Until Trevor (Until, #2)(2)
Chapter 1
Liz
I get to the front door of the club and shove it open; my stomach is full of butterflies. In all the time I’ve lived here, I have never been inside this club. I never thought I would even visit, let alone come seeking employment here. The inside is dark, with the only light coming from the bar.
“Can I help you?” a very pretty older lady asks. She’s standing behind the bar, wiping out a glass.
“I, um, need to see Mike,” I say, taking another small step inside.
“Sure, honey. Come with me,” she says, walking me down a long hall. She opens the last door.
“Shannon, give me a minute,” Mike says, without looking up from his computer. “November added some new program on this damn thing, and now I can’t find my e-mail,” he grumbles. I smile and walk around the desk, take the mouse from him, and click on the e-mail icon. He chuckles, “Hey, darlin’. How are you?” He asks in the fatherly tone that I’ve come to love. Mike and my dad had been best friends until my dad passed away ten years ago. After his passing, Mike had helped my mom out with my brother and me whenever she needed an extra hand. I used to pray that Mike and my mom would get married, but they were never anything more than friends.
“Could be better,” I say, feeling the tears start to climb up my throat again.
“What’s wrong?” Mike asks, standing from the desk, pulling me over to the couch.
“Well, I need a job.”
“Okay,” he says, and I can tell he doesn’t know what to think. “What’s going on with the store?” he asks, and I can no longer control the tears.
“Tim stole all of our money, and I can’t tell my mom,” I cry, doing a face plant into his chest. I don’t know what happened to the brother that I used to know, the one who would come home at night to check in on me after our father passed away. We used to be close; then he moved away to school and everything changed. When I graduated from high school, I worked at a local factory for eight years, before it closed down due to the economy. Every week, when I got paid, I would put money away for savings. I have always loved to shop, and there were never any stores in town that carried anything that I would buy; so I made a plan, saved my money, and finally, my dreams were realized. “Temptations” was opened.
I sat up, looking over Mike’s shoulder. “Three months ago, when Tim came to visit, he asked if he could help me out in the store. I had been working so many hours and was exhausted, so I agreed. I didn’t know that the real reason he wanted to help me was so that he could rob me blind. Now he’s gone, and so is all of the store’s money…and mine. I can’t tell my mom what happened; she’s getting married in a few weeks and doesn’t need the added stress from this situation. I have a private investigator looking into finding Tim and the twenty-three thousand dollars he stole, but who knows how long that could take. I’ve already lost my apartment, and had to put everything I own in storage while I stay in the back room of the store. I thought that I was doing ok, until I got a notice two days ago saying that I was late paying the rent for the store. I can’t afford to lose my dream,” I whisper, my voice hoarse from crying.
“Shhhhh, darlin’, it’s okay, everything will be alright. November is not using her apartment anymore, so you can stay there; and I can give you the money.”
I shake my head back and forth. “I can’t take the money; it wouldn’t feel right.”
“I can’t have you work for me, Liz,” he says, as he places his right hand on my cheek. I feel bad pulling out the big guns, but I know I need money, and I can’t take it without earning it.
“Can you recommend another club?” I ask pulling out my cell phone, looking like I'm going to take down whatever phone number he gives me.
“You’re not going to work at another club,” he says, running his hands down his face. “Jesus, I don’t know what the f*ck I'm thinking about doing this shit.” When his eyes come back to me, I can tell that he’s really torn. “Look, you can serve drinks, but you can’t work on stage.”
“Okay.” I agree immediately. I never wanted to work on stage. I would if I had to, but the idea of taking off my clothes and trying to appear sexy just seems like a lot of work. “What’s Trevor going to say about this?” Mike asks, and I looked away. Trevor likes to scare away any man who shows the least bit of interest in me. I’m pretty sure that I’m halfway in love with him already, but I know for a fact those feelings are not mutual. For a while, I thought of him as one of my best friends, until the day July was born. We ended up at his house, celebrating over a bottle of vodka. Things ended up getting hot and heavy. He had his hand down my pants, and I was so caught up in the moment that when he asked me how long it had been, I told him “never”. I didn’t mean I’ve never had sex; I meant that I had never felt that kind of fire, like my whole body was lit from the inside out. As soon as I said the word “never”, he stopped immediately. I tried to tell him that I didn’t mean it like he took it, but he completely ignored me. He then handed me my shirt from the floor and left the room. He has been avoiding me ever since. Which is a good thing, because I had never been more humiliated in my life.
“Trevor has no say in what I do. We don’t even talk anymore,” I say, hearing the sadness in my own voice.