Chapter 7
Seven
Olivia
I’ve been here for over an hour, and Hayden still isn’t home. His mom said he wasn’t back from his hockey tournament but was on the way. She did ask if I wanted to wait inside, and I told her I had my book and it’s a nice day to be outside.
Sitting on the edge of the treehouse with my legs out, I read my book, waiting for Hayden to get back. I’ve been reading for so long now, I find it weird if I don’t read every day. My mom always jokes that one day they will lose me to the book world, which made me laugh.
The Harry Potter books are still my favorite,, but I’ve been enjoying some of the romance books I’m reading.
I found some romance books which I wasn’t sure if I should be reading just yet, mostly because the reviews told me there's a lot of sex in them, and even though I know what sex is, I wanted to start myself off slowly.
There are a few different books on my list I would like to read, from stalker romance to the sex club ones.
“Got your head in a book again.” Hayden scares me as he takes the book from me and starts reading the page I’m on.
“You stink.” I push him away from me as he sits down, leaving no space between us.
“I wanted to see you before I had a shower.” He hands me the book back, and he laughs. “Not into wizards anymore,” he jokes.
“Yes, I got a new book. It’s a fantasy one, can’t wait to start it.
But I want to read other things too.” I grab my bag from behind me and look through it as Hayden talks to me about his tournament.
“You won, that’s amazing. I hope the next one is close so I can come.
” I give him a hug to congratulate him, he has been working so hard with his hockey, he’s been doing extra training.
“Thank you, it was harder than I thought it would be.” He laughs as he looks at all the stuff I pull out of my backpack. “Hello there Mary Poppins, do you have a TV in there too?”
“Shut up, I’ve found it.” I turn around and give him his gift. “Happy Birthday for tomorrow, I know you’re going away for the weekend, and I didn’t want to wait until you got back.” I hand him the box, and he looks at it. “What?”
“I told you not to spend money on me. I want you to save your money and help with your mom. That’s the reason you got a job,” he snaps at me. I know he said it a few times to me, and every cent I’ve made from the ice cream shop I’ve given my dad to help with my mom’s treatment.
“There was no way I was not going to give my best friend a present for his sixteenth birthday. It’s nothing big, so please don’t get too excited.” I push the box toward him, and he finally takes it from me.
“Not happy you spent money on me.” Opening the box, I can’t stop the smile. I know it’s nothing big, there was no way I could afford anything expensive for him, and I know Hayden would never want me to spend a lot of money on him.
Hayden looks into the box, and starts laughing, as he pulls out the set of small keyrings I’ve made him. there's a cookie, a treehouse, and a popcorn box.
“Look at what is written on the popcorn box.” I point to it, and he laughs even more.
“H is salty and O is sweet. I love it.” He looks at me, and pulls me in for a hug, and I can’t stop smiling at how happy he is with my gift.
“Really, you're not just saying it?”
“No, seriously I love it. It'll be on my keys the moment dad gives me my car keys.” He puts it back into the box, and places it to the side. “What time is your dad picking you up?”
“He'll be here in about an hour. So, you have time to tell me all about the games.” I love when he tells me about his day, and how much he loves hockey. He would love to go pro, he said it a few times, even told me he'll take me to his games, too.
“Dad took pictures, and videos.” He takes his phone out, and I move in closer to him so I can see better and get ready for an hour of listening about this tournament.
Present Day
I sent a message to Abigail letting her know I was meeting Mr. Cain about the bar job I applied for and would meet her at the party soon.
I’ve never liked working at any bar, or nightclub, the men always think they can touch you whenever they want.
But the pay is normally decent, and the tips are even better.
Before applying to Skyline, I looked it up to make sure it wasn’t a cheap place where there would be no security.
My research showed that Skyline is far from that.
It's the most talked about club in town, hell people from out of town come here.
There are six floors, what kind of club has six floors?
I walk up to the bouncer. “Hello, I’m here to see Mr. Cain, my name is Olivia Banks.” I look at the people in the queue waiting to get in. “Question, how long do they wait to get in?”
“Some can wait about two hours, and Mr. Cain is in his office. Lincoln will take you up.” I stand there waiting for someone called Lincoln to tell me to follow him. “Walk in, he'll come to you.” The bouncer opens the door for me, and I step into the club, and the loud music hits my ears instantly.
Wow, this place is amazing; the lights, the booths, and the strip poles. I look at the cages with dancers in them. This is the best night club I’ve ever been in, and I really hope to get the job.
“Olivia.” I turn around and look up at the man who must be Lincoln.
“Follow me.” Okay, no hello or anything.
I follow him up the stairs and I continue to look around as I reach each floor.
I can see strippers on some of the tables, with a group of men around them.
“Here.” I turn back to Lincoln and walk into the office as he opens the door for me.
“Olivia, thank you for coming in today.” The door closes behind me, and Lincoln is no longer standing behind me. I turn back to the man I am assuming is Mr. Cain.
“Thank you for calling me.” I put my hand out as he does the same.
“Here are your shifts for the next month.” He hands me a piece of paper, and I smile.
“Seriously?” I have to question.
“You have a lot of experience, and you look like someone who won’t mess me around.
