and slowly faded. “Something tells me you won’t ever again.” She moved into the hallway and added, “Maybe we’ll cross paths again one day. See you around, Ashe.”
The door shut before I got a chance to say another word.
Several seconds passed, and I finally looked at the textbook in my lap. I scanned the words, not retaining a single one. Knowing that she was in my living room, I couldn’t concentrate. I just wanted my eyes on her, my body in her presence; something unfamiliar tugged at me to get closer to her.
I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t leave my room until I finished the chapter. I counted the double-sided pages and had eight to go, taking notes as I read to force myself to pay attention. When I reached the final sentence, I got up and went down the short hallway. But as I reached the opening of the living room, Pearl was nowhere to be found.
Where’s the hot girl? I mouthed to Dylan, the room loud, as several people were speaking.
He shrugged and replied, She had to go.
She had found her crack, and she had squeezed her way out.
Two
Before
Pearl
“You’re late. Again.” My boss seethed as I rushed into the bar. He was leaning against the bar top with a tumbler in his hand, the whiskey a permanent fixture that I never saw him without. “Pearl, I won’t tolerate your tardiness anymore.”
“I’m sorry.”
I had known I was cutting it close, but I’d needed the extra studying for the exam we had on Friday, and Dylan’s apartment was only a few blocks from here.
My boss blocked me from the back entrance, standing several inches over me, the booze on his breath making my stomach churn. “Your good looks will only get you so far.” His eyes were on my lips while he licked his own. “You know, average-looking girls show up on time, and they’re hungry for the attention my customers give them. Maybe I need to fire you, trade you in for an average girl, someone who isn’t such a diva.”
Divas didn’t work six nights a week, begging for the seventh shift. I didn’t say that to Frank. Instead, I apologized again and sidestepped around him, rushing into the break room.
I set my bag on the bench, digging through it to find my uniform. Once the clothes were in my hands, I stripped out of the ones I was wearing, hurrying to put on the tight black cotton skirt and see-through white tank top. The bra that happened to be clean today was bright blue, so that was the color eyeliner I would soon swipe over my lids. I added a pair of fishnets and tied my apron around my waist. As I stood in front of the mirror, I repositioned the curls that hung down to my chest, spraying them with hairspray, and once my eye makeup was done, I added some red lipstick.
Finished with the look, I shoved my bag into my locker and opened the door to the hallway, instantly greeted by Frank, who had been waiting on the other side.
Sipping his drink, he eyed me up and down. “Took you long enough.” He waited for a response, but I didn’t give him one. “Pearl, take this as your final warning. I’m up to here with your bullshit.” He pointed at his throat.
“They’re not excuses—”
“What did I just tell you?”
His voice was full of threats, ones I’d heard many times before. His eyes told an entirely different story as they continued to travel across my body, pausing at the spots I wished were more covered up.
“Frank, I promise to do everything I can to be here on time. But you know the full load of classes I take each semester, and I’m heavily involved in the theater, which causes my schedule to be even tighter.”
He handed me his empty glass. “The only thing tight I want to hear you talk about is your pussy.”
Half of my coworkers slept with him. The thought made me sick.
He put his hand on my chin, lifting it so my lips moved closer to his. “Don’t do it again. Understood?”
If I wasn’t short six hundred dollars on rent, I would knee him in the balls and walk out, never returning. But he ran one of the most successful bars off campus, and none of the others in the area could pay me what I earned here.
I nodded hard enough that his hand fell, and I walked away.
“My God,