Chapter 3
Victoria
Shift change happened every day at six o’clock p.m. and then again at six a.m. Victoria was early to take over for her cousin Erin.
Erin owned the self-storage facility, Addison Storage, outright and liked to be on site working security during the day.
When Victoria called her cousin a month ago, a week before fleeing Denton Heights, Erin enthusiastically offered the couch in her one-bedroom, third-floor walkup.
Erin told her she could absolutely use some girl-cousin energy, because her two older brothers were driving her insane. As usual.
Erin hadn’t wanted to join the family business, Addison Construction, where Victoria had been headed before the shit hit the fan right after she turned eighteen.
“Hey, cousin,” Erin said when she spotted Victoria letting herself into the security office off the main building. “Did you have a good day?”
Victoria clamped her lips shut and let the smile light up her face.
“No fucking way,” Erin said and smacked Victoria in the chest. This was the Addison family’s way of showing love. “You got lucky down at Scarlett?”
Victoria nodded. “She was nice.”
Erin scoffed. “‘Nice,’” she quoted. “Well, there you go. My cousin has more game than both my idiot brothers.” Erin was a pretty young woman with light sandy hair, just like Victoria’s, but preferred keeping it long.
She currently had it tied back in a functional ponytail.
She was tall, like all the Addison cousins, but was the shortest at five foot eight.
She was a year younger than Victoria, and both were younger than Erin’s brothers.
Eddie was two years older than Victoria, while Donny was one.
Their respective fathers were brothers, and the cousins had all grown up together.
“You’ve been here, what, almost three weeks? ” Erin asked with a chuckle.
Victoria nodded. “Yep.”
“Geez.” Erin and Victoria had been close growing up, that is, until Victoria got stupid and her father gave her an ultimatum. She either admitted she’d stolen the copper out of the building sites the family construction company had been working on, or she enlisted in the Army.
She wasn’t a snitch. That could have gotten her into more trouble than standing up to her father, so she told him to fuck off.
One slap across the face later, and she was down at the recruitment center.
Army it was. Of course, he didn’t realize she’d signed up for the Army Reserve, a part-time gig as opposed to full.
She’d been eighteen at the time, didn’t need his signature on anything, and basically left home for four years.
She lived near the training center in Edinburgh, an hour south.
Homeless and hungry, she took any odd job she could find until she found one at a local elementary school, working in the cafeteria.
Yep, she had been a cafeteria lady for a brief time.
That led to a job in maintenance at the same school.
Two years into her Reserves gig, she applied for and got her first-ever security position at the school.
She loved it. She loved the kids and loved keeping them safe.
It was the first time she’d ever had real power.
When she looked back on that earlier time, she knew her father had actually done her a favor.
Not that she would ever tell him that. The Reserves and her security gigs were the beginnings of her journey into dominance.
She liked it. She was good at it. When her commitment to the Army was finally and blessedly finished, there was no way she was going back home.
She scoured the internet for school security jobs and found one in Denton Heights, Ohio, of all places.
It was there she met Rikki Carmichael and Rikki’s Aunt Matilda, who mentored her in her fledgling role as a Domme.
“Fucking afternoon delight,” Erin said, still impressed with Victoria’s exploits. “I’m so glad you’re here. I hired Donny for the night shift for a while, but he was good for nothing.” Erin groaned. “Love my brothers, but you know.”
Victoria laughed. “Yeah, I do know. And then there’s that whole ‘Loyalty to Family’ thing they beat into our heads.”
Erin scoffed. “That and ‘Family First.’ But hey, listen, Vic, if you’re here to stay, you won’t be on nights forever, I promise. It’s just, you know, the new guy gets the shitty shift.”
“No worries. No people. All good.”
Erin stood up and grabbed her bag and coat. “Speaking of people, we do have one person I’m kind of bending the rules for.”
“Who?” Victoria glanced at the row of security cameras, including the two covering the parking area, but didn’t see anyone.
“C’mon, I’ll show you, and then you can walk me out.”
Victoria followed Erin out of the security office into the quickly chilling night air.
The storage facility consisted of several rows of side-by-side, non-climate-controlled, garage-type units, although Erin did plan to build a climate-controlled building in the back woods behind the current facility one day, when she could afford it.
They headed away from the exit toward the back corner nestled near the stand of woods.
