Chapter 2
Zoey
“You ready forMotorcycles, Mobsters, and Mayhem?” Krista asked as we bussed the last of the tables. It was already past midnight, and the final customers had finally left. We’d been working while they trickled out the last hour of being open, but there were a few more tables to get cleaned before we started the final deep cleaning that had to be done before we could clock out and go home for the night.
“Yes. Did you already start preordering your books?” I asked on a laugh, knowing full well she had because she’s the one that sent me every form from all of our favorite authors and then some.
Krista and I met while waiting tables at the popular restaurant, but we didn’t really bond until I caught her reading a book on her break one day that I had read and loved. From there, we started exchanging book recommendations and swapping books on our shifts. We were both into romance novels, and confessed that afterSons of Anarchycame out, we found a love for all biker and mafia books that bordered on obsessive.
“Hell yes.” She gave me an impish grin. “I will probably have to make more than one trip to the car or bring a wagon with me because I’ve gone way overboard.” She laughed. “Thank God I get all those tips because I’m going to need them to make up for what I’m spending at the signing.”
“I can’t go crazy like I want because I have to pay for classes next semester,” I shrugged, “but I’m really excited to meet a few of the authors. I’ve also preordered at least one book from each of my favorite authors, so I can get them signed.”
Krista was lucky she lived at home with her parents who paid for her school, car, phone, and all her necessities. She technically didn’t have to work, but she wanted to so she could have something to do outside of the house and to have money to play with. Her parents covered her necessities, but anything extra she had to take care of, and that included her addiction to books.
Most of what Krista made in tips, she spent on her ever-growing signed paperback collection. She had her own library at home and what made it even better was they were mostly all signed by the authors.
Krista was quirky, funny, and confident in a way I could never be. She was bold and ballsy, five-foot nothing with a six-foot three personality. I was five-foot seven, and quiet natured. The only time I really talked was to her or when I was waiting tables. She was light and energetic, and I was reserved and laid back. Like yen and yang, we balanced each other out, which is how we became such good friends in a short amount of time.
“Girl, you need to take a break. Maybe you can hook up with one of the hot cover models and finally pop that cherry of yours,” she whispered and gave me an exaggerated wink.
I looked around quickly to make sure nobody heard her. “Shhh. Not happening.”
“A girl can dream, right?” She sighed wistfully, then looked back at me. “But seriously, girl, you need to let some steam off and get away from the wardens for a while.”
The Wardens. That’s the nickname she had given my uncle and my cousin, and she didn’t even know the half of it. “I just have to finish another semester, and then I can graduate and start looking for a job away from here and them. I need something that will support me better than tips because you know my uncle isn’t about to give me anything for free.”
Krista snorted in disgust. “Why would they let you go at all, Zoe? You’re free labor to them. You work your ass off here and at school, then you go home and do the same there, cooking and cleaning for those assholes. While your bitch of a cousin goes to her fancy private school downtown, you pay your own way through the local community college while carrying a job.” Krista didn’t even try to hide her anger and irritation with my family, which was funny since she only knew a small portion of how they treated me.
“I’m nineteen. My uncle doesn’t have a choice whether I stay or go anymore. I could leave. The only reason I stay right now is because I know I can’t get a job that will provide a decent enough living until I finish school. I just have one more semester.”I repeated for her benefit and mine.
Krista looked doubtful, but said nothing else. Instead, she turned her attention to our outing the next weekend that we’d been planning for over six months. “So, which books did you preorder?”
“I got one from Sapphire Knight, KL Donn, Liberty Parker and Darlene Tallman, and one from Annelise Reynolds.”
“Oh, did you read her Sweet Treats?” Krista perked up, lifting a chair onto the next table.
“No. I haven’t gotten to that one yet. It’s on my list.”
“Girl. Let me tell you. That book is so hot you may lose your virginity to your vibrator if you read it. It’s fucking hot. Capital H-O-T.” She waved her hand in front of her face like she was trying to cool herself down.
I laughed and shook my head. “I’ll have to remember that.”
We continued to chat about the signing as we finished wiping down the tables. Krista went to grab the tile vacuum cleaner as I lifted the chairs onto the tables.
Jeff and Cami were two of the other wait staff, and they were supposed to be cleaning and stocking the bar. I couldn’t be sure, but I had a feeling a lot more than just cleaning and stocking was going on over there based on the look on Jeff’s face, how long he was spending wiping down one section of the bar, and how long Cami had disappeared from view. I wasn’t about to go in that direction to confirm my suspicions, but I figured it was a safe bet cleaning wasn’t high on their list of priorities at the moment.
Jeff was the manager’s son and a real jerk. He typically worked behind the bar, so it limited my interactions with him to ordering the drinks for customers. Cami thought because she was dating the boss’s son, she could get away without carrying her load of the work and sadly she was right which is why she was behind the bar giving Jeff a blow job instead of out here helping us get the lobby cleaned.
Krista laughed and rolled her eyes at the couple as she came back in, carrying the vacuum. They were like a strobe light, always turning on and off again, breaking up and getting back together within a few hours. It was a chaotic relationship since Jeff had a temper and would flirt with other women right in front of Cami, and Cami was clingy and needy. I’d feel sorry for her if she wasn’t such a bitch to Krista and me, and if she did her job without pawning her shit off on us.
I rolled my eyes and moved to wash the front windows while Krista started working on the floors. My mind wandered back to the couple behind the bar. I didn’t get why they stayed together when half the time they seemed to hate each other, but then again, I didn’t understand half the relationships that people around me were in.
When my aunt was alive, she and my uncle didn’t love each other, that was for damn sure. Julie Michelsen was more concerned with the country club lifestyle and putting on a good show for the people surrounding her. She wanted people to know how well off she was and flaunted her money any chance she got.
When she got sick, all those people she was desperate to impress and gain approval from were nowhere to be found. The hair she went to the salon every other week to get touched up so her gray hair didn’t show through—fell out. It made her nails that she went to the salon each week to maintain pointless when her nails became so thin and brittle that putting them on caused them to break off within a few days. None of it mattered as the life she was so proud of and loved to flaunt crumbled figuratively and literally around her. She became a shell of the person she was before the cancer, and after everything started slipping away, she decided there was no reason left to fight.
Late one night, my aunt took all her meds at one time and chased it with a bottle of vodka. She gave up, and my uncle didn’t seem to give a shit. Oh, he put on a show for close friends and family, but once he was behind closed doors, it was as if nothing had changed—except he would no longer be spending money on her treatments, which he was happy about.
