Chapter Sixteen
Chapter
Sixteen
Beulah
The first thing I saw when I walked into the Employees Only room was the back of Shauna’s redhead as she knelt in front of Neil, who was holding the back of her head as he groaned with pleasure. I paused. They didn’t seem to notice me. Neil’s eyes were closed, and his other hand was on the wall for support, I assumed.
“Fuck, Shauna, fuck, that’s good, baby,” he said, his eyes slitting to look down, though they locked with mine instead. I expected him to stop her or, well, do something, not allow the woman to continue. A smile appeared on his face, and they proceeded.
“I’m gonna come,” he said, staring at me.
I wanted to run from the room, but my feet seemed cemented to the floor. I was in shock, I guess. “Uh,” he said, his eyes slightly closing. “Oh yeah, oh fuck, here it comes.” Heavily, he leaned on the wall, releasing a tongue-biting moan. Finally able to move, I spun around and ran out of there.
That wasn’t what I’d expected or had been prepared to witness. I wish I’d been able to move sooner. Run faster. Jeez! They didn’t even lock the door.
“Going the wrong way, aren’t you?” Carey asked as he slowly stepped from his office. “You need to go back and get dressed.”
I opened my mouth to say something when Shauna spoke from behind me, “Show’s over. You can go get ready now. Welcome to the club life, honey.”
I couldn’t look at her.
Carey laughed, like he knew exactly what had happened, “Breaking in the new girl early?”
I needed to talk to Carey and change my hours, but at this moment, I wanted to find a closet and compose myself for the evening. My pink cheeks were humiliating enough.
I didn’t wait around for more laughter and comments. I hurried back to the room, forgetting that Neil hadn’t exited yet; however, when I came face to face with him, I remembered he was still in there.
His lips curled up at the edges. “Sorry about that.”
He didn’t look sorry at all.
“There’s a lock on the door,” I pointed out.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But what’s the fun in locking it? That takes away the thrill of someone walking in and watching.”
I didn’t respond to that. I began to step around him when his hand touched my arm. “I’m sorry, I’d say that was a moment of lust and that I needed some relief. But honestly, you’ll need to adjust to it. Around here, it’s kind of an open thing. And Shauna gives one hell of a blow job.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied, going past him without looking up.
“You’ll eventually warm to it. I look forward to that,” he said and left the room.
I let out a sigh of non-relief. Changing in here was dangerous. I didn’t want someone walking in and misinterpreting my changing as being something else. I’d start coming to work dressed from now on. If they wanted to share various STDs from swapping and exchanging partners, I didn’t have to be part of that.
My focus was getting through the night and finding time to talk to Carey about cutting back my hours. Unfortunately, it got busy early, and I never spoke to him. But I did get over a hundred dollars in tips. It was a good night, worth the loss of sleep.
Neil and a blonde waitress flirted most of the evening. He even gave me a suggestive grin. That guy had serious issues. I’d decided he was a man-whore, until his wife came in for a drink after her work shift ended. A man-whore adulterer. Yuck.
When I finally walked into the house, it was three a.m., according to the clock. I found Stone sitting in the great room. The gas fire was going, although it was only sixty degrees, an unusual snap of coolness. He looked up from the book in his lap and didn’t smile or nod—not that I expected him to.
“Why’re you working three jobs?” he asked.
I was too tired for this, for him, “Why’re you sitting in Jasper’s house at three in the morning drinking his whiskey?”
“Because Jasper has a stripper he brought home, found during our night out, currently in the pool house. Right now, she’s calling him GOD and begging him to fuck her up the ass harder than he’s already doing. Now you answer my question.”
I was sleepy, no, I was exhausted, but his words woke me a little. Jasper brought a stripper home? “Uh,” I began to explain and forgot for a second what I was going to say. Stone’s cold glare snapped me back, and I responded, “I need more money. I’m saving it for nursing school. Any more questions? I’m tired.”
He studied me a moment, then went back to his book. “No. No more questions.”
I continued walking through the room. His voice ground me to a halt, “I didn’t expect you to have an ambition or goal.”
Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Or maybe my quota for receiving Stone’s crap had been suddenly surpassed. I lit into the man like a blow torch, “Of course you didn’t. You’re too busy glaring down that nose of yours. It’s lengthy, you can glare for years.” I spoke, then ran from the room. Why? For one, Stone had a nice nose. And number two, I’d just snapped at my boss’s friend. Apparently, Jasper’s best friend. Because he was never far away.
I didn’t stop until I got to the basement. After a quick shower, I collapsed in bed, and tomorrow, I would worry about apologizing and making amends with Stone. When I closed my eyes, I saw Jasper and some unknown stripper doing things I’d not ever done. Deep down, I had to admit I didn’t like the image. That wasn’t good at all. I would need to suppress that emotion. Being attracted to my boss was not okay. I needed these jobs too much. Jasper was going to sleep with a lot of women and I was going to need to be okay with watching them come and go. Although, I was disappointed. The guy I was starting to get to know was likable, and I wanted to continue to know him even more. I tried hard to push his face from my head. It didn’t leave. Wouldn’t vanish. When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of him. That was only the beginning.