“How’s business?” Victoria asked as they walked. “Is owning a storage facility lucrative?”
Erin laughed. “Nah, but it pays the bills and is honest work.”
“Mmm,” Victoria said. The word honest had been laden with meaning, but she didn’t touch it. She didn’t have to because once they rounded the corner, she saw the open storage door and a short stocky guy with disheveled short dark hair standing inside, wiping sweat off his brow with a workout towel.
“Hey, Kimo,” Erin said. “This is Vic, the new night security.”
“Oh, hey, cool.” Kimo stuck out his hand. Victoria shook it and nodded her greeting. He pointed at Erin, “She tell you the deal I got going here?” He pointed to his home gym set up in the storage space.
Erin answered. “I’m allowing him to work out here for a total of one hour after we close. Then he gets escorted off the premises.”
“I have questions,” Victoria said.
“His girlfriend threw him out, apparently,” Erin said and looked at Kimo with raised eyebrows. “Do I have that right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “She’ll take me back soon. I think. Maybe.” Kimo picked up some hand weights and began doing curls. “I had no place to put my shit, so storage place it is.”
“He works until 5:30 and can’t get here until 6:00,” Erin said.
“Closing time,” Victoria offered.
“He is to stay in his cubicle here and is not to wander around,” Erin said to Kimo.
“I’m just grateful for the chance to work out,” Kimo said to Erin. “You like working out, Vic?”
Instead of answering, she asked a question of her own.
“You’re not sleeping in here, are you?” While they’d been talking, she took recon of the space and noticed something odd about the way the boxes were stacked.
Five single boxes were pressed against the back end of the unit and could have doubled as a sleeping platform.
She bet there was a sleeping bag or something like it inside one of the boxes.
“Nah,” Kimo said. “Too cold. I got my buddy’s couch for a while. And then another buddy once I wear out my welcome there.”
“I can relate,” Victoria said, letting go of her concern. For now.
“All right,” Erin said and smacked Victoria in the chest. “Come meet Robby.”
“Whoa, I finally get to meet the S.O. in real life?” Victoria smacked Erin in the chest. A smack for a smack, right?
“What does S.O. mean?” Kimo called after them as they were walking away.
“Significant other,” Victoria and Erin said at the same time and then burst out laughing.
“Damn,” Kimo muttered. He raised his voice, “I was going to ask you out, Erin.”
Erin didn’t turn. She simply raised one arm over her head and waved. “He’s harmless,” Erin said.
You hope, Victoria thought. She’d seen enough red flags in her lifetime to spot one when she saw it. And she’d seen a couple already. She would be keeping an eye on this Kimo. A close eye.
They turned the corner to the side exit, and a guy stood on the other side of the gate.
He was pale white, over six feet tall, and bald.
Tattoos were visible above his button-down shirt, beneath his bomber jacket.
She wasn’t into racial profiling, but he checked several skinhead boxes, and she wasn’t playing.
Instinctively, Victoria reached for her taser, the only weapon besides pepper spray that she had.
“Stand down, soldier,” Erin said with a laugh. “That’s Robby.”
“Oh, shit,” Victoria muttered and let her security jacket fall back over the taser. “Tall,” was the only thing she could think of to say.
“Is this the infamous cousin you’ve been going on about, Erin?” Robby said. His smile lit up and softened his expression. Victoria relaxed her shoulders a notch.
“Yes,” Erin said and unlocked the gate. She walked out and gave Robby a kiss. “This is Vic, my only first cousin.”
“How you doin’, man?” Robby gave her a backhanded smack to the chest. And it wasn’t soft.
“Hanging in there,” Victoria said. She’d keep her jury out on what she thought of him for now, but she would be keeping her eye on this guy, too. For Erin’s sake.
“Nice to finally meet a sane member of Erin’s family,” Robby said. “Good to know she got a good ‘un in her corner.”
Victoria smiled. He had clearly been referring to Donny and Eddie as the not-so-sane members of Erin’s family.
Yeah, she kind of had them in that category, too.
They were the idiots who got her sent to the Army, but she still hadn’t snitched on them.
Ever. Not even to Erin. And since the charges against her had been dropped, all was good.
“Take care of her,” Victoria said.
“Possessive,” Robby said and smacked her in the chest again. Erin simply hung on his arm, beaming at their interaction. “I like it.” To Erin, he said, “Keep this one.”