15
EDEN
I COULDN’T GET OUT of his office fast enough.
I wasn’t sure what happened, but whatever it was had angered Zander.
I was confused.
One second, his face looked content and relieved, and the next, he was yelling and snapping my head off.
What could that mean?
I passed the locker rooms and started toward the lobby, but just as I rounded the corner, my brain began to function, and I suddenly understood what happened.
There I was, rubbing his crotch basically, and he had all but begged me to stop.
Was it because what I was doing felt good for him?
Apparently it had, if what I think happened really happened.
I moved quickly down the hallway, my feelings hurt from being yelled at and somehow so mad and kind of turned on at the same time.
Zander Hale.
He was making me insane.
Obviously.
Once I was back on the floor, I stayed busy, working extra tables and staying on top of the orders so well I was shocking Jena.
Stepping up to table four, I smiled down at the two gentlemen sitting there who couldn’t seem to keep their eyes on my face. They had been there for hours, downing shot after shot. I was surprised neither had passed out or left yet.
“What can I get for you?” I asked.
They both turned toward me with conspiratorial grins on their faces.
“We’d like something sweet and pure,” one of the guys said.
He was married.
He was using the thick wedding band on his finger to tap against the glass in front of him to the beat of the music.
“Sounds good. What were you thinking?” I asked.
I had an idea of where the conversation was headed, but I could only hope I was incorrect.
I had spent a good part of the night hearing about how sweet I looked in my new uniform.
Sweet and pure just like Jena had said.
The description both annoyed and angered me.
“I thought maybe you could come back to our room and serve us that something sweet and pure there?”
They laughed as if I was clueless about their joke.
I wasn’t.
I was also sick and tired of men and their bull.
They weren’t touching me, but the things they said to me were disgusting.
Still, I pushed through. It was my job, after all, and there wasn’t much I could do about the new uniforms and how people perceived them.
I chuckled, not feeling the humor. “Oh, come on, guys, let me do my job, will you? Drinks, gentlemen. What kind of drinks do you want?”
They weren’t going to tip me.
I already knew that because I wasn’t flirting back the way they wanted me to.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Listen to us being total douches. We’ll take two more shots of Patrón and two Coronas.”
I nodded, scribbling their order down before I turned and walked away.
I didn’t get far before I felt a rough hand on my backside and fingers digging into my flesh.
I gasped and turned quickly, ready to curse the guy out, but when I turned, he tugged on my arm, pulling me into his lap.
“Stop it!” I said, smacking at his hands as I fought to get out of his lap.
“Oh, come on, baby, it’s all in fun.”
I continued to struggle, fighting against his hold, but for a smaller guy, he was strong.
“Let me go!”
The guys laughed, and the more they laughed, the harder I fought to get away from them.
“That’s it. Keep wiggling in my lap in that short skirt. It’s doing it for me,” he joked.
I reached my arm back and used my elbow to pop him in the face.
“What the fuck?” he yelled. “I think you broke my fucking nose, you little bitch!”
I jumped out of his lap and quickly smoothed out my clothes and pushed my hair out of my face.
I was seconds away from escaping the two men and disappearing into the crowd, but before I could get far enough away, the guy grabbed me and pulled me back to him.
I turned, finding it oddly satisfying to see the blood slowly oozing from his nose. It was the least that could have happened to him, considering he had basically assaulted me.
“I said, let me go!”
His fingers dug into my arm, bruising me.
And then a deep voice sounded, sending a bolt of relief through me.
“Remove your hand from the lady before I cut them from your body,” Zander said, his nostrils flaring, and his fists balled at his sides.
Behind him, Jerome and Joey, two of Empire’s security guys, stood with their arms crossed and their expressions stern. They were both prominent, burly gentlemen although nothing about them screamed gentle. I was sure they were bodybuilders at some point in their lives.
“Excuse me?” the guy asked, swiping at the blood dripping from his nose.
“You heard me. You have three seconds.”
“This bitch broke my nose!”
“One.” Zander began to count, his voice stern and calm.
“Did you hear me? I could sue this fucking place!”
“Two.” His lips went tight, and I could tell he was ready to flip on the guys.
Thankfully, before Zander reached three, the guys stood from their table.
“This is bullshit,” the other guy said.
Zander didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his attention to Jerome and said, “Please have these gentlemen removed from the premises, Jerome. Make sure they never step foot inside Empire Sevens again.”
Jerome and Joey escorted the men away from the table, and once they were gone, Zander turned toward me.
“Are you okay?”
I didn’t respond.
I couldn’t.
I was too upset.
Too angry with him.
Turning, I walked away from him, but I didn’t get far before he softly took my arm and directed me to his office.
I could have fought him, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to make a scene.
Once we were inside his office, he closed the door behind him and turned toward me.
“I’ll ask again, which is something I never do. Are you okay?”
I crossed my arms, my anger spiking, but still, I didn’t respond.
“Answer me, Eden,” he snapped.
“No!” I yelled. “I’m not freaking okay, and it’s all your fault,” I spat.
He jerked as if I had slapped him across the face.
“Please, enlighten me. Exactly how is this my fault?”
I chuckled, the sarcasm and anger thick in the sound.
“It’s these stupid things!” I yelled again, tugging at my too short skirt. “Of course, they think it’s okay to touch us and treat us like meat when we walk around looking like this.”
I motioned to my uniform once again.
“Eden …” he started.
But I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. I didn’t want to listen to another freaking word.
Moving closer, I poked him in his massive chest with my finger and cut him off before he could finish his sentence. Then I said precisely what I had been thinking since the very first time I laid eyes on our ridiculous uniforms.
“Fire me. I don’t care, but I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking. We look like whores running around this place. I don’t blame the male customers for being just a tiny bit confused!”
Before he could respond, I turned on my heels, pulled the office door open, and left, slamming the door behind me. I was sure I probably wouldn’t have a job the next morning, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
He was an asshole.
A selfish, evil, cruel asshole.
Which was why I was shocked to my very core the next morning when I went to work to find out that not only did I still have my job, but also that our old uniforms were sitting in our lockers waiting for us.
No more slutty uniforms, and I knew it was Zander I had to thank for that. Even though he would never admit it.