Hurting You (Blackthorn Elite 3)

By the time I leave the house, my grandma is still sleeping. I made her breakfast and left a note on the table; hopefully, she’ll find it and won’t try to burn the house down again. She’s been doing good lately, but the risk is there every day. Someday she’s going to do something, and I won’t be here to stop her.

Hurrying to the car because it’s still freaking cold outside and my sweater jacket doesn’t do much to protect me from the harsh morning air, I get in and start the engine, I blast the heat, turning it to high before pulling out of the driveway. Now that it’s light outside, I feel a little less paranoid but not much.

As I drive to work, I’m consumed with fear. Who were those guys? What were they doing with that body? Did they really kill that other person? I have a thousand questions that won’t ever get answered because no way in hell I’m going to ask them, and the option of going to the police is completely out of the question.

If I’m going to survive this, I’m going to have to force myself to forget what happened.

The closer I get to Blackthorn, the more my fear consumes me. When I pull up to the employee parking lot, my heart is beating so fast, my chest is hurting. I’ve got to get my shit together before I walk in there. Otherwise, everyone will know that I’m losing it, and something is up.

Checking the time, I realize that I’ll be late if I sit here any longer, so I take a deep calming breath and get out of the car. For every other step I take, I look over my shoulder once. Scanning the area for one of the two guys. Expecting them to jump out from behind a car and around every corner I see.

I purposely take the side door instead of the back alley. No way I’m going back there unless I absolutely have to.

“You left the trash bag on the ground outside,” Paul, the kitchen manager yells at me, as soon as I step inside. The sound of his voice startles me, and I clutch a hand to my chest to keep my heart from springing out of it.

“What?” I gasp, trying to hide my fear.

Paul’s gaze drifts down to my chest, where my hand clutches my shirt, and, for a moment, I feel weirdly exposed. I know he is not looking at my hand, but my boobs. I hate when he looks at me like this, it gives me the creeps.

Finally, he raises his eyes, for a moment, I see the lust flicker in them before his gaze turns stern. “I said you left the trash bag outside on the ground.”

Oh shit. With everything that happened last night, I completely forgot about the trash. “I’m sorry, it was too heavy, I couldn’t lift it into the dumpster.” It’s not a lie, but I still feel bad for letting him down.

“Some critters got into it. There is trash all over the back alley. You need to go and clean it up before you clock in.”

“But… I need my full pay…”

“Either that or we need to come to a different arrangement,” he says, licking his lips. I almost throw up right then. What an asshole. I’m not sure what arrangement he is talking about, but I’m sure that I don’t want to know either.

“I’ll clean it up before clocking in.” I force a smile, but it hurts to make my lips go that way. The one place I wanted to avoid is the one place I now have to go back to, but that is still better than staying here with Paul.

Grabbing some gloves and some smaller trash bags from the storage room, I go out back. I half expect the two guys to be there, waiting for me, but they aren’t, and their car is gone. Thankfully. The alley looks different in the light, but it still gives me the creeps.

As quickly as I can, I clean up the mess and deposit all the trash in the dumpster, trying not to look at my dried-up vomit that’s next to it. When I come back in, I toss the gloves in the trash and wash my hands, wishing I could wash the memories swirling in my head away too. Paul is already hard at work, and so I start in on my duties for the day right away.

Before it gets busy and most of the students come in for breakfast, I quickly refill the condiments, cutlery, and napkins. I carry a box of everything, so I don’t have to make multiple trips. When everything is full and organized neatly, I put the remaining stuff back in the box and turn to leave.