The only thing I ask is, if you can’t make it in for your shift, for whatever reason, tell me at least four hours before your shift starts.
” He walks back around to his desk and sits down.
“You have any trouble with a customer, you tell security, there are plenty around. Any questions?” Mr. Cain asks, and I look down at my shifts.
On my application there were a few things I had asked for, and I smile seeing he noted them.
I only wanted Saturday evening off, so I can see my mom and at least one or two days off so I can study.
“Thank you for giving me my requests, but if you ever need me to work on any of those days as an emergency I’m more than happy to. Which floor will I be working on?” I look at him and find him staring at me. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that something isn't right, but I’m not sure why.
Maybe, it’s the way his eyes burn into me, but then there's a smile on his lips. Fuck, if only I could read his mind, it would be amazing. Does he already hate me? Or is he reading me to see what type of employee I'll be?
“I'll take note of that. You'll be on the first floor. The fifth and sixth floor are off limits for you, and before you say anything, your name is on the no entry list.” He leans back in his chair, and smiles. “Here’s the cocktail list we serve.” He slides another piece of paper across his desk; and I take a look at it. I’ve made a lot of cocktails so I don’t think there will be anything on here which I haven’t made.
“If you need any help with anything, just ask the staff, if not, I'll see you tomorrow.”
“I'll see you tomorrow.” I take a step closer to the desk. “Thank you so much for this opportunity.” I put my hand out for him to shake, and he takes it. That’s when I get a glimpse of his tattoos.
Since reading dark romance books I’ve been a sucker for tattoos. It’s amazing how your likes change over the years. I never thought I would enjoy romance books with some messed up topics, but they have slowly become my favorite genre to read.
“I don’t think you'll let me down.” He walks around the desk and opens the door for me. After saying bye to him, I take another look around, smiling. I can’t believe I got the job; I can help my dad so much with this extra money. Now I need to get a taxi or Uber to the party.
“What time do you call this?” Abigail shouts at me, as she pulls me through the crowd to join everyone else.
I don’t know all their names just yet, but I’m slowly learning them.
They're all in my classes. I have a few classes tomorrow which I think have different students in there from today. Abigail said everyone is really friendly but told me to stay away from one or two of them because they only care about finishing the top of the class. So, they won’t help me even if I asked them.
“Sorry, I told you I had to be somewhere.” She tries to hand me a glass of something, but I say no because I don’t want to drink. “I’m not in the mood to be drinking tonight.”
I look around to see who’s here, Abigail told me they have a few parties when they come back from winter break. It looks like most of the college is here tonight. That scares me, I’m on full alert just in case.
“Have you found a guy you like yet?” I hear Abigail behind me. She told me about one of the guys she likes. They've had an on—off thing going on for the last year, but she wants it to be something more serious. She’s too scared to say anything in case it ruins what they have.
“No,” I reply.
I’m not here to find a guy, I’m here to study and get the hell out of this town. Plus, there has never been anyone since him. But how can I tell her that? She might know who he is, and I’m not sure I want her to know what happened between us.
“There are a few good looking guys here tonight, come on, it's the last year of school, relax and have some fun.” She stands next to me, and points to a group of guys standing on the other side of the room.
“They're the fun ones, I’ve not been lucky enough to get on their radar, but the rumors have definitely been interesting.”
I look over at where she is pointing, and my whole body tenses up, Fuck my life. My mouth goes dry, I should be running out of here, but my feet aren’t moving.
“And then you have that group, the two don’t talk, and no one knows why.” Abigail points to the other side of the room. “We talk to both groups, but never together, that's a fight waiting to happen. We have no idea why they hate each other. It’s a closely guarded secret.”
Glancing over to the other group, I feel sick. They are both here. I know why they don’t talk, and I’m the reason.
I take in a deep breath before I start hyperventilating, but my chest tightens seeing them all here. They’re all at this college. I thought they might be, but I was hoping they weren’t. My body begins to tremble at the thought of either group seeing me.
I can’t be here. They can’t see me. I'm not ready for them, or what they will do when they realize I’m back..
“You know, I’m not feeling too good, my head is banging, and I feel sick,” I tell Abigail.
Before she can say anything, I say, “I’m going to get a taxi back, but I'll meet you tomorrow, same place.” My fingers play with my necklace, trying to calm myself down, but it’s not working.
I look over to see if they're still there, they are, so I quickly leave before I have a panic attack.
Moving quickly through the crowd to get outside, I take a deep breath in and put my head down so no-one will see me. I knew there was a chance I would see them, just not this soon. I thought I might get a week to settle in before they see me.
“Wait.” Abigail catches up with me by the door. “You just got here, the night is young.” She looks over my shoulder at the group we were standing with. “Stay for a little bit, then I'll come with you.”
“No, you stay. I wasn’t well this morning either, I think it’s just hit me more now.” I try to walk around her, but she steps in front of me.
“Fine, but message me when you get home. And tomorrow I'll tell you what happens tonight. But at the next party I’m not letting you leave,” she jokes. I tell her I’ll be there, but I’m praying Mr. Cain has a shift for me that day.
I can’t risk bumping into them, any of them.
Looking over my shoulder, I get away before anyone walks out and sees me. This is going to be a long five months, running away every time I see any one of them. Just great.