RILEY
Riley worked all Wednesday, exhausted by the end of a full eight hour shift. She always an opener, first shift, starting at eight in the morning. She was finally dragging out to walk home at nearly five. She had Winter again and the little shit had gotten on her nerves all day.
She talked about nothing but their new boss to the point that Riley was uncomfortable for him. He hadn’t shown up until noon and promptly tried to talk to her, which made the entire day much more… exhausting.
“Hey Riley.” He leaned over the counter and smiled at her. She noticed he was a little shy and eyed him wearily anyways.
“Hi Andrew.” Was all she responded with before walking away to take a customer a piece of blueberry pie. When she returned, he was still there.
“So, I was thinking, I normally won’t get in this late and if I’m opening with you…” He trailed off and she sighed.
“Yes?”
“I was thinking I could give you a ride, ya know?” He tapped the counter nervously. Was he serious? She probably looked incredibly confused.
“How often will this be?” She asked back.
“Well, I’ll probably be opening every day except Saturday for a couple of hours just to look over paperwork. Today I had some things I had to handle before I could come in.”
Saturday was another permanent day off for her. Every waitress got one really busy day on the schedule and her’s was Sunday. Riley worked Sunday through Wednesday with Thursday through Saturday off. Ruth had done it for her so she could try to have a real life. It didn’t work but she was always thankful Ruth trying to make that happen.
“So, every day,” she finally spit out. “You’ll give me a ride to work every day.”
“Yeah. And I’ll call you if I can’t make it and won’t get mad if you’re a few minutes later because of me.” He finally gave her a bright grin. “Here’s my phone, put your number in it and I’ll call you tomorrow when I’m on my way.”
His phone was suddenly in her hands, a new contact entry ready for her. She resisted the urge to glare at him but a consistent ride to work would be awesome. She hadn’t gotten around to even looking for a car and it’s been two years in this town already. Now she have incentive to buy one as fast as possible, especially with the pay raise. She didn’t want this arrangement to last longer then it had too.
“Why?” She looked at him, holding his phone.
“Because no one else here has to walk in the snow,” Andrew shrugged. Shit, he was right.
She punched in her numbers and name quickly. When she thought about it, it was nice of him to ask her for the number when he could have just looked it up in her file without her permission.
“Send me a text,” she told him quickly. “So that I know your number and don’t ignore your call. Also, I have tomorrow off. So no worries, I won’t need a ride until Sunday.”
“Do you ignore a lot of calls?” He asked her softly, looking down at her with a little concern. She could only laugh.
“You have no idea!” She turned and walked away from him at that, so she could finally go on her fifteen minute break. She knew she left him gaping at her. It wasn’t the most outrageous gape but it was there in Andrew’s quiet way. Just a slight opening of his mouth as he looked for the worlds to respond. She’d done it to him several time just the day before, his first day as the new boss. She had a sass that she knew he hadn’t been expecting.
Her phone dinged five minutes later and she looked down at it. Text from a new number.
Unknown: Don’t ignore my calls, please. It would make me sad :(-Andrew
She chuckled and saved the number Andrew HotBoss Hicks. No regrets. It was her phone and he could do what she wanted.
It was at that moment that Winter showed up.
“HotBoss? Really Riley?” She had a nasally voice and an accent that made her sound like she desperately wanted to be from California. She wasn’t, it was pretty fake. Riley had seen her type before and she had seven years on the child who thought she owned the world. “You should give me his number, since he is my boss too.”
“No, he gave it to me for work reasons.” Riley sighed, putting her phone back in her apron and rolling her eyes. “Ask him for it yourself.”
“Fine,” Winter hissed. “Why can’t you look out for the rest of us?”
“If you were eighteen, I would think about it,” Riley finally turned to the girl. “But you’re sixteen and every time you open your mouth, you talk about our boss like he’s your newest conquest and you can’t wait to fuck him like a porn star.”
She walked by Winter before the girl could make a response. Andrew was twenty-fucking-eight. Way to old for a sixteen year old. It was one thing to fantasize and another thing to actively try and get in his pants. Winter was going to get someone arrested one day. Riley would normally have no sympathy for guys who fall for girls like her but Andrew seemed weirded out by it every time Winter spoke to him. That told Riley that he wasn’t really down Winter’s behavior. Thank fuck. It was only day two and Winter was nearly throwing herself on their boss’ cock and he was freaking out.
She gave Winter a month tops before she was fired.
With her shift over, Riley was moving as fast she could to get out. Winter also was getting off and Riley was out of patience for her. As she left, she saw them.
Troy’s black SUV had rolled up and Riley stumbled to a stop. Troy jumped out from the driver’s seat and didn’t see her at the front door of the diner. He was looking the vehicle. Then two more gorgeous men stepped out.
One was incredibly tall with paler skin like Troy but hair black as midnight and punk as shit, wild and everywhere. He saw her and pinned her with ice blue eyes, colder then the snowstorm. She could see tattoos peaking out from his shirt but couldn’t make out what they were. He was probably six and half feet tall, towering over Troy and the other guy. He had a hard jawline and it looked like his teeth were clenched. He was also the most well defined man she had ever seen. This guy worked the fuck out. He held a leather jacket, had combat boots and wore leather pants as well. He was a bad bad boy, she thought to herself. She liked and didn’t like a bad boy. Scratch that. She loved a real bad boy. Just not for anything real past the bedroom door.
