AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Amelia
I was sitting on the couch, still in my pajamas and smelling like microwaved popcorn when Poppy came through the door with a smile on her face. Ugh, she looked like sunshine and cotton candy with her brilliant smile, rosy cheeks and brown hair falling over her shoulders. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Poppy, she was my dearest friend—well, ok, she was my only friend—and we’ve also been living together since college. I know most people grow out of the roommate phase, but Las Vegas Valley was expensive, so after we graduated from UNLV, we found a house and decided to split the rent rather than living in crammed condos separately.
“Good news, Amy! You’re getting out of the house!”
Oh no, not again. She’s tried to lure me out of the shell for the past five days.
“Babe, no. Thank you for trying to make me feel better, but I don’t want a night out. I just…I need some time.”
“You had time. You’ve been hiding here in this house for a whole week. At least open a window, girl. You need some air.”
“What I need is some ice cream and another bottle of wine. If you go to the kitchen, can you bring it to me?”
“Nope! Amy, I feel responsible for this.” Her eyes turned away from me.
“What? Why?”
“I was the one who convinced you to let that bitch come live with us.”
That bitchwas the preferred name we now used for our former roommate Sylvia Clarke. Poppy met her a few years ago in a spin class, they’d remained friends and about six months ago she moved in and occupied the third bedroom in the house. Everything was good for a while. Sylvia was fun to be around and never left her laundry in the basket for too long. Oh, and she cooked, which was good because Poppy and I sucked at it. Everything changed a week ago when I came from work early and found my—at the time—boyfriend, Jackson, going down onthat bitchSylvia on my damn bed. That’s when my life started to slowly, but surely, go to hell.
“Poppy, we’ve been talking about renting out the third bedroom for weeks before she moved in. It’s not your fault Sylvia turned out to be a cunt and Jackson a cheating bastard.”
“You lost your job because of what happened.”
Yes, I did and it wasn’t just a job, it was my dream job. I studied science of education and when I got the interview to teach at Henderson Elementary, I was over the moon. Working with children was everything I ever wanted to do. Too bad they fired me on the spot after my obnoxious ex decided to make a scene in front of the school after I refused to take him back. They let me go the day after Jackson came there and yelled that I was a disease-ridden whore. Principal Brown expressed his disappointment, but he had to end my employment because a lot of parents were there as witness to my public humiliation and who would want their kids to be in the same room with adisease-ridden whore?
“I know. I have this month’s rent covered and I will look for something else. I promise.”
“Well, look no more, because I found you a fabulous job offer.”
“You did? Where?” She did say they needed cocktail waitresses at her nightclub, but that wasn’t for me. I was the most uncoordinated woman on this planet. There was no way I could carry a tray full of glasses, in the dark, on high heels.
“Hold on to your ugly cotton pajamas because you, my dear, are going to work for Hunter Knox.”
So, she was still trying to convince me to become a cocktail waitress. Hunter Knox was a god here in Las Vegas—a god of all pleasures. Luxury, sex, money, sin, Knox’s name was entwined with all. He was a private man, keeping his life under wraps, but tabloids loved him and his model-like face. The press liked to call him the King of Nevada because he owned a chain of luxury hotels all over the state. He had casinos on the strip, and numerous nightclubs—from the type where people went to dance to the type where people were going to watch other people have sex on a stage. Poppy was working as a barman at Shangri-la, which was one of Knox’s soft clubs.
“Babe, I’m grateful that you’re trying to help me, but I don’t think I can work in a club. I don’t feel comfortable in those tiny uniforms they make you wear.”
She smiled and came to sit on the coffee table in front of me.
