CHAPTER SIX
Ariana
AFTER THE FRUSTRATING ride to work with Bones, I was ready to scream or punch something. Preferably him. No matter what I did, he treated me like a little kid. Like a friend. Ugh. I wanted to smack that word right out of his mouth. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to accept it.
Bones and I were friends.
Fine. Whatever.
I needed to keep my mind busy before I lost it. Thankfully, the dinner shifts were always hopping, and today was no exception. Hurrying into the manager’s office, I found the man the waitresses had not-so-lovingly nicknamed Pervy Pete sitting behind his desk studying his computer screen.
“Hey Pete, mind if I clock in early?” I asked.
He startled, then straightened. “Ariana. Welcome back. It’s great to see you. No, I don’t mind at all. Clock in any time you want.”
Weird. I’d been expecting some level of awkwardness—the guy had fired me, after all—but he was downright friendly and not at all his normal pervy self. His gaze didn’t even drift over my body before returning to his monitor. Whatever means of persuasion Bones had used must have been pretty compelling.
I should probably be worried about that, but instead it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Bones had gone to bat for me. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had cared about me enough to do that. Now, if only I could get him to stop treating me like a little kid and give in to what we both wanted...
“Hey girl,” my coworker, Harlow, said as soon as I walked into the kitchen. Her short, dark hair was spiked with blue tips. With a septum ring, thick, dark eyeliner, a choker, and combat boots, her uniform made her look like some punk rock BDSM centerfold. She bumped her hip into mine as I tied on my apron. “Heard Pervy Pete gave you your job back. It’s good to see you. How’s your sister?”
“Recovering.” I filled a water pitcher, not wanting to talk about Markie. My brain was too full, and my hangover was still lingering. I didn’t want to talk, or think, about anything. I wanted to work and keep myself busy. “Need help with any of your tables?”
She gave me a bolstering smile, no doubt seeing right through my change of subject. “Abso-fuckin’-lutely. I haven’t been around with water in a while. Watch table fourteen. The guy in the Hawaiian shirt is a bit handsy.”
Just like that, I fell back into my normal routine, helping the waitresses on duty until my shift officially started. Then I joined in the rotation and took over my own tables. The restaurant had a steady flow of customers, keeping my mind and body blissfully busy. Far too busy to think or worry or be lonely. Before I knew it, I was on my last break, leaning against a wall in the casino and checking social media on my phone.
“Hey baby,” a familiar voice said, pulling my attention to the man who’d stopped directly in front of me.
Matt. He looked different than the last time I’d seen him. Wearing a suit (instead of a condom wrapper), his hair was shorter and his face shaven. His eyes were still dark, but he looked good. Healthy. I was both relieved and angry that the bastard wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere. He’d claimed to love me, but had abandoned me when I’d needed him most. No, he’d almost killed me, then drove away, flipping me the bird as he went.
And now, months later, he was back.
I folded my arms and asked, “Nice suit. Did my money pay for that?”
His frown told me it wasn’t the reception he’d been expecting, which only pissed me off more. What did he expect? I’d trusted him, and Matt had royally screwed me over, stomped on my heart, took my money, and left. Now he was back wearing a new tailored suit and shiny black oxfords.
“Don’t be like that, baby. I missed you.”
I used to love it when he called me baby. Now it made me want to rip out his tongue. “Cut the bullshit and tell me what you want, Matt. I don’t have any more money, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
He held up his hands in the universal gesture for surrender and took a hesitant step toward me. “Not at all. I’m here to redeem myself.”
Not likely. “Stay back,” I warned, scooting against the wall, back toward the safety of the restaurant. I didn’t think Matt would hurt me, but I didn’t exactly want to be alone with him, either.
“But I have good news,” Matt said, grinning. His gaze darted to a security camera, and he shifted, turning his back toward it.
I glanced from Matt to the camera, wondering who he was hiding from now. Matt had screwed over a lot of people, including Bones. Knowing I should text Bones and tell him Matt was here, I glanced at my phone. “Why should I believe anything you say? You tried to kill me. What the hell did you give me that night, anyway?”
“Nothing I didn’t take myself, remember? I didn’t try to kill you, Ari. I love you! You must have had some crazy reaction. Maybe you were allergic or something?”
“So, you knew I was in the hospital and you stayed away? Didn’t even make sure I survived? Sounds like some messed up kind of love to me.”
“I tried to get in to see you, but your sister was there the whole time. That bitch threatened to call the cops on me. Besides, I knew I fucked up and I needed to find a way to make it up to you. Which I did. That’s why I’m here. Ari, I got you an audition!” He took another big step toward me.
