“You won’t know if you don’t try.”
****
Larissa was shockedto get Smokey’s call.She was tempted to tell him to leave her alone, or just ignore it.However, she was not going to be rude to the man that had helped her in the past.He’d given her a job when it was next to impossible to find another one.
Arriving at the diner, she glanced around at the tables, then spotted Smokey in the back.She stepped toward him and made her way across the room, sliding in.
“Hi, Smokey,” she said.
“Hey, sweetheart.”Smokey sighed.“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.You?”
“I feel like fucking shit, to be honest.”
Larissa looked up from the menu to stare across the table at him.“What?”
“I had no idea what was going on, or what was happening.If I did, I would have stopped it,” Smokey said.
“I know.”
“Do you want me to kick his ass?Kick him out of the club?Kick his ass again?”
Larissa closed the menu and frowned.“Did he do something that breaks the rules of the club?”she asked.
Smokey gritted his teeth.“No, he didn’t.”
“I don’t want, nor do I need special treatment.I should have known better.”
“You’re ...different, Larissa.He should have known better.”
“And so should I have.I don’t want him to lose his position at the club just because you don’t like how things happened.It was a bet, a little fun between friends, and I was the punch line.”She shrugged.
It was like a strike to the chest, a deep, piercing pain that would not go away.She had fallen in love with a man who was just playing her.
The waitress came over.This was a new woman that Larissa didn’t recognize.“What can I get you two?”
“Just a chocolate milkshake for me,” Larissa said.
“Coffee for me,” Smokey said.
The waitress wrote down their order and left.
“You haven’t forgiven him, have you?”Smokey asked.
“I’m not going to keep hating him if that is what you’re worried about.I’m just not going to ...I’m not going to care about him.”It hurt.Even saying his name hurt.Her father had told her that with time it would heal.
“Look, I wish I could take back what he did.I wish I had known and could knock some fucking sense into him, but I wasn’t there.I know you quit and you don’t want anything to do with the club.I will accept your answer if it’s no, but I really need your help.Ava needs your help.”
Larissa had been regretting her rash decision in quitting her work at the bakery.She’d been going through so many different job applications, and none of them were anything she could do.She’d attempted to arrange an interview at a lawyer’s office to work on the reception desk, but she didn’t have enough legal experience.The diner was always running through staff, and by the time she called, the slot had already been taken.The doctor’s office required formal training.She was either not qualified enough for each job, or hadn’t gotten to the job on time, and it had already gone to someone else.Her father said she could work for him, but it wasn’t a paying position.
Jobs were so scarce, and the thought of going back to college didn’t appeal to her.She did love to learn, but more at her own pace.She let out a sigh.
“We’ve had no choice but to get Abriana’s help, and trust me, that day turned out to be a disaster,” Smokey said.“I don’t want to stress out Ava, and I am so sorry to ask you—”
“I’ll take it,” Larissa said.
“You’ll take your old job back?”
