He let out a short scoff, but whatever he said after was swallowed by the noise of the street around me.
“—looking for a photographer." His voice cut back in. "The club needs pictures for an upcoming event, a masquerade. Would you be interested?” A small pause followed, like he was considering his next words. “It’s important that we find someone who can shoot atmospheric images of the models. Our whole goal is for the pictures to entice potential customers and create excitement among our members.”
His request seemed common enough, and I could always use the extra money. “Sure. What day works best for you?”
“That’s the thing. Your portfolio is rather impressive, but theowner wants you to come in for a trial run tonight to make sure you are comfortable with the environment.”
Tonight!? I didn’t respond immediately, quickly analyzing my scheduleand completely missing the part about the environment.
“I will offer you a grand if you can be here at seven.”
My thoughts slammed to a stop.“I’m sorry, did you just say a grand? Likeonethousand dollars?”That was enough to cover my portion of the bills for two months.
Kyrin chuckled like that amount of money was an average transaction for him. “Yes. Normally, we wouldn’t pay for a trial run, but I think you’re going to love the vibes here, so I’ll make an exception.”
My stomach threatened to drop as I drew in a deep breath. “Yes. I’m available.” I glanced at the time, panic rising again as I picked up my pace. “I get off at 6:30, and I’ll head straight there. Just send me the location.”
When he responded, his voice sounded almost triumphant. “Perfect, I’ll text you the address and a contract link. Make sure to fill everything out beforehand, or you can’t enter the building. The owner’s kind of a dick about it.”
What would a contract for photos have to do with entering the building?
My brisk walk had now moved into a jog as I answered between breaths. “Okay, got it.”
Ending the call, I shoved the phone into the pocket of my dress as my mouth split into a grin. Bunching the fabric of thedress into my hand, I cradled my things and took off into a full sprint toward the bookstore.
When I finally made it there, the bell above the door didn’t just jingle, itclanged. The noise was loud and accusing, like it had been personally offended by my entrance. I winced at the sound that echoed through the quiet space, ducking under the edge of the familiar doorframe—the same one I’d entered through for four years now.
Back then, I’d only come in for a few hours here and there. By the six-month mark, I was working every closing shift and loving it. I quickly learned that the morning shift brought the rush, and my only responsibility in the afternoon was to organize whatever mess was left behind. Most of the time, I could restock, clean, and have everything back to normal within an hour or two—which gave me the rest of my shift to do whatever I wanted. More often than not, I used this downtime to edit my photos.
UnlessEdnacame in, the owner's fifty-year-old assistant. Since day one of working with her, she’d made it her personal mission to make my life a living hell. Naturally, I tried to avoid her at all costs. The downside of that was the store was rather small, tucked between a yoga studio and a smoke shop.
From the outside, it seemed like any other small shop, but stepping inside was like entering another world. Books were everywhere, stacked on shelves that tilted at odd angles. Pictures of covers had been blown up and glued to the walls, sectioning each corner into a different genre. We were always playing sometype of music, and not the boring elevator kind either.
As I reached the front desk, my eyes darted around for my arch-nemesis.
Empty.
Just as my body relaxed, I stepped forward to clock in when a familiar voice cut through the silence.
“You can breathe. I’m covering for her tonight.”
I jumped, letting out a high-pitched squeal. Spinning my body around, I pushed into Atlas’s chest. “You scared me!”
A grin spread across his face as his hazel eyes glimmered with excitement. Letting out a short laugh, he scoffed. “Ishouldscare you. Maybe then, you’d actually get to work on time.”
I rolled my eyes at the owner of the store as I set my things down in a lopsided pile. “It was less than ten minutes.”
He didn’t answer me as he walked by. Instead, he playfully raised an eyebrow before pulling a stick of gum from a small pocket in my bag. Shoving it into his mouth, he ruffled my hair and headed to a stack of books needing to be reshelved.
No one would ever guess that man was thirty-seven.
Closing the pocket he had stolen from, I feigned a dirty look and threw most of my things below the counter. After positioning my camera carefully in the drawer, I sat on the chair next to me and leaned in on my elbows as I watched Atlas. “If you could just shelve all of those for me and then the ones in the back, that would be great.”
“Oh, sure,” he scoffed, turning toward me. “Anything for you, boss.”
I smiled at the sarcasm in his voice and silently thanked him for being the person he was. If he wasanyoneelse, I probably would’ve been fired a long time ago. Through the years of being here, there had been a couple situations where I’d been called “hot-headed” by certain customers. At one point, I’d even found myself in a heated disagreement with security, but no matter the situation, Atlas always defended me—which was probably why Ednalovedme so much.
A quick vibration from my phone reminded me of the conversation from earlier.