“An audition?” I asked, looking up from my phone in the middle of typing Bones out a message. As my manager, Matt had been trying to get me on a stage—any stage—since I’d moved to Vegas a year ago and started feeding him money to represent me. To be fair, he had gotten me some auditions, but I’d suffered through enough pole dancing and twerking in front of perverted old men to last me a life time. I wanted to sing, dammit, and he’d never been able to get me that kind of audition. Fed up, I shook my head. “I’m broke and disillusioned, Matt. Go find someone else to buy your bullshit.”
His smile faltered. “Wait!”
Turning my back on him, I headed back to work.
“It’s a singing audition, Ari. At the Acropolis.”
My feet stilled as my stomach leapt into my throat. My brain knew better than to trust Matt, but my heart wouldn’t listen. Singing at the Acropolis could give me the kind of in that I needed to launch my career. It would be an incredible opportunity, if it was real.
His footsteps neared until he stood in front of me again. “I know there’s no excuse for the shit I pulled, but I want to make this right. I miss you. I miss all the good times we had. I know I owe you, so I borrowed some money and bought a suit so I could rep you better. They let me in to talk to the manager and—”
I refused to get caught up in another one of Matt’s lies. How many times had he disappointed me? Manipulated me? Used my dream against me? No matter how badly I wanted to sing, I couldn’t trust him. “Oh yeah? What’s the manager’s name?”
Matt didn’t hesitate. “Doug Benson. Nice guy. A little abrupt, but he’s busy. He listened to your tracks—the ones we paid for you to produce in Danny’s studio—and he loved them. He loved you. Said I could bring you in for auditions this Tuesday night.”
We paid for? No, I’d paid for everything, and with far more than money. I wanted it to be true—I wanted it so damn bad I could almost taste it—but I couldn’t trust him. “You never even called to check on me. You disappeared, and I haven’t heard from you for months, then you show up promising an audition? Why now?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Like I said, I wanted to make it all up to you. To show you how much I care. I never stopped thinking about you.”
His words fell on deaf ears. Whatever hold he used to have on me, must have broken over the months he spent away. I didn’t want to spend one minute longer with the douchebag. “Tuesday night at what time? I can take myself.”
Matt swallowed. A sheen of sweat broke out around his hairline. “You can’t. No free agents. You have to have representation to get in.”
“I can hire a different agent.”
His beady little eyes shifted. How had I not noticed how beady his eyes were before? He wasn’t even good looking. What the hell had I been thinking to give this jerk a year of my life?
“But I worked so hard to get this audition for you. I should be there to see you succeed.”
“You say you want to make everything up to me? Be selfless and prove how much you love me. Give me the time I’m supposed to be there.”
He shook his head, taking a step back.
Had he always been this full of bullshit? How did I miss it? “Whatever, Matt.” I pushed past him and kept walking.
“Wait.” He jogged the few steps to catch up, holding a piece of paper out toward me. “I want to be there for you, Ari. I want to make sure you make it. At least take my new number in case you change your mind.”
When I didn’t immediately accept it, he grabbed my hand, spreading my fingers so he could place the paper in my palm before closing them up again. “Let me do this for you. Please.”
I should have told him to fuck off and shredded his number, but if there was even a tiny chance he’d actually come through for once… I stuffed the paper in my pocket. “I have to get back to work.”
His gaze darted down to my pocket and his grin returned. “Just think about it. You, standing on the stage, singing your lungs out. It’s a chance for everything we dreamed about it.”
Everything I’d dreamed about for as long as I could remember. Emotions that felt disturbingly like hope churned my stomach. I had to get out of there before I did something stupid like trusted Matt again.
I walked away again, determined to make this my last time.
“Be sure to call me by Tuesday!” Matt shouted. “Don’t throw this opportunity away because I fucked up!”
People were staring. I ducked into the restaurant and hurried into the kitchen, hoping Matt wouldn’t follow.
Harlow was clocking out as I clocked back in from my break. “You okay?” she asked.
Was I? The entire year I’d spent with Matt was an escape from reality. An escape from my failure as an artist and an adult. We drank, smoked weed, experimented with harder drugs, partied like nobody’s business… how could I trust a guy like that with my dream? I couldn’t. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to throw away his phone number, either.
“Ari?” Harlow asked, reminding me that I hadn’t answered her.
“Yeah.” I tied my apron back on. “I’m great, thanks.”
“You sure? I can stick around until your shift ends. Then we can go get a beer or something.”
The suggestion was sweet, but Bones would be showing up at the end of my shift, and I doubted he’d want to stay for a drink with me and my friend. “Nah, I’m good. Get out of here. Go have fun.”
She looked like she was going to argue, but finally shrugged. “Okay, but call me if you need me.”
Giving me a wave, she headed out and I returned to work.