Page 76 of Sling’s Awakening

I haven’t seen him since he had Big Jack escort me out of the building. Which is honestly probably for the best because I’m still upset about it.

Grabbing my bag, I get out of my car and head inside. I noticed on my way in that the only two cars in the parking lot are his and mine.

Great.

All the lights on the floor are on as I head into the back to put my stuff away.

“Blake?” I hear Russ call from the office, making me stop in my tracks, tip my head back, and sigh.

I haven’t even been here five minutes and I’m already having to deal with him. I miss the days when he left me to do the job he pays me for instead of being around at weird hours and acting strange. It just adds to my growing list of suspicions that something serious is going on.

“Yeah?” I ask as I head into the office.

I don’t know how I controlled my face from turning up into a mix of disgust and shock, but I did. And I deserve a fucking gold medal for it.

Russ is behind the desk and he looks… rough. The bags under his manic eyes are a deep purple. His white dress shirt has stains all over it from… I don’t know what. His hair is slicked back with a thick coat of grease.

I’m appalled he thought it was okay to show up to work like this again.

The smell coming from him has vomit climbing up my throat, forcing me to do everything in my power to keep it down.

I think I might pass out.

Russ aggressively sniffs as he wipes the bridge of his nose, the sound of snot gurgling in his throat makes me swallow a gag. “I’m going to need you on the floor tonight.”

I continue to stare at him in shock as my eyes dart to the desk and back to him. Is he snorting cocaine?

“I’m always out on the floor when we’re open,” I tell him, a little confused as to why he feels the need to say that to me.

He knows there’s no way in hell I would leave my girls alone to fend for themselves in a sea of fucking creeps. We all know we can’t count on Russ to actually watch the cameras and help us out if he sees something. And Big Jack can only see so much from watching the door.

Russ looks at me through bloodshot eyes. “I mean the pole.”

My head turns slightly to the side so my ear is facing him. “What?”

I don’t have a problem taking a pole shift, but I need to know beforehand so I can prepare. And to be honest, I haven’t had the time with everything going on to pick up a shift in a while, so I’m rusty. If I had known this was happening, I would have come in earlier to practice.

“Is there a reason for the short notice?” I press.

I didn’t even bring a fucking outfit.

I’m not in the mindset for this.

“Jinx called off because she has the flu, and Curse called off because she’s on her period.”

My heart begins to race.

This can’t be happening.

“I’m not getting on the pole,” I tell him.

“If you want a job, you are,” Russ says. “I don’t have anyone else, and we have a full house tonight. You might not be as young as you were when you started and stuff might be a little saggy, but you were always a crowd favorite.”

The anxiety I was feeling when I walked in is quickly replaced with anger because how fucking dare he.

I may be thirty-one years old, but I’m definitely not fucking saggy.

Fuck him.