Savage King: New Worlds - Milly Taiden Page 0,65

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Fae King

Chapter One

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

Kaia Cutestone cracked her eyes opened and mentally quit this life, praying for a hole to open up and swallow her, and then slammed her hand down on the loud, offensive alarm. Ugh. What had she done in her past life to get stuck waking at four a.m. to head to a dead-end job? What god had she angered? It took a minute to stop the moping before she sighed and got up to take a shower. Things could be worse.

After showering and putting on her apron for Cookie’s 24-Hour Diner, she sat on the living room sofa to wait for her brother, DJ, aka Dick Junior. Dick Senior being their father. She pressed the home button on her cracked cell phone. Zero calls. Zero messages. Zero notifications. She really didn’t need the phone but had it for the days her work called her in early or for extra hours. She could always use the overtime.

“Hey, Kai-latte,” DJ greeted from the hallway, his T-shirt rumpled and his beard so out of control, it looked like it needed its own zip code. “So, got that rent money for me?”

She frowned, curling her hands into fists. “I just paid you the rent last week.”

He grinned that smile that worked on his girlfriend, but not on Kaia. She was dead to his attempt at charm. “You can always pre-pay a few months. I need to pay for my girlfriend’s bed.”

She glanced at the ceiling and prayed once again to be sent to another dimension with less idiots. “That’s not my problem. She’s not my girlfriend. And I already told you that if you saved the money and just bought her a bed, instead of paying a rent-to-own spot, you’d have a bed without owing anybody by now. Or better yet, have her buy her own bed.”

He huffed and shook his head, tossing his car keys in the air and catching them in his palm. “Ah, no. I’m not going to make her pay for anything. She’s my girl. How bad does that make me look?”

She hopped to her feet and pursed her lips. “I don’t know, DJ. It can’t be worse than trying to make your sister pay for shit that’s not hers.”

“But you’re my sister.” He laughed as if the whole thing was funny. That’s what irritated her the most. It wasn’t a joke. She was so sick of living in that tiny room with nothing. If he and his girlfriend even smelled a snack, they’d make it disappear, but god forbid they ever buy any food.

“I’m not doing it. Let’s go. I’m going to be late for work,” she snapped, heading out ahead of him.

“I see somebody’s got her period again.” He chuckled.

She barely refrained from snapping at him again. It was useless, though. Nothing would change. He dropped her off at work and then headed for his own job at a nearby construction site. He was security and sat on his ass all day, playing on his phone.

An hour later, she was in the thick of the breakfast crowd, already exhausted.

“Hey, Kaia doll,” Cookie said as she came in to check on the morning staff. “How are you doing today?”

“Good,” she said. What else could she say? She wasn’t one to share her problems with people. At the end of the day, she knew she had to work hard and get herself moving forward. Life wasn’t going to gift her everything.

“Are you going to school tonight?” Cookie asked, fixing a to-go cup of coffee and placing it on the counter.

Kaia shrugged. Today was one of those days she didn’t know the point in anything. She’d been going to a school she hated to please her mother. She wasn’t happy with it and had finally decided she’d do something that she actually enjoyed.

“I don’t really know what I want to do,” she admitted.

Cookie’s head snapped toward her, a frown marring her face. “Really? You are so talented, Kaia.”

“My mom is the one who wants me to be a hairdresser. That was always her dream, not mine. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.” She started to question herself. Shouldn’t she know by now? She was twenty-two years old.

“Don’t push yourself,” Cookie said in a soothing, motherly voice. “You’ll figure it out. If you need any advice, just come see me.”

She gave Cookie a smile she didn’t feel and went back to her customers. The rest