The second guy also had black hair that fell over his eyes a little. His emerald green eyes twinkled and he was the exact same height as Troy. He had a really dark tan that looked natural. She noticed he and Troy were nearly the exact same except coloring. Same bone structure, stance, and everything else. This one had to be Gabe Walker, Troy’s actual brother, she realized. He was casual, a t-shit and jeans with tennis shoes. He was a nice guy like Andrew, she thought until she saw him start scrapping with Troy. Nope. Also trouble.
After a moment they were all looking at her and she felt her face heat up, beginning to walk away. Shit, four hot guy in their town now. Four very hot guys. Not okay. Those guys were Andrew’s friends. Troy and Andrew were friends, she remembered. Wasn’t there a fifth one in that little group? She hoped at least he was ugly. Maybe he was like, deformed or something.
“Riley, come back!” Troy called out to her. “Come on!”
“No, thank you! Really want to get home. Been a long work day!” She turned and waved at him, walking backwards. “You have a fine time at the diner!” She turned back away, ignoring Troy’s pleas for her to hang out.
She didn’t have the energy for that. She was sweaty and tired and she wasn’t going to hang out in her uniform.
She wasn’t going to hang out with Troy at all. Ever. He was trouble and since that little pack was close, she was going avoid them all. Except Andrew, she couldn’t avoid her boss. Even the two with Troy looked like trouble.
She made it home without any trouble and sighed. She needed Friday night. In less then a week, she had been overloaded with new hot meat in town and she wasn’t going to even try to sleep with any of them. She didn’t sleep with anyone who lived in town because then she would have to see them again. Plus, they were all friends with her new boss. Talk about possibly awkward.
She sat in her empty apartment and held her sketchbook. She opened it to the last few days. A few sketches of both Troy and Andrew now filled some of the pages. And she knew she was going to add these two new guys to the mix. They were just too hot to miss the chance to sketch them.
As she watched TV and sketched, she considered her little lonely existence. The pay increase would be a Godsend. She even thought about finally get a cat like she always wanted. She volunteered at animal shelter in Montana but he would never let her take one home. He never really let her do much of anything except work. Maybe Friday morning she could hit up Wild Junction’s animal shelter and see what they had. It would be up to date on all it’s vet needs and also be fixed, so it would be perfect for her. Plus, she would be giving a cat a decent home. The apartment complex didn’t have strict pet rules except not letting them roam free. That was fine, she was too paranoid to have an outdoor cat.
At that, her mind was made up. She would pick up her check Friday morning, hit the bank and then go to the animal shelter. Maybe Andrew would drive her? She could ask him tomorrow about it. He seemed nice enough to give her a ride. He did offer to give her rides to work… and he was hot and she couldn’t resist seeing him again. Maybe they could be friends.
She got a decent amount of sleep that, resisting the urge to text anyone. Haley was working all night and didn’t need to bothered by her. Haley was kind enough to know Riley needed to sleep for her morning shifts. Phoebe was probably out with her most recent boy toy and that was something Riley wasn’t interested in. Riley and Haley didn’t keep up with Phoebe’s toys until they were introduced. If the introduction never happened, then the guy or girl wasn’t important enough for Riley’s limited fucks to give.
The next day, all she did was laundry and finally sent Andrew a text.
Riley: Can I get a ride tomorrow? I’ve got a lot of places I need/want to go and no car. You don’t have to, I can walk if I need too. Its really no big deal.
She waited a little impatiently. It was already noon and she really wanted to adopt that cat tomorrow.
Andrew: Sure! Where do you want to go? I can spend all day driving you around if you need it. :)
She bit her lip. Well, wasn’t he just.. .helpful.
Riley: I need to pick up my check and hit the bank. After that, I want to hit up the animal shelter… I want to adopt a cat. I need a pet in my life. If anyone asks, you never heard this. >:(
She hit send and prayed he didn’t give her a hard time. She hoped he would remain helpful. She really wanted a pet in her life, to help her from going mad. She grew up with a cat but he (Mr. Cuddles) passed away when she was twelve and she never got another one. Her dad had suddenly become anti-pet. Well, he had become anti-everything in those last few years. It was a weird time. Now she was twenty-three, so fuck that guy who was once her father.
Andrew: Seriously? Yeah I’ll drive you for that! I promise, your secret is safe with me. ;) Pick you up at seven?
She snorted at that and sent a quick confirmation and thank you. He was a smilie user. She wasn’t sure whether to find that cute or childish. She went with cute. He owned a business and was her boss, so childish wasn’t applicable. But he was cute. Actually no, he wasn’t cute, he was gorgeous.
She texted Haley that and she only laughed at her, telling Riley to stop texting their boss. And that Andrew was one of the Kingson Estate boys and therefore, look but don’t touch. The same warning as Tuesday. Riley sighed at it. Haley was right, of course. She wasn’t looking to sleep with Andrew or anything(not like she would turn the opportunity if he wasn’t her boss), she just needed a ride. Haley and Riley’s schedules never really meshed well other then the Friday night meet up.
She decided to paint for the rest of the day, looking at all the sketches she had. Finally, she landed on a landscape she had seen two years ago on her way past Wild Junction. He car had broken down and she had taken a moment to grab a picture of the world in front of her. She then sketched it several times but never got around to painting it.
By midnight, she was only half way done. She needed to stop using oils. They were expensive and took so long to dry, but she loved how they landed on the canvas. She could only afford one canvas a month and she laughed thinking of what her new pay would be like. She would be able to paint more. She did a few excited fist pumps at the idea and fell into bed to try and get some sleep. She needed to be ready by seven for Andrew to pick her up.