| April 3 | Tuesday Evening |

~ Sam's POV ~

I had found throughout the day that it was better to stay distracted, which was one of the reasons I had picked up Jas' shift tonight. Megan was right. I shouldn't be worried about Mariah or who she could tell about us. She probably wouldn't tell anyone of importance considering she didn't know anyone from Baldwin except for me and Jas.

Tonight, it was supposed to be Quinton and Sara, but unfortunately Quinton had called out, which meant Mariah was coming in to cover. The only good thing was that she wasn't coming in until six, so I had a few hours to prepare.

"You know Jas is sleeping with Mariah, right?" Sara asked as I helped her stock. "It's not really fair."

I sighed. "I'm not condoning it."

"It's just gonna make Mariah think she can get away with coming in late and high as a fucking kite."

"Not if I'm managing," I finished.

"If Danna finds out..."

"Sara," I cut off. "I'm handling it."

She gave me an unsure look but dropped the subject. I couldn't be mad at her for being frustrated with Mariah. When one employee underperformed, it made everyone else suffer. Sara had to pick up Mariah's slack often, which meant long, strenuous nights bartending. It wasn't easy. And having coworkers that hurt you rather than helped wasn't ideal.

But I couldn't look for another bartender without risking Jas getting upset or Mariah flipping her shit and possibly telling Danna I had smoked on the clock.

The hours started passing, and eventually we got busy enough for me to have to help Sara a bit. It was nearing six, which meant Mariah should be here soon, but at this point, there was no guarantee.

Then, my girlfriend walked through the door.

At first, I was excited, because I hadn't wanted to bail on movie night, but now that she was here all was well.

Until she sat at the bar.

"Mariah knows Nikki?" she asked.

I was taken back. "What?"

"I ran into Nikki on the way out of school and we had this exchange..." Megan revealed. "Nikki knows you don't own Jinx."

"She could've found that out from anyone," I admitted. "Do you want a drink?"

"Just pour me something." She rubbed her temples. "You know what I like."

I did as I was told, pouring her a draft beer and sliding it in front of her.

"I saw Nikki talking with someone this morning, and I'm pretty sure it was Mariah," Megan said.

"Why do you think it was Mariah?"

"Because of her hair," Megan continued. "And because Mariah doesn't like you and knows Nikki doesn't like you and probably wants associate with other people who want to ruin your life."

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"No."

I wanted to stay calm, because it was likely Mariah and Nikki had gotten together. Nikki probably came often when I wasn't managing, and Mariah worked a lot. They could've bonded while I wasn't around, especially after the whole relationship shift between me and Mariah.

"Sam..."

I pulled myself out of my head and looked at Megan. She looked worried. Like, really worried. I felt guilty for all of this happening.

"I don't know what to say," I admitted.

"Mariah knows I was your teacher, but Nikki knows a lot more," Megan said.

"Like what?"

"Remember when you acted like my girlfriend the first time she came to town?" Megan leaned forward. "Or the time you showed up at my apartment after New Years?"

I felt my heart beat speed up.

"Nikki didn't know you were my student, she thought you were my girlfriend..." She took a deep breath. "But if she finds out you were my student at the time of all of that happening..."

I was putting together what she was hinting at, and it wasn't a good picture. If Nikki found out that I had been her student, she would know the entire truth. She would know and there was no telling what she would do with the information.

But there was just one thing I didn't understand...

"Why would she even care at this point?" I asked. "I mean, it's been years since you two have been together. I don't get it."

Megan played with the condensation on her glass. "I don't know either. I mean, maybe she's just unhappy with her life and wants to make me unhappy?"

I tried to find rationale in the whole situation, but I couldn't. If Nikki did find out, and decided to try and ruin our lives, what would be her reason? Her motive? I couldn't think of one.

Unless...

"This is a pretty nice crowd for a Tuesday!"

I looked past Megan and realized Danna had showed up, literally, out of nowhere.

"It's actually been like this every day of the week, besides weekends of course," Sara informed. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in town and decided to stop by and see what was going on." Danna looked around. "Do you usually only schedule one bartender on weekdays?"

"Mariah's supposed to come in at six," I answered.

Danna checked her watch. "Well, she's thirty minutes late."

"Shocker," Sara whispered to herself. I prayed Danna hadn't heard her.

I felt my skin grow hot. How had the time slipped away that fast? I checked my phone to see if she had texted or called, but of course, nothing. This wasn't good.

"Is she usually late?" Danna pressed.

"She's only been late once with me," I informed.

"With you."

I looked at Sara and silently told her to shut the hell up.

"Let me give her a call."

Megan threw me a sympathetic glance as she tried to distract Danna from the fact that one of her newer employees was late. I could only thank her later.

I dialed her number and headed towards the back door, hoping that she was pulling up right this instant. How many times had she been late when I wasn't here?

Then, as I opened the back door, I saw her strolling towards me with a cigarette in hand. I rolled my eyes.

"You're thirty minutes late," I called.

