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There was, as promised, a small pile of paperwork, but then I jumped right into the shift, trying not to feel discouraged at the immediacy of the whole thing. I suppose I’d expected some more fanfare, maybe a cake or something. Hell, Tulsie didn’t even gather the other employees to introduce me as their new co-boss. She said I’d meet them all eventually. It was so… anticlimactic.
Anyways, other than my slight disappointment in the way this new chapter began, the shift went by rather smoothly.
Though, I have to note, it was soon apparent that RES was a bit, shall we say, dicier than Dazzlers. This isn’t a thing I can illustrate, really, except to say — the patrons’ clothes were just a little dirtier, their hair more unkempt. The noises were louder and there were more machines broken and although I wasn’t getting drinks, I expect that the alcohol was watered just a little more than what I had served at Dazzlers. It wasn’t noticeably worse, and it certainly wasn’t unmanageable, it was just… not quite as high class.
Then again, Dazzlers had apparently had a hand in selling underage girls, so perhaps all that glitters ain’t gold, right?
We were about halfway through the shift, everything chugging along just fine, when I spotted a man across the casino floor. Sometimes it takes me a few moments to remember a face — I see a ton of people every day — but this one clicked instantly.
He was the other man bidding on me from the sale.
His bald head shone under the lotto lights, and I recognized him on sight.
Oh fuck. What did that mean? Was I supposed to run and hide, or wave, or pretend like I didn’t know him? Who was he? What was the protocol?!
Thoughts overwhelmed me, but just as I resolved to act like I hadn’t seen him, the man caught my eye and winked.
Fuck, fuck, turn around, Kiki! I yelled at myself, but it was too late — he was already walking in my direction.
I swallowed hard and managed a little smile. Whoever he was, it probably wasn’t a good idea to piss him off. Men with money like that weren’t enemies you wanted.
“Hello, Kiki,” he said as he came to a stop just a bit too close to me. “Remember me?”
“Yes, sir,” I mumbled, trying to keep my voice down.
“You can speak up. This is, after all, my casino.”
Wait. What?
He laughed at the look of confusion that must’ve crossed my face.
“Yes, I know, it’s all very complex. But in any case, I’m Mac. Sorry I wasn’t able to purchase your, ah, favor. It would’ve been quite an experience, I’m sure.”
I clasped my hands together and stared at the ground, trying to remain as inert as possible.
“Not a big talker, huh?” he continued, after I didn’t reply. “Doesn’t matter. I talk enough for the both of us. I’ll see you around.”
He clicked his tongue, his eyes roving across my body, before striding back off.
I forced myself to take a deep breath. What was that all about? He’d introduced himself, yeah, but now I had more questions than before.
It was kinda weird that he’d hired me after the virginity sale, no? Or was I overthinking things? A virginity sale just didn’t strike me as like, a great job fair, if you know what I mean.
But whatever. A job is a job, especially if it’s paying well. I’d keep my head down, save up some money, pay off my dad’s debts, then get the hell out of town.
However, about an hour later, Mac had returned.
“I need you to run an errand for me,” he said.
I looked around, wondering if he was talking to someone else.
“You,” he repeated. “Can you get me some print-outs on the current staffing levels?”
“Uh… okay.” This would be a five-minute job. Why was he asking? “I’ll grab that right now.”
He grinned and I walked to the managerial office, where as requested, I printed out some spreadsheets about staff breakdowns. Couldn’t Mac have gotten this from any other computer? We certainly weren’t the only people with access to these documents. Was I being paranoid?
In short order, I went back to Mac, papers in hand.
“Here you go,” I said, passing them over.
“Excellent. Oh, and while I’ve got you here, could you also get a count on how many glasses we have? I’m considering replacing them, but I wanna know what the stocks look like.”
This was definitely out of my work purview — he could’ve asked any number of employees about this without coming down in person — but I obliged. It was my first day and I didn’t want to come across as lazy or difficult. It took me all of two minutes to let him know that we had some five-thousand cups.
Mac shook his head. “Huh, guess we won’t replace them. Thought maybe we’d broken more than that. One more thing. Kiki, would you mind heading to my office and replenishing the bar?”
