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CHAPTER4
KIRA
Kira waspower-walking across the back parking lot of the Shining Star Casino. She was dressed, as usual, in her skimpy uniform. Except this time, she was still wearing her street shoes, which were a pair of worn-out tennis shoes broken in from years of use. They were a silly companion for her flashy, sexy uniform and black fishnet stockings. Kira had a black backpack slung over one shoulder, and she looked a bit frazzled. Her long auburn hair was still hanging loose and free, framing her beautiful bare face perfectly. It ruffled gently in the breeze as she made her way from the car to the rear employee entrance. In one hand she had her phone pressed to her ear.
“Sweetheart, I really don’t think you should be out at night like this,” Kira’s mother wheedled over the phone.
“She’s a tough girl, she can handle herself,” said Kira’s dad from the background.
“Dad’s right. I’m a grown-up, Mom. I’ve told you a thousand times: the casino is a pretty safe place for me to work,” Kira insisted gently.
Her mother sighed. “It’s hardly safe for a sweet young lady like you tovisita casino, much less work the night shift at one.”
“It’s not some sketchy, low-brow strip club under the overpass or anything.” Kira chuckled. “It’s huge and fancy and very well-lit.”
Despite the nonchalance in her tone, Kira actually did tend to keep her head on a swivel, at least in the parking lot. Even though she’d never been followed or harmed in any way, there were often tipsy, entitled guys hanging around to catcall and leer at her. Tonight, though, Kira was relieved to find the parking lot devoid of creeps. At least, she couldn’t see them. If someone wanted to watch her from the distance of their own vehicle, she couldn’t exactly stop them. Kira was used to being stared at anyway, especially on the clock. It happened everywhere she went, much to her confusion, but it was guaranteed at the casino. When she put on that skin-tight black and red uniform, it was like she immediately transformed into some guy’s wild fantasy. It was impossible for the men around her to ignore her. The slit of the skirt on her thigh and the cheeky cutout of her bodice drew their eyes straight to her. As long as they left her alone and didn’t try anything shady, Kira was happy just to let them stare.
“Bad things happen in fancy places, too,” her mother warned.
“Reel it in a little bit, Sonja. You’re going to scare her,” said her father.
“A little fear can be healthy, Stepan!” Sonja quipped back.
“Tell that to a therapist and see what they say,” he said and laughed.
Kira smiled. She could so vividly picture them both crowded on the love seat in their living room, leaned over the phone with their heads nearly resting together. She saw her father wearing his extra-thick bifocals and a sweatsuit, her mother wearing a housecoat and slippers because she was always cold, even in the desert. Despite the fact that the call came from Sonja’s phone, it was almost certainly Stepan holding it between them. Kira’s mother had Parkinson’s disease, and sometimes her hands shook too much to do it herself. Between Stepan’s failing eyesight and arthritis and Sonja’s disease, they made an interesting pair.
All Kira’s life, her parents had been exceptionally hard workers, and she knew it was still difficult sometimes for them to accept the slower, less productive new phases of their lives. It seemed that much of that unused, pent-up energy was spent on worrying for their beloved young daughter. Loving Kira was now their full-time job.
“I’m just saying that she should be very careful,” said Sonja. “A casino is a great place for a bad guy to blend in.”
“Don’t worry. My asshole-meter is perfectly calibrated, Mom. I can recognize a ‘bad guy’ before he even gets close to me,” said Kira. “Again, it’s a casino, not a brothel. There’s more than just sketchy guys in our clientele.”
“A woman can be just as dangerous,” Stepan interjected. “I mean, not usually. But sometimes.”
“Good point. Kira should be cautious around people ofanygender,” agreed Sonja, only partly teasing. She tried to make the statement sound lighthearted, but Kira could hear the note of genuine concern in it.
She had always been a bit of a worrywart, but ever since she was forced to retire years ago, her paranoia had flared up a little. Kira thought it had a lot to do with how vulnerable her mom felt; she was shaky, dizzy, and weak sometimes. She needed assistance with a lot of everyday tasks, and she knew how easily someone could take advantage of her. That fear carried into every part of her world. It was understandable, and Kira knew to be patient with her, just like her father always was. Sonja meant well, even if she went a little over the top sometimes.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, let me remind you that I’m not alone here,” said Kira as she typed her code into the back entrance keypad. “There are literally security guys at both entrances and there’s a whole surveillance room and everything. Nobody is going to slip past them, much less make it all the way to me.”
Security opened the back entry and nodded to Kira as she walked in. She gave them a polite smile and hurried on, feeling their eyes hot on her body as she walked away. That was unusual. Normally, the security guys hardly acknowledged her. She wondered if she had something in her teeth.
“I do wish you didn’t have to dress like a go-go dancer,” said her father.
Kira snorted. “A go-go dancer? Dad, what year are we living in?”
“Watch it. I’m notthatold yet.”
Kira held her phone between her neck and shoulder as she held the lock on her locker and deftly put in the combination. The locker clicked open to reveal a mirrored interior door and a neat stack of books, all with shiny spines and glossy covers.
Kira looked around with wide eyes, making sure nobody was there to see what kind of literature she was reading. The books were all romance novels with images of sexy, shirtless men on the covers. The titles were typed in looping hot-pink typefaces. The pages were packed with steamy scenes and forbidden romances. Kira wasn’t ashamed of her dirty little secret, but she definitely didn’t want to have to explain herself to anyone.
There were library stickers on each one of them, showing that not only did Kira read these flashy bodice-rippers, but she couldn’t afford to buy them outright. Kira was a voracious reader who blew through a book just about every other day. The bookstore and her wallet couldn’t possibly keep up, so she made the library a regular stop during her daytime errands and activities. She made a mental note to scoop all those books into her backpack when she left that evening. At least one of those babies had to be almost overdue, and Kira was not about to incur any late fees if she could help it. Her budget was tight, and the last thing she needed was to owe the library her paycheck. She could just picture the crotchety old librarian scoffing down her nose at Kira for her favorite flavor of fiction. No, thank you.
She quickly put her backpack in front of the stack of books to hide them, then caught her reflection on the back of the locker door. It wasn’t until she was standing in front of a full-length mirror that she noticed her dress was on inside out. The little embroidered tag was poking out at the nape of her neck when she turned around, and the seams were sprouting tiny loose strings at her collar.
Well, that explained why the security guys had been staring at her. Kira blushed deeply and began hurrying to fix it before anyone else walked into the locker room. She set her cell phone on the inside edge of her locker while she quickly whipped her uniform up over her head. She heard her parents softly bickering on the other end.
