The men all fumbled with their wallets, and one of them leaned on the desk. “I guess we forgot them, baby. It’s Hal’s bachelor party. Can’t you let us in?” Luckily Theresa had told her how to handle this, and Tasha took a deep breath.
Hitting the panic button below the desk, she smiled and handed the man membership paperwork. Smiling sweetly, she told him, “If you could just fill this out, my security will be here shortly to deal with you and help you through the enrollment process.”
The man leaned even closer to her and said quietly, “Come on, darling. Couldn’t you just make an exception for this one time?” He handed her a hundred-dollar bill.
Hitting the panic button three times, the signal for trouble, Tasha again smiled and handed the money back to the man. “I’m sorry, sir. I can’t make any exceptions.” She saw Theresa had ended her phone call and was carefully watching from the corner she was standing in. Tasha was glad she was letting her handle it.
The man turned back to his friends and talked for a minute before turning back to Tasha, still thinking he could sweet-talk her.
“Look, sweetie, we’ll just go in for a few minutes. We don’t need all the paper stuff.” And he tried to hand her a wad of bills.
Tasha was just getting ready to let him have it when Tim came strutting—yes, strutting—through the door.
“Can I help yo
u, gentlemen?” he asked politely, assessing the situation.
“Well…” the man stuttered. “Well, we were just explaining to the little darling here that we just wanted to check the club out before becoming members.” He looked to his friends for support as he palmed the cash.
Tim knew exactly what had been going on. He had turned the security footage on the minute Tasha first hit the panic button.
“Was bribing our receptionist necessary? If you had just asked for a tour, I’m sure she would have been glad to arrange it.” He looked at Tasha.
Tasha nodded like a fool, not knowing that Tim had been watching everything that was going on. All she needed was to get in trouble her first night. Theresa walked over to the receptionist desk and affirmed Tim’s conclusion.
“That’s exactly what happened. These gentlemen were trying to get in without doing the membership paperwork. I think we’re done here. Maybe there is another club your friend would like to celebrate at,” Theresa told the men, the disdain obvious in her voice.
Tim firmly escorted the group to the door and walked back to the girls. “Are you okay, Tasha?”
“Yeah, does that happen often?” she asked Theresa.
“You did a great job, and it usually only happens on the weekends. For your first few weeks, we’ll have one of the guys sit with you so you don’t have to handle them alone, but you did great. That was exactly what I told you to do.”
Tim also praised her. “When you hit the panic button the first time, I turned on the security feed and knew everything that was happening. I was standing just on the other side of the door ready to come to your rescue. You did a great job. I’m proud of you.”
Tasha felt pretty proud of her herself. “Why don’t you go take a break? I got this for a few minutes.” Theresa sent her off with Tim.
When Tasha got back from her break, Alan was sitting with Theresa. “If you’re good, I’m going to take my wife home. Seems she’s been having some labor pains and hasn’t told anyone.”
“Yeah, man, go. The place is quiet, and I’ll put the bell on the bar and sit out here with my girl,” Tim answered Alan, looking at Theresa with concern.
“The baby isn’t due for weeks. It’s just the Mexican food I ate. My husband is a little overprotective.” Theresa smiled, then grimaced as another pain hit.
Alan bent and slipped an arm under Theresa’s knees, lifting her into his arms.
“Put me down. I can walk, idiot,” Theresa told him with affection.
“Yeah, you can, and I can and will carry you anywhere I want to. We’ll talk about the idiot comment when we get home.”
Theresa buried her face in Alan’s shoulder, and he carried her out the door.
Tasha looked at Tim and smiled gratefully. “Are you sure you can sit with me?” She really didn’t want to be alone but was worried about keeping Tim from his duties.
“I’ll just go put up some water bottles in ice on the bar, and if anyone needs anything, they’ll let me know. It’s just regulars in here tonight, and all’s quiet. We do this all the time,” he assured her.
The rest of the evening was quiet, and before she knew it, Tim was locking the door and walking her to the bar. Helping her onto a stool, he told her, “You sit here while I clean up. Then I’ll take you home.” He walked around the bar and poured them each a shot before doing what he needed to close out.
Tasha sipped her shot and checked her phone. No missed calls, she saw with relief. Jason hadn’t tried to contact her again. Maybe he was just playing with her and didn’t know where she was, but how would he have known about the lock? He had to know where she was.