Kim rolled her eyes. “God gave me spunk, so that I could fight for the underdog,” she said. “It’s my duty to right injustices, Devi.”
The injustice she was crusading against was our, sometimes, shift manager, Hugh Hamel. Now, while I’ve never had a problem with him, he’s made several advances towards Kim, and has even crossed the line a couple of times with his forwardness. Trying to hold onto her job, she’s been brushing off his inappropriateness and doing her best to just grin and bear it, but I guess something else must have happened since the last time he offended her.
“I’m not trying to stand in the way of making the planet a better place, Kim,” I immediately replied, letting her know I was always on her side. “I got your back. You know this.”
“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just…it’s going to suck if I lose my job over this.”
Forgetting about my aching feet, I pulled her aside for some privacy. Our shift was almost over, but we still fetched refills and checked on our tables until the bitter end. Pulling her behind one of the dividing walls that led to the public restrooms, I thought it best not to be overheard.
“Why would you lose your job, Kim?” I asked. “This isn’t the fifties. We’re in a new era where women’s voices matter. Decency is expected from your male boss.” I rubbed her upper arm in comfort. “And, I mean, have you ever filed a complaint before?” Kim shook her head. “Okay, so with as many years as you’ve worked here, and have never filed a complaint, how can they not take this one seriously?”
She waved a hand in front of my face. “You’re right.” I rubbed her arm again. “I know you’re right. I’m just dreading the whole he-said-she-said investigation, you know.”
I leaned back against the dividing wall. “What if other girls come forward and you end up being the best thing to happen to this restaurant. You coming forward could save The Vaudeville Corporation millions in lawsuits.”
“I’ll settle for the creep just leaving me alone,” she grumbled.
“Have faith, my friend.”
Kim cracked her neck and shook her shoulders loose, like a boxer getting ready for a fight, and flashed her straight white teeth at me. “Alright.” She jerked her head to the side. “Now let’s get back out there before we get fired for a legitimate reason, like not doing our jobs.”
I laughed. “Come on, woman. Everything will be fine.”
We finished out our shift with no more drama or seriousness, and I was lucky enough that we were ready to leave at the same time. About eight months ago, I’d had to sell my car to help Keith out of a bind, and I’ve been saving as much money as I could for another one, but even saving a couple of thousand dollars for a used car was tough. So, on the shifts I worked with Kim, she was usually able to give me a ride home, unless she was working a double, and I was grateful for it. The neighborhood I lived in wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best either.
The entire ride home was Kim trying to convince me to go out this weekend and get stranger-laid, and me trying to convince her how staying home and reading was more satisfying than a fifty-fifty roll of the dices that the stranger-sex would even be good.
After winning the debate, Kim dropped me off, and my feet kicked off my shoes as soon as the front door shut behind me. Reaching back and engaging both locks, I leaned over, grabbed my shoes and headed towards my bedroom.
I rented a one-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Rockford, California, and while it wasn’t much, it was more than enough. The rent was cheap, the building fairly clean, and my neighbors weren’t assholes. What more could a girl ask for?
Stripping out of my clothes, I decided on a hot bath before dinner. It was only early evening, but my feet really were throbbing. A hot soak was just what they needed. Besides, dinner was going to be nothing but heated leftovers, so it could wait.
Grabbing my bubble bath and a bath bomb from under the bathroom sink, I prepared my bath, making sure to run the water as hot as my skin could stand it. I wanted to soak for a while, and I didn’t want to water getting cold too soon.
I grabbed one of my paperback-because I’d never dare bring my Kindle into a tub of water-sank into the tub, let the bubbles tickle me up to my chin, and let out a sigh from deep within my tired soul. This was exactly what I needed for tonight and the next three days.
To hell with getting stranger-laid.
Chapter 3
Cassius~
While The Vaudeville Corporation had a legitimate office space in downtown Rockford, my preferred place of work was my office in back of The Tenor.
I owned three restaurants and two clubs, and those were my legal sources of income that Atticus made sure to keep aboveboard. When the IRS came knocking once a year, Atticus was the one who made sure all my taxes were paid, and all my permits and licenses were current.
Growing up, I started dancing on the side of illegal activity early on. My parents were complete shit, and whether ten months or ten years, Atty was still my little brother, and someone had to take care of him. And that someone had been me.
My hustles had been small, at first, but then after graduating from high school, I had taken every cent I had and placed a parlay bet on the NFL season playoffs and fucking won. With a little over two-hundred thousand dollars in winnings, I had purchased my first building from the owner who’d been going under and had been eager for straight cash. With the building being worth way more than what I had paid for it, I’d been able to take out a business loan, and had renovated into what is, now, The Tenor, the first of my two bars/nightclubs. The rest of the money had been used to send Atticus to college, and after he’d gotten his degrees in accounting and business management, I had hired him to keep me legal.
After The Tenor became successful enough to put me into a higher tax bracket, I had opened up The Alto, my second bar and nightclub. From there, I decided to go the restaurant route, and within six years, The Orchestra, The Symphony, and The Opera had been born. On paper, I was a successful businessman with my main focus on recreational entertainment.
Off paper, I was much more than that, and Atticus kept those books, too.
Within the underbelly of Rockford, California, I was known to have my fingers in a lot of pies. While the clubs and restaurants made me a pretty penny, they weren’t what padded my personal bank accounts.
Crime did that.
