“The club, you need to offer the club something,” I say correcting my previous statement. No matter how much I want her to offer herself to me, now is not the time. “You’re beautiful,” I say, and she blushes looking away. “Your body is perfect.” I should know; I’ve seen all of it. “But that’s as far as it goes.”
She looks at me and frowns. “What are you talking about?”
“Men wanna come out to get away from their nagging wives. They wanna think they can still pick up any woman they want. You need to give them a reason to go home and fuck their wives. The single men who come out are looking for someone they can take home. And it doesn’t matter how hot you look, men want to see a woman who has confidence. And that’s what I wanna see from you.”
She nods once. “Yes, sir.” I growl but cover it with a cough. Fuck, she needs to quit saying that.
“I’ll give you one more night.”
She looks at me for a few long seconds as if she wants to argue. We both know exactly what she’s not saying. She doesn’t need this job. She could get a job anywhere. Hell, I practically had to beg her to take it. But, at last, she finally says, “Thank you for not firing me.” Her eyes drop down to the floor once again as if she was embarrassed to have to thank me for giving her another chance.
I wouldn’t fire her even if she begged me. I need her here where I can see her. I’m already keeping many things from her; what’s one more?
Since she’s not quitting, I walk back around my desk and sit down. I stare at my computer but can still see her standing in front of me. I tilt my head from side to side, trying to relieve the tension in my neck. I wish I could use her to release the tension. “You’re dismissed.” I need her to leave before I say or do something that I will regret later. Thankfully, she turns and sprints out of my office.
I let out a sigh of relief that I am no longer alone with her when I pull my phone out of my back pocket. I frown when I notice I had a text from Blane earlier this evening. Opening it up, I bite my inner cheek when I read it.
Blane: I know what you did. I went and spoke to Mr. Binsen today. He wouldn’t come straight out with it, but he didn’t have to. I figured it out.
Fuck!
TAYLOR
I walk into the house and toss my purse on the couch then I plop down beside it. Why do I care that Case almost fired me tonight? Why does it bother me that Rachel obviously hates me? Does she hate everyone? She just seems like the chick who doesn’t care for anyone but herself. Well, maybe Case. Do they have a thing? Did they once have a past? I sigh.
How in the hell am I supposed to give the club a confident woman? I’ve never really been anyone who was insecure. Maybe it’s the fact I don’t know what in the hell I’m doing. Or that I don’t fit in there.
“How was work?” I look up to see Savannah coming down the hallway, wrapping a sash to her robe around her waist. Her green eyes are heavy, but a small smile plays on her face. No doubt, she’s been waiting up for me to see how my first night went. I’m thankful she allowed me to borrow her car.
“I almost got fired,” I inform her.
“What?” She sits down beside me. “What happened?”
I fill her in on how I spilled all those drinks and how I couldn’t get anything right. “It will just take some time,” she says softly. “It’s new to you. You’ve never been one to go to clubs anyway.” She shrugs.
“He said I wasn’t confident enough.”
She tilts her head to the side as if she’s thinking that over. “I can see that,” she finally says.
My mouth drops open, and I shove her jokingly. She just falls back on the couch and laughs. “You have to have an image in a place like that.”
“And what kind of image is that?” I ask dryly. “As if I’m baked on coke?”
She laughs. “Being baked means your high on weed,” she informs me, and I just wave her off. She looks me up and down and then gets a big smile on her face. “When do you work next?”
“Tomorrow night. Well, it’s past midnight, so technically tonight.” Maybe I won’t go. I could call in sick.
She stands from the couch and starts to walk back down the hallway. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready to leave,” she hollers over her shoulder.
“Where are we going?” I ask before looking down at my phone. “It’s past three in the morning.”
“Walmart is open twenty-four-seven.”
I lie back on the couch and let out a puff of air. So much for taking a shower to wash all the alcohol off and then passing out. “At least let me change,” I say before I get up and head to my room.
***
I sit on the side of the bathtub in my bathroom. I have a Red Bull in one hand and a cherry sucker in the other. “How much longer?” I ask awfully cheerful for it being five in the morning.
Savannah looks down at her cell phone. “Five minutes,” she says happily then tips her Monster back and chugs what she has left.
“I don’t understand why this couldn’t have waited until after I slept,” I mumble with my sucker in the side of my cheek.
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to be at work until ten tonight. As soon as we are finished, you can pass out and sleep all day.”
“I don’t even know why I let you talk me into this. I’m gonna get fired tonight anyway.” I’m not gonna know anything different tonight than I did last night. Rachel really wasn’t much of a teacher. I just know Case is gonna fire me after my shift. I’m preparing myself for the worst.
“No, you’re not.” She looks down at her phone again. “He said you needed confidence. This will give you confidence.” She looks at the shower cap that covers my hair. I blame it on the lack of sleep and the horrible night that I had. But I let her drag me to Walmart and talk me into buying a box of blue hair color. As soon as we got home, she dragged me to the bathroom, sat my ass on the toilet, and dyed sections of my hair blue. And honestly, I’m not really that worried what it will look like. I’ve highlighted my hair before, and I’ve darkened it, but I have never, ever dyed it any other color. I’m kinda excited.
Savannah told me that the blue would show up under the lights of the club and that the men would see me coming. She said my brown hair made me invisible. I had no choice but to believe her since every person there last night ran into me as if I wasn’t there.
“It’s time,” she says excitedly as she jumps up from the toilet. This is what she does—hair. This is what she is good at, and she loves it.
I set my Red Bull down on the tub beside me and place my sucker on the countertop before I kneel beside the tub. She turns on the water and removes the shower cap before rinsing my hair. I close my eyes and enjoy the warm water. I could almost fall asleep like this with the soothing warm water running down the side of my face and neck, along with her massaging my scalp. This was a good idea after all.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CASE
I shove the glass door open to my shower as I hear my phone ring. I take a deep breath as I see Blane light up my screen. “Let me explain,” I say to Blane in answer.
“I understand why we are lying to her, but why in the hell are you lying to me?” he demands.
I reach over and grab the towel I had set out. “I’m not lying to you.” I knot it around my hips. “I just chose not to inform you of the truth. Big difference,” I say as I bare my teeth in my bathroom mirror to check them.
He snorts. “You should have told me that you threatened Mr. Binsen and made him fire her.”
I sigh. “I haven’t even had the chance to talk to you about it,” I say truthfully. I reach over, grab the washcloth that sits on my countertop, and run it through my hair a few times.