I am." I look at my phone and see another message from Jai.

Sliding my phone into my pocket I grab a glass of water before going back to work.

At 11:30 pm, my shift ends and I grab my bag. I walk out from behind the bar and see Alex standing close by.

He walks over to me. "I'm going to walk you out tonight since my brother had to leave on a personal matter."

"Okay," I follow him out of the bar and head towards my car. I stop for a moment to go through my bag and pull out my keys that are buried at the bottom of my bag.

At my car, I climb in and wave at Alex as I pull away from the bar. Turning the music on I hear my all-time favourite song and sing along to the words.

Getting to the hospital five minutes later, I park my car and climb out. I grab my bag and walk towards my sister's room.

Aleysa is awake when I walk in. Her face is pale and she has puke on the side of her face.

Pulling out some paper towels I wipe her face. "Does the nurse know about this?"

She nods. "I just pressed the button a couple of minutes before you walked in. They're getting someone to clean up the mess and change me."

"I'll change you." I help her out of the bed and walk into the adjoining bathroom. I turn the shower on and help my sister inside.

Aleysa tilts her head back as the water cascades down her body. She looks at me with tear-filled eyes. "Chloe, I'm sorry for being a handful." She looks away from me.

Grabbing her face I make sure she looks into my eyes as I say. "You're not a handful, Aleysa. You are sick and I'm going to be with you as you get over this."

"I'm not going to get over it, Chloe. Just put me down and end you're suffering."

"Listen here, Aleysa." I raise my voice slightly. "I never want to hear you say that about yourself again. You're not some dog that has..." I cut myself off and place my hand on her face. "You're my sister and I love you so much. When you struggle I'll struggle, when you beat this, I'll beat this with you. So, please stop talking about dying. I don't want to hear that negativity coming from you."

She whispers. "It's my reality."

I don't say anything back as I know she wasn't saying that to me.