Elegant Sins (Dark Secret Society 1)

“Happy to brighten your day,” I said through my teeth. “Now, what can I get for you? Why don’t I tell you about our specials today?”

And that’s how I managed to get through the next few hours. Running my ass off, bullshitting my way through bad customer behavior, and avoiding Bill at all costs.

That was, until he cornered me after the dinner rush slowed down and I paused for a bathroom break.

I stepped out of the bathroom and Bill was standing right there, blocking my path.

“What kind of stunt do you think that was earlier, running off when I needed you?”

God, I was so tired. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so bone-weary. “Look, Bill. I’m exhausted. Can we talk about this tomorrow when I come in?”

That was the wrong thing to say. I knew it immediately by the way his face darkened.

“Who do you think you are? I’m the owner of this place and you’re nothing. You’re less than nothing. I could replace you like this.” He snapped his fingers.

I bit my tongue. Bill wasn’t Jeremy. I couldn’t just go off on him.

As much as it sucked, I needed this shitty job. There was so little opportunity for work in this town, it had taken me four months to get hired here.

The only other place in town was the shipping facility, but I’d heard nightmares about working in that place. Same with the meatpacking plant and that was an almost forty-five minute commute. Not to mention that when I did earn good tips and worked doubles fairly often, I could manage rent and just a little extra.

I looked down at the floor, pretending a subservience I sure as hell didn’t feel. “I’m sorry I was late, Bill.” The words were acid on my tongue, but I said them anyway. “You might’ve heard, but Kyle left me today. I just had to go home and see if it was true.”

By the noise of surprise that came from Bill, I guess it was news to him.

“He left you?”

I nodded fervently. Bill wasn’t an especially sympathetic guy, but maybe he’d go easy on me just this once. I had legitimate cause for emotional distress, even if missing Kyle wasn’t the reason I was distressed.

“And he stole from me. So, I’m sorry I was distracted today. I just had a lot on my mind.”

“Well.” Bill blinked. “Don’t let it happen again.”

I nodded. Thank God. Maybe Bill would let me off the hook. But he still wasn’t moving out of my way, so I waited to hear what else he had to say.

“You know, I’ve been waiting for this day,” he finally said.

What? What did he mean by that?

But when I looked back up again, Bill was already settling a hand above me on the wall. A wave of body odor assaulted me with the action, but Bill seemed oblivious.

“That boy was never right for you. You’re a real pretty girl, ya know? I always envisioned you with an older man. Someone who could take care of you right. Someone who owns property. Who owns a respectable business.”

Bill leaned in, and now I could smell his foul breath in addition to his armpit odor. His teeth were yellow as he smiled at me.

Oh God, he couldn’t be suggesting—

“I always thought you and I had a sort of special relationship. Now that Kyle’s out of the way, I think we should—”

The bell rang over the door of the diner. “Oh my gosh, I told Delilah that I wouldn’t leave her alone out there.”

Without another word, I forcefully squeezed my way underneath Bill’s arm and all but ran out to the front of the diner. But Bill moved with me and rubbed his body all against mine as I passed, and I didn’t miss the stiff bulge in his pants that he pressed against my pelvis as I went.

Ugh. Full body shudder. I’d need to take a bath in Clorox when I got home.

My mind was so fixated on what had just happened outside the employee bathroom that it took me a second to register the man who’d just walked in the diner.

But when I saw him, I paused. So did everyone else in the room.

Because what on earth was a stranger, dressed in a tuxedo—such a formal tuxedo that it even had tails to the coat, no less—doing in a podunk diner in the middle of Nowhere, Georgia?

By the look on the older man’s face, he was just as discomfited to be here as his outfit suggested.

“You lost?” someone called out to him.

“I accept!”

My head swung around, and I was shocked to see that it was Delilah who had shouted at the fancy stranger. She was whipping her apron off over her black hair and all but sprinting across the room to the tuxedo’d man.