"Yeah," was all she said.

As she got closer I tried to detect if anything was off with her today, and as expected, her eyes were nearly closed.

"Are you on something?" I asked.

"Can you just chill for once?"

"I asked you a question, Mariah."

"Fuck off, Sam. Jesus you're a bar manager, not the fucking president." Then she pushed past me. "I can work just fine."

But she didn't know that the boss was here and was fully aware that she was thirty minutes late!

And before I could even warn her, or try to test my authority, Danna was in the back, arms crossed upon her chest with a stone-cold glare in her eyes. Even I was scared for a second.

"You're aware that you're thirty minutes late with no call or text, right?" Danna asked. "Or do you think you're exempt from following the rules?"

At this, Mariah actually showed some emotion, but it was suppressed because of the drugs.

"I-I uh, meant to call but I left my phone a-and..."

Danna looked at me.

"I can handle this," I said. "Mariah, can you go to the office?"

She had nothing to say as she sat inside the office, allowing me to close the door and leave Danna and I alone.

"Sara told me she does this often," Danna said. "Were you aware of it?"

"No." I shook my head. "She's only done it once, and I wrote her up and sent her home."

"She's high right now."

"I know."

"Did you know she and Jas were sleeping together?"

I felt like I was being interrogated. All of a sudden, it seemed as if my job was being threatened. And even though Danna liked me a lot, she wasn't the one to put up with bullshit, especially when it came to her business.

"I found out yesterday," I admitted. "And Jas and I had talked about this and I told her not to. Danna... let me handle the Mariah thing."

"What do you plan on doing?"

The look in her eyes told me exactly what was expected of me. Danna wasn't stupid. This was a test, and I wasn't going to let someone like Mariah ruin my life because she had no will to fix her own.

"Whatever I feel is necessary," I finished.

She just gave me a stiff nod. "I'll be helping Sara in the front."

Then she turned and left.

I took a deep breath and tried to rationalize with myself. What would Danna do in this situation? Because that's exactly what was expected of me.

I let myself into the office and closed the door. My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I knew what was expected, but Mariah knew so much, and I had a bad feeling if I did this, she would try to ruin me.

"So, are you gonna fire me or what?" she voiced.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Do you even give a shit what I do?"

"Not for the reasons you think."

I felt the rage of the situation intensify. After everything I had done for her, this is how she was going to act?

"I covered for you," I admitted. "I went pick you up when you blacked out, let you sleep on my couch, let you off with a warning when you were fully aware of our no-drug policy-!"

"No drug policy?" she mocked. "Well then shouldn't you practice what you preach?"

"I helped you out," I continued. "And you helped me out. But fuck Mariah, I didn't do it so you could have something over me! I did it because I wanted to help you! Because I thought we were friends!"

My emotions were getting in the way, and the sad part was that she didn't seem to care at all.

"You know what's shitty?" She looked at me. "I don't even like Jas like that. I just started sleeping with her because I knew she was easily manipulated. Because I knew she would pity me."

There was something in Mariah's eyes, something that looked so dark I was afraid it would never go away. Maybe she was someone that was too far gone to help.

"I'm fucked up, Sam," she admitted. "And I'm trying. Jobs aren't easy to come by in this town."

"I know."

But I could see what she was trying to do. She was manipulating me. Trying to get me to feel sorry for her. To let her off with a warning. Except, I couldn't do that anymore.

"You know what it's like..." She leaned forward on her knees. "You know what it's like to be cut off, told that you're nothing but a piece of shit... You know what it does to a person." She leaned back. "You start to actually believe it after a while."

I shook my head. "Mariah, I can't let this slide. Not this time."

She looked at me with a semi-shocked expression, as if she had expected her pity speech to work.

"Danna saw everything, Sara told her about all the other times you were late..." I took a deep breath. "I can't let that go."

She stood abruptly. "But she can let you slide with just about anything?!" Mariah took a step towards me. "Does she know you kicked out a customer once by pretending to be an owner?"

"You can go," I ordered. "You're fired."

She smirked, but I could see the rage behind it. "Does she know that you were fucking your teacher in high school?"

"Get the fuck out, Mariah."

"Does she even know you at all?"

I opened the door with such a force, I swear I almost ripped it off it's hinges.

"I hope you get your life together," I finished.

She just laughed to herself and walked out the door. The anger and tension were suffocating as I slammed it behind her. I didn't know what I had just done, but I felt as if it was going to get much worse. I took a seat in the chair she had just gotten up from and put my head in my hands.

Danna walked in.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I lied. "We need to start looking for another bartender."

"I've already got someone in mind," she answered. "Don't worry about it too much."

But she didn't know everything. She didn't know what Mariah knew, she didn't know about Nikki, and she didn't know that I was scared.

Because I had started a fire, and I didn't know if I would be able to put it out.

***A/N***

Whew. That was intense. If you guys are excited to see what happens next, hit that little star and tell me what you think!

Much love,

Lauryn