Chapter 1
I always knew Keith would show his ass someday. I just didn't expect it to happen so literally. Standing in the frigid parking lot, I stared at the foggy mess that was his car window. Pressed up against the glass were two skinny cheeks and a giant black squid.
The cheeks were real. The squid was inked. Either that, or Keith had a serious problem on his hands. No, make that another part of his unremarkable anatomy. I couldn’t see his hands through the foggy glass, but I'd seen them often enough to know they were squid-free.
About the rest of him, let's just say I was getting a lot better view than I'd ever wanted.
Keith was the night manager at the Two-Bit Diner where I worked as a waitress. That pompous dipshit had been making my life hell for weeks. Just an hour ago, he'd called my cell phone with an ultimatum. Come in to see him within the hour, or lose my job for good.
Standing outside his car window, I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time. I'd met his stupid deadline, but just barely. Again, I glanced at the cheeks. The squid was moving again.
Apparently, Keith wouldn't be returning to his office any time soon.
I'd busted my butt to get here. I'd cleaned up my tear-stained face, squeezed into my trampy uniform, and plastered on the required makeup even thicker than usual, complete with the bimbo-blue eye shadow and enough foundation to hide the fact I was pale as death, with dark circles under my eyes.
My bare legs trembled in the freezing night air. It was the cold, I told myself. Just the cold. Not nerves, not exhaustion, and certainly not the remnants of the worst crying jag I'd ever indulged in.
I'd had a hellish night. Yet somehow, I'd managed to not only get ready, but make the twenty-minute drive in just under fifteen. And now that I was here, I wasn't about to lose my job because Keith wasn't actually in his office.
Screw it.
I knocked on the glass.
Instantly, the squid flew away from the window. A moment later, Keith's surprised face appeared in its place. From what I could see, he was utterly naked, except for his standard striped necktie, hanging loosely around his thin neck.
Somewhere on the other side of the backseat, a woman was squealing at top volume. I chalked it up to embarrassment. Somehow I couldn't envision Keith causing the other kind of squealing, even in the fanciest of hotels, much less a Lincoln Town Car with a pine tree air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.
Keith's eyes were wide, and his thinning brown hair was a disheveled mess. "Damn it, Chloe!" he hollered through the glass. "What the hell's wrong with you?"
Me? I wasn't the one banging some strange chick in the back parking lot.
Then again, that angle wasn't exactly banging-friendly. Maybe their interlude involved more mouth and tongue than –
I shuddered. This was Keith, after all.
Stop thinking about it.
I knew why Keith had demanded to see me. Officially my shift began hours ago. Unofficially, I'd been too indisposed to come in.
Tied up.
Okay, handcuffed.
And not in the fun way either.
True, I'd been nearly naked. And true, the guy with the handcuffs was hot as sin, with perfect pecs, glorious abs, and a face to launch a thousand fantasies. But all that aside, the experience wasn't half as much fun as it sounds, even if a million other girls would've gladly taken my place.
I'd been handcuffed because my jerk of a boyfriend – correction, ex-boyfriend, if he'd ever truly been my boyfriend at all – had mistaken me for some kind of greedy, lying scumbag looking to exploit his fame for my own financial gain.
But I couldn't think about that now. I'd rather kiss that squid a hundred times than cry in front of my idiot boss and some random car hoochie.
I swallowed the pain and focused on Keith. He covered his privates with both hands while the girl in the backseat continued to screech. Keith leaned toward her and muttered something I couldn't hear. A moment later, the screeching stopped, and a second face appeared in the window. My jaw hit the pavement.
It was Brittney.
The girl who tried to have me kidnapped.
The girl who almost got me fired.
And apparently, the girl who was screwing my boss.