Cowboy Ending - Overdrive: Book One Read Online Free Page A

off to the side and sat down to wait.
     
    Mark sauntered
over twenty minutes later, leaning against the wall next to me.
“So,” he muttered so only I could hear. “What do you think?”
     
    I shrugged
slightly and inclined my chin to the main bar. A number of the
younger bouncers were talking loudly and pestering the bartenders
for free drinks while they were trying to finish their counts.
     
    “Which one of
them was on the VIP Door?”
     
    Mark pulled a
notebook out of his back pocket and examined it. “The blond kid.
Danny.”
     
    “He’s gotta
go.”
     
    “Yeah?”
     
    “That
crew of Native Posse thugs I
pointed out to you never got in the main entrance. Cameras and
metal detectors woulda stopped them.”
     
    “Shit.” Mark
shook his head. “Nothing actually happened man. We can tell Aasif,
have him warn the kid.”
     
    I shrugged.
“Aaron doesn’t want trouble in here. Gangs are trouble. The kid
went into business for himself and it coulda got someone shot.” I
looked Mark hard in the eye. “You getting paid enough to get
shot?”
     
    “Fuck no.”
     
    “Then the kid’s
gotta go.”
     
    Mark was silent
for a bit, the noises of the club shutting down for the night
slowly petering out. One of the gentlemen in VIP in a fancy suit
was being led up the staircase by two young ladies with big smiles
and sensual promises on their lips. Aaron trotted behind the
champagne bar and grabbed a bottle before following them up.
     
    “How’s your
mom?” Mark asked.
     
    “Same.”
     
    “Sucks.”
     
    “Yup.”
     
    “Anything I can
do?”
     
    “Nope.”
    “Sucks.”
     
    I yawned
hugely, my jaws creaking.
     
    Eventually
Aasif came down from the bar office with a packed envelope in one
hand and motioned us over to the VIP section. In no particular
hurry I heaved my tired ass off the stool and let Mark, David, Big
Mike and a few others get in line before me.
    Ten minutes
later I was out the door, cash in my pocket and hustling home.
     

Chapter 2
     
    “We need to
talk about your attitude in the workplace, Joseph.”
     
    I sighed and
sat down in the uncomfortable chair proffered to me in the sterile
meeting room. Troy shut the door behind him and took a seat across
the table from me, placing a folder in between us.
     
    Silence.
     
    Uncomfortable
silence.
     
    I stifled a
yawn.
     
    Troy shuffled
in his seat nervously. All of twenty-seven years old and a soft
hundred and fifty-ish pounds of corporate kiss-ass middle-manager.
Troy was the low man on the supervisor totem pole. First guy to be
sent by the big boss to have “educational meetings with problem
staff.”
     
    Shape up or
ship out kinda educational meetings.
     
    I almost felt
bad for him.
     
    Troy cleared
his throat and adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses as he opened the
folder in front of him. “Tardiness on weekend shifts. General
disheveled appearance and demeanor. Disrespectful attitude
displayed to other staff members.” Troy leaned back in his chair
and looked me in the eyes. “Tell me, Joseph. Does this sound like
appropriate behavior in the workplace to you?”
     
    My teeth ground
together audibly as I stifled another yawn. Six A.M. comes way too
early on Saturday mornings after the bar shifts. As it was my alarm
clock failed me again and I stumbled into the office twenty minutes
late. Three hours sleep and a twenty hour day ahead of me.
     
    Welcome to my
life.
     
    “It doesn’t
sound like appropriate behavior to me, Joseph.” Troy said,
shuffling the papers on my desk and no longer looking me in the
eye. “I have here a number of different memos from several managers
and staff members who have brought up issues regarding you.
Everything from clerical errors that cost the company money,
repeated equipment malfunctions and reports of intimidation.” He
paused dramatically, spreading these reports on the table in front
of me like a deck of cards. Pick a memo, any memo. “Why do you
think these reports keep coming