Chapter 7
KADENCE
Running around the diner, catering to the customers’ hunger and beer desires while healing from a stab wound and spleen removal, was for the fucking birds.
My side and lower back were killing me, but I continued to push through the throbbing pain.
There were only two more hours until the diner closed. I survived worse, I could survive this.
Roadhouse smelled like cat piss and stale cigarettes, but Ricky gave me a job instantly without needing my ID or any other information.
I assumed it was because I had nice tits, and the men loved it.
I think that was why I was wearing this tight, faded-yellow uniform so they could see every curve.
It was disgusting being ogled like a piece of meat, but the tips were decent.
He paid everyone under the table, which was perfect for me since I was technically dead.
This wasn’t my first time working in a sleazy diner, and with how my life was going, it wouldn’t be my last.
It was another thing my father was right about.
I was a failure.
Why did I let my life become like this?
I should have been the devoted daughter who listened to her father, but after my brother died and my mom left, he became so entranced with his job and the need to help other people, he forgot about the innocent soul waiting for him at home with the teenage babysitter five nights a week.
I knew I was the problem child at a young age, but I thought he loved me enough despite that.
I missed him in the beginning, asking Marie where Daddy was, crying when he had to leave and running into his arms when he came home at seven o’clock every night.
Then as I got older, I realized why he hated me, and that caused the rebellion streak to hit.
I started hanging out with the bad kids in school, dying my hair, and piercing my face to see if it could get some kind of reaction out of him, but it didn’t do anything.
He’d always tell me I was a disgrace to the Carpenter name, and once he let it slip that I should’ve died instead of Nathan.
After that, I started fucking anyone and everyone.
He caught me once with a much older man when I was fifteen.
I’m surprised he didn’t get arrested with how pissed my dad was.
I’d watched plenty of Law and Order: SVU to know that what happened to me wasn’t my fault, but this nagging feeling told me I could’ve prevented it.
I could’ve avoided the tattoos and the I love yous that flew off of Dominic’s tongue like hot venom.
One day, I would make that motherfucker pay for hurting me.
I shuddered at the memory and continued to work.
Suddenly, a gorgeous woman who screamed power stormed into the diner.
I stumbled when I saw her. Hot women intimidated me, and Jesus Christ that woman was walking sex.
Her presence screamed domination. Everyone in the room stopped to look at her, and I caught a glimpse of her eyeballing me like I was a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoes.
I let out a sigh, ripping the order slip with my chicken scratch and going to the cook’s window. “Billy, I need two all Americans, extra fried onions, and BBQ sauce. Double cheese messy with extra fries.”
“Anything for you, baby cakes,” Billy flirted.
The men here were disgusting, smelling like cigarette smoke and sour beer, but at least they had enough respect not to touch me.
They hit on me with every step I made, and just like any other man, they didn’t take no for an answer.
I was sure if I was willing, they’d all line up for me, but I was here simply for a paycheck until I got back on my feet to claim this new identity I chose.
Kadence Hayes.
I loved my name—Caden—but she was gone. She was buried in the darkest recesses of my mind and would stay there forever.
I read an article once about this woman named Kadence Harper-Hayes, and she was an award-winning Olympic athlete.
I enjoyed track at one point in middle school before I decided to rebel, and she was my favorite athlete at the time.
If my life would have gone differently, maybe I would have stayed in the sport and gone to the Olympics like her, but my life was always faltering.
Right now, it was on a downward spiral with no end in sight.
I chose her name because her life ended early in her career due to a car accident. I wished I could have her life and finish it off in a blaze of glory. Unfortunately, my new life was just as horrible as the one before, but at least here no one bugged me, and my father would never find me.
The woman was in the back with Ricky for ten minutes before she stormed back out of the kitchen, and of course, I had to make eye contact with her.
The look she gave me sent chills up my spine, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
All I could think about was how gorgeous she was.
Her eyes on me should have sent me to the grave, but it awakened something inside me.
Without another look or word, she walked out of the diner, her presence still looming.