I was quick to reassure him because he really did look worried.  “Nothing’s wrong.  I just came to ask you something.”

That seemed to placate him; the tension eased off his face and his shoulders relaxed a little.  “Sure,” he said, and moved aside to let me into his office.  Nodding at the guy, he said, “Thanks, Griff.  Can you make sure Amy’s stocked the fridge at the bar?”

Griff nodded slowly, his attention still on me.  It was disconcerting; almost like he was sizing me up, trying to work out if I was the enemy.  I had no idea what that was about.  Finally, he made a move to leave.  “Will do.”

After he’d left, Scott turned to me.  “Out with it, babe.  What do you need?”

“I need that job if it’s still going.”  My tummy was full of butterflies and I wasn’t sure if I was nervous about asking for the job or whether just being around Scott was affecting me.

“I thought you didn’t want to work in a strip club.”

Moment of truth.  I decided to be honest; I figured Scott was the type to appreciate full disclosure.  “I’ll be honest, I don’t really want to.  However, I need to; to help support my mother and I.”

“Sit,” he ordered me, and pointed to a couch against the wall.

I did as I was told, and he leant against his desk, crossing his feet.  He wrapped one arm around his torso while the other one balanced on it, his hand supporting his chin.

“Is your mother sick?”

“No.  She runs her own café and times have been tough.  That’s why I moved back to Brisbane; to help her keep it afloat and help pay her mortgage.  Things were looking up, and they still are, but one of her fridges died today and she needs a new one, which is going to cost her a fair bit of money.”

He nodded.  “Right.  So now you need this job to help pay for that,” he stated, deep in thought.

“Yes.”

I waited while he continued to mull it over, although I wasn’t sure what he had to think about; either he had a job for me or he didn’t.  Eventually he pushed off from the desk and walked around to the other side and sat.  He picked up his phone and dialed a number.  His eyes landed on me while he waited for the person to answer; they were serious, with no crinkle.

The person finally answered, and he spoke, “Hey, brother, I need a fridge for a cafe.  Not sure exactly what yet, but you able to help me out?”

I struggled to maintain my composure.  He was getting me a fridge?  I just wanted a job.

Scott continued to discuss fridges with the person on the other end of the phone and then he hung up.  “That’s sorted, babe.  Tomorrow I’ll call you to get the info on the fridge you need and it’ll be delivered tomorrow afternoon.”

“Umm... I don’t think my Mum has the money to pay for it yet.  The idea was for me to get this job and we’d save for a new fridge.”

“You can’t run a café without a fridge.  We’ll get that sorted first.  You can have the job here and we can discuss you paying for the fridge later.”  His tone was clear; this is how it would be, and don’t argue with me.

“No, I’ll work here and save, and then get the fridge.  We can’t ask that of you.”

“You didn’t.  But you’re getting it anyway.”  Before I could argue anymore, another guy appeared at the door.  Holy heck, did God rain hot, sexy men down into this club?  This guy was smoking.  Upon closer inspection, I realised it was Madison’s boyfriend, J.  I’d met him at the barbeque but I hadn’t really paid much attention to him as I was focusing more on Scott.

He had his phone in his hand and looked stressed.  “Scott, Madison’s on the phone.  She says the cat really wants that fucking collar off and won’t shut up about it.  I’ve got shit I’m supposed to be taking care of and the last fucking thing I need is her on my ass about your cat.”  He held his phone out to Scott.  “Talk to her and sort this shit out, brother.”

Scott scowled him, but took the phone.  “Jesus, Madison, it’s a fucking cat for Christ’s sake.  Deal with it.  I’ll be over in a couple of hours to get him.”  He looked at me, and then said to her, “Hang on a minute.”

Moving the phone away from his mouth, he asked me, “Can she take the collar off the cat?”

I figured they were talking about Monty.  “No, don’t take it off because he’ll scratch his wound and it could get infected.  And then you’ll be up for more money.”  I was a little confused as to why Madison had Monty.

He mouthed thanks at me, and then moved the phone back in place, “Whatever you fucking do, don’t take that collar off the cat.  He’s already cost me a fortune.”

Ending his conversation, he hung up and gave the phone back to the guy, who took one last look at me and then left us alone.

“Do you always talk to people like that?  And why does Madison have Monty?” I asked.

“Like what?”

“You were so rude to her.”

“Madison can be a pain in the ass.”

I stood up, and smoothed my dress down, not failing to notice Scott checking out my legs.   I could thank the running I did for that.

“Where I come from, we would never talk to our sister that way.”