Page 1 of Challenge Me

Chapter 1

Remi

A star once entombed itself in stone,

In fear its heat would scorch the sky.

In darkness absolute it dreamed alone,

Of hands that dared hold its fire high.

Looking up at the sign on the wall behind the counter, I smiled. Not for the first time, either. That goddamned name belonged to me, in more ways than one.

Remi’s

It wasn’t the most creative name for the bar, but it made the whole thing feel like mine. I’d never changed the name of the last place, simply because I hadn’t been up for a rebrand. This one, though, was a brand-new spot.

All. Fucking. Mine.

New Haven had been treating me well in the six months I’d lived here. It had taken a while for me to follow my best friend, Oli, to the East Coast, mainly because I had to sell The Commons back in Seattle. With that little check, I’d been able to put a down payment on this beauty a few miles from Yale. It wasn’t cheap, but it was the perfect place for a bar.

As long as I could contend with the competition, that is.

“Welcome to Remi’s,” I called when a few people walked in. Probably students. Most were. Sometimes, it was faculty, but I figured those ones went to higher-end establishments. That, or they drank in the comfort of their homes so they didn’t tarnish their little reputations.

Behind the walls where wisdom dwells,

The sweetest rot of Bacchus swells.

My mind turned over more words while I opened a bottle of wine.

What sort of students went out and drank wine on a Thursday night?

“Alright, ladies.” I slid the glasses over to them with a smile. “Are you starting a tab?”

“We’ll take the bottle,” the blonde one said. She dropped a card on the counter like I was meant to dive for it, then turned to talk to her friend.

I moved the tablet over and propped it in front of her. She glanced at me, then at the screen with a scowl. When she realized I wasn’t going to do it for her, she dramatically rolled her eyes and went for her card. Her nails made it impossible to grab, so she slid it to the edge, picked it up, and slammed it against the machine.

Grabbing the glass and bottle, she said something to her friend and walked toward a table.

“Let me know if you need anything,” I said in my friendliest voice.

I flipped the tablet around and laughed under my breath. Since she hadn’t gone through the whole process, I tapped the thirty-percent tip option for her. It was unlikely that was her own money, and I doubted daddy would question her purchases, if he even noticed.

Me, though? I was scraping by, barely making enough to pay the mortgage on this building. I had to use my savings to get groceries every month, and if I didn’t bring in more business soon, I would be drained by the end of the year.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been in this position, so I wasn’t all that worried. I’d had nothing for most of my life, but I pulled myself up by those fabled bootstraps. Turning The Commons around had been my greatest accomplishment. Remi’s was sure to take its place. If I had to keep sleeping in my office for a while, I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a sacrifice. It had a roof, it was quiet, and most importantly, I couldn’t afford the damn rents in this city.

Ah, the things we did for those we cared about.

If that were the case, my best friend Oli shouldn’t have up and moved to New York with his boyfriend. The guilt on his face when he’d dropped the news on me was hard not to play into, just to make him squirm, but when I told him I’d drop everything and leave Seattle behind, he’d given me the brightest damn smile.

I loved that fucking kid. I had ever since he got placed in the same foster home as me. It was a bad one, and maybe that was why we’d become so close. It was clear back then, even to my teenage self, that he was a little too innocent for someone who’d been in the system since birth, so what else was I supposed to do except take him under my wing?

I grabbed a rag and wiped down the counter. Despite my skill behind the bar, shit got sticky quickly in this place.

Not on my watch.