My mind was spiraling as I stood there. Only several seconds had passed but it felt like an eternity. I should’ve known better than to come back.
“Okay.” My inability to reject an offer, to simply say no thanks, just made my entire situation worse.
Dean breathed out sharply and ran a hand through his jet-black hair. “I’ve gotta get back to training,” he said before leaving.
The woman with the clipboard, who looked just as unimpressed as Dean, quickly turned to Antonio when she heard what he said. "I have to interview her first."
"Give her a tour instead," Antonio shrugged before smiling at me.
I tried to return it, but I doubted mine looked as relaxed. I felt like I was sinking into my skin or watching this play out from above.
"Follow me," she said as she faked a smile, turning on her heels with no plan to wait.
I jolted into a walk, unsure of every movement I made.
"Be nice, Roxanne," Antonio warned over his shoulder with a knowing smile. His words hadn’t helped with the roaring in my head.
Roxanne waved a hand in response, without looking back, before climbing the stairs again with me not far behind her.
We moved through the corridor in deafening silence, except for the sound of Roxanne's heels on the concrete floor as she strutted ahead of me. She had that hip-swaying walk down pat while I hastily kept up on rigid legs, trying my hardest to just be in the moment instead. I could worry about everything else later.
"Are you one of the bartenders?" I asked as we reached the door to the club.
"I'm the manager," she said matter-of-factly, pushing open the door and walking into the club.
I caught the door before it could swing back and hit me square in the face.
"There isn't much to show you other than this room." She lazily waved in the general direction of the large dance floor and many booths. I followed her behind the bar as she continued. "The bathroom is back the way we came, the staff room is back there,” she said, motioning to the door behind us.
I only nodded while I took in the empty room.
"You won't be serving alcohol, considering you don't have a license to do that, but you will need to bring drinks out to tables, clean up empty glasses, restock supplies, wipe down the bar, load and unload the dishwasher.” She rattled off other tasks while I wondered if I should’ve taken notes before she turned around and leaned into the bar. Her golden brown eyes raked over me. “And just a heads up. Some of the patrons might attempt a squeeze. Try not to get offended if they do. Though I don't think you'll have anything to worry about."
When she turned away and walked to the other end of the long bar, I frowned slightly and looked down at my subtle curves. It’s not like I wasn’t shapely. I was just small.
My size didn’t seem to stop James.
"Regarding the basement," Roxanne said as she took a seat at the bar. "If someone asks, you don't know. Deny anything that exists downstairs."
That tight feeling had returned to my chest. "What if they want to see a fight but don't know how to get there?"
"Anyone wanting to see a fight knows where it is," she drawled.
"Right," I said quietly.
"Anyway," she sighed. "You'll be working from 9:20 PM to 2 AM, Monday to Friday, but you could be called in for weekends."
"That's—" My summer was about to become extremely busy. And taking those shifts in no way helped with my predicament of leaving the real estate agency.
Was I ever really going to leave though?
"Can you start tonight?" Roxanne asked.
"Sure.” The words left my mouth before I could reconsider.
"Great...” Her attention shifted to her phone as she fished it out of her pocket. She waved her hand in the air again. It was more of a shooing motion as she said, without looking up from her phone, “We’re done here.”
"Oh. Right. I guess I'll see you tonight." Taken aback by her abruptness, I moved quickly from behind the bar only to walk into the corner of it. Pain surged through my hip and I bit back a cry as I rubbed it, smiling through the pain when Roxanne looked up to see why I was taking so long to leave. I gave her a small, awkward wave, and hobbled across the dance floor. Only to turn back around again when another question came to mind.
