Chapter 4 Who Fucks You Over
Who Fucks You Over
Heidi sat on her bunk with Lula, the curtains closed around them for privacy.
“So, six hours at eleven bucks an hour is sixty-six dollars,” Heidi said. “I got twenty-one dollars in tips yesterday. Better than I expected when we walked in. Guess Robert was right when he said it would get busy around five when the construction workers finished.”
Lula dumped a handful of crumpled notes and silver on the bed and counted it. “Twenty-eight dollars. So, ninety-two total for me.”
“Just about enough for tonight’s bed.” Heidi scooped her money into her hand and shoulder-bumped Lula.
“And we’re working eight hours tomorrow.
I hope there’s no hassle getting our wages at the end of the week.
” If so, she’d have to dig out her Australian credit card.
But with the exchange rate and fees, it was a last resort.
Jake had said he’d bail her out if she ever had to use it, but she couldn’t keep begging off her oldest brother.
It had been a bit of a joke between them when Jake was single and they’d shared an apartment, but now that he had Helena and little Darcy, he needed his money.
Her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen. Raine. She gave a little shoulder wiggle. Maybe Raine was calling to say where Foxies had moved to. Maybe they were indeed hiring and she and Lula would have better jobs by tomorrow.
“Heidi!” Raine’s upbeat voice echoed loudly down the line. Everything she said ended in an upward inflection and shimmered like a sunbeam. “How’s life in Colorado? Has it snowed yet?”
“It’s October, Rainey. It’s barely snowing yet. Not enough to snowboard.” And there was the small matter of no money, but she wasn’t about to mention that.
“But you’ll go, right? Learn to snowboard without falling on your ass all the time, slice down those mountains trailing a line of starstruck hot chicks in your wake.”
“Dream on.” Heidi snorted. “I’m more likely to slide down the bunny run on my butt as those hot chicks laugh their tits off.”
“I’m calling about Foxies,” Raine said. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Let’s go with the good news.” She raised her eyebrows at Lula. “Has she found new premises?”
“I called Kali. She has new premises, and she’s looking for staff.”
Heidi frowned. Raine’s voice had turned less sparkling sunshine. It was now cloud-covered. “And the bad?”
“If you can get to Maine, you’ve got a job.”
Right. That was the catch right there. Maine was what, a four-hour plane ride? A three-day bus trip? And a whole pile of dollars she didn’t have, thanks to Serena.
“And will she still be there when I arrive in Maine, or will she have closed up and moved to Hawaii?”
“Too humid for her.” Raine sighed, and her voice softened.
“I’m sorry, Heidi. I realize how this sounds.
You’ve already bused for almost a day to Colorado.
Now it’s turned into Maine. If you’ve got any sort of good work in Denver, I’d stick with it.
Yes, Kali is my friend, but this isn’t the first time she’s outrun her creditors like this.
I guess I should have told you earlier.”
“Not your fault.” She bit her lip. “I’ve found work in Denver. I started today, and it looks promising.”
Lula lifted her eyebrows. “Really?” she mouthed.
“Then stick with it,” Raine said. “At least for a while. Kali’s not a bad person, but she’s not a business person, if you know what I mean.”
Heidi did. The trouble with service jobs and the sort of easy-come-easy-go jobs that she usually took was that people often treated you like shit. Sometimes it was unthinking, more often it was a deliberate attempt to fuck you over. Kali was definitely an unthinking shit.
She thanked Raine and ended the call, throwing the cell on the bed and flopping back on the quilt. “Looks like I’m stuck with Robert. At least for the moment.”
Lula tapped Heidi’s leg. “At least we get our tips daily. Robert’s the type of asshole who’ll try and shaft us hours at the end of the week.”
“I think you’re right about Robert—I’ll keep applying for other jobs.”
She gripped the thin coverlet between her fingers.
Damn Serena and her silver fingers—even if those fingers had done magic things on Heidi’s body, it wasn’t worth the other, less legal, ways Serena had used them.
But there was nothing she could do about that.
Not unless Serena strolled back into her life—and with twenty thousand dollars of Heidi’s money in her possession, why would she?
Her phone tinged with a message. Her feet hit the floor with a thump, and she propelled herself upright. “Gotta go. The hostel messaged. They want someone to clean for four hours in exchange for a free night’s accommodation. If I don’t answer in five minutes, they move on to the next on the list.”
“Go.” Lula, too, got off the bed. “You’ve time to do that before we leave for the Fly Inn.”
~ ~ ~
Heidi poured cheap bourbon, conscious of Robert’s eyes on her, no doubt making sure she didn’t give too large a pour.
She rang up the sale and put the dollar into her tip jar.
Across the room, Lula set down burgers and fries then hustled back to the kitchen.
It turned out the server’s job was also a cook’s job, and the cheap food the Fly Inn served brought in a steady stream of customers.
Robert obviously hoped they wouldn’t notice the overpriced drinks, but it seemed most people were onto him.
They weren’t drinking, and Heidi wasn’t making much in tips.
She ran a cloth around the counter. If Robert wasn’t there watching her every move, she could check the job websites, but not while his stare was fixed on her like a coyote in a henhouse.
Lula dropped three baskets of wings in the servery.
“Who are they for?” Heidi asked.
“Construction workers at the corner table,” Lula said. “You’re a doll.” She pushed her dark hair from her forehead and added some jalapeno poppers to the fryer basket.
Heidi returned to the bar and poured the domestic beer the workers also wanted.
Robert tapped his glass on the counter, and she poured him another Bud. Her lips thinned. Lula was working her ass off—it wouldn’t kill him to help her.
In her ten-minute break, she looked at the job sites.
Server for a Mexican restaurant, must speak Spanish.
Person to mind three toddlers during the day, occasional evenings.
The pay wasn’t mentioned. And toddlers? No, thanks.
She preferred people she could have a conversation with.
A casino in Blackhawk was seeking cocktail servers—but that was out of town and didn’t mention accommodation.
Plenty of jobs for short-order cooks—Lula would find another job easily enough, but Heidi’s cooking skills weren’t that great to begin with, and she was sure she’d struggle in a fast-paced diner.
No, it looked as if she’d be stuck at the Fly Inn for a while longer.
“Heidi!” Robert’s sharp voice recalled her to the bar. She pocketed her cell phone and returned to pour beer and cheap bourbon.