AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It meant Mac was about to undergo a campaign of rage and slander to shutter Dazzlers. If history told us anything, he would go to the press and have someone he’d paid off publish an awful story about me, or the casino — there was room for creativity in this portion of the activities. Then, he’d bribe workers away from Dazzlers, with the hopes that it’d be impossible to restaff quickly. And, needless to say, he’d turn the board of casino owners against me. That last bit wouldn’t take too much work. They already hated me.
“Kiki,” I breathed.
Mac was going to try to close my casino, and all because of Kiki.
Well, I was fucked.
CHAPTER 24
Kiki
ABOUT HALF an hour into my shift after my big win, I’d looked around the casino floor, hoping to see Tate. These last few days, he’d taken to hanging out around my work area, I think so that he could occasionally start a conversation with me. He thought it was subtle, but I knew a smitten boy when I saw one.
But today, oddly enough, he seemed to have disappeared as soon as we’d left the poker table. Weird.
I was still riding the high of my big win when I got a ring on my cell.
Ducking out of the main area, I took the call, nervous it would be my dad, dialing from some pay phone to say he was in trouble and needed help.
“Hello?”
“Kiki?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“I’m Tulsie, I work with RES.”
My heart thudded in my chest. Was this about the virginity sale?
She continued, “We’d like to offer you a job here, working as Floor Manager, overseeing cocktail services and such.”
Wait… what? I hadn’t been a waitress at Dazzlers that long, certainly not long enough to delegate responsibilities to a whole team and I hadn’t applied for any jobs. Why the hell was I getting this call?
Then it occurred to me that perhaps I’d made a splash at the virginity sale, and somebody or another had thought to hire me. Things like that can filter down a chain of command.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I’m listening.”
And then she named a number that was almost double my yearly salary.
“I’ll take the interview,” I replied immediately, in no position to question it.
Maybe I can work two jobs, I thought to myself. Part time at Dazzlers, and full time at RES. There’d be no hours left over in the day, but if I asked them to front me a few paychecks, I’d get my dad’s debts paid in time.
“Excellent,” Tulsie said, her deep voice smooth like satin. “When can you come in?”
“How about today?”
We agreed on a time after my shift at Dazzlers was over, and I thanked her, hanging up the phone.
I spent the rest of the shift rushing cocktails to and fro and wondering how the fuck I was having such patently good luck. After years of bad shit just flying at me nonstop, I’d suddenly earned over a year’s pay in a few rounds of poker, and then received a job interview for twice as much money. Some supernatural force was definitely watching over me.
As soon as my shift was up, I changed into my coat and scurried out the door, not even stopping to find Sonia and tell her the good news. She was due to come in for the next shift but was running a little late, and I didn’t have time to linger around for her.
Walking back into RES felt like stepping into a dream that I wasn’t quite sure I had dreamed. Instead of going to the discreet bar in the back, I followed Tulsie’s instructions and went to a small staffing office downstairs, where I found a tall, slim woman waiting in a chair.
“Hey, Tulsie?”
The woman looked up, her French chignon dipping low on her neck.
“You must be Kiki. You certainly are wonderful to look at. Come on in.”
Trying not to hunch over with embarrassment, I strode into the room and took the seat across from her.
I’d give you more details, but frankly, it was a pretty run-of-the-mill job interview — she asked me about my work history, my goals, et cetera. After about fifteen minutes, I thought I was obviously toast. It was clear, to me at least, that I didn’t have much experience, and probably wasn’t qualified for the job.
And yet, at the end of the interview, Tulsie put both palms on her desk and said, “Excellent, you have the job.”
“I’m sorry?”
There was no way this was real. Nobody ever hired right after an interview, especially not for a managerial position. They should’ve made me wait at least a few days, maybe a week to check references. I repeat — what the fuck was going on?
It was all happening too fast.
As Tulsie told me more about what the pay structure would be, my mind wandered off, spinning with questions.
