Rose lifted up her hands and rubbed her temples for a moment before fixing her expression. “And scene,” she replied while shaking her shoulders and rolling her neck. “Your new name is Blake. Blakely is a mouthful, yeah?”
“I prefer to go by Blakely, ma’am,” I replied with a smile, hoping the blatant confusion I felt wasn’t evident on my face.
“That was seriously terrible, Blakely. But I suppose that’ll do for now. Decker was right, you’re going to need a lot of help,” she said while scribbling on her notepad.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked before sitting down in a white plastic chair that squeaked the moment my ass landed in it. “I thought I was coming here for a job?”
“Did Decker tell you how we know each other?” she asked with a flirty smile, and against my better judgment, my mind went back to how damn beautiful Rose was. The moment those words left her lips, I imagined them fucking in my brand new bedroom. Oh God, make it stop.
“N-no, he didn’t,” I replied before twisting my fingers in my lap.
“Stop fidgeting, Blake.”
“It’s Blakely,” I replied before quickly adding, “ma’am.”
“Good girl. You’re teachable. I can work with this,” she mumbled, mostly to herself before scratching more notes on her notebook. I watched in curiosity as she began doodling a penis on the edge of the paper. “I’m Decker’s life coach. He mentioned you in our weekly session, and I suggested you start working here,” she replied.
“You’re a life coach and run a bar?” I asked. I felt my brows furrow.
“I’m also a dog walker on Tuesdays.”
“I think I’m just going to…” my voice trailed off as I stood up, trying to make a quick escape. This lady was insane.
“Sit back down, Blakely,” Rose’s voice ordered. It was powerful yet polite. Something told me this woman always got what she wanted. I stayed hovering over my plastic seat for a moment longer in indecision before finally planting my ass down once more on the squeaky chair.
“Decker just said you could use my help and a job. I run a damn good establishment with a side of mentorship. I make all my employees go through my life course, and you’ll be no different. It’s not for everyone, but I think you might actually like it. Plus, I have an ice cream machine, and you get one free cone a day. I mean, I’m basically serving happiness up on a silver platter here, girl!”
My mouth dropped open. “I mean, ice cream is great and all, but I just want a job,” I replied.
“Why do you want a job?” she snarked back, leaning forward over her desk with her breasts hanging out as she tilted her head to the side to stare at me. I breathed in, noting that her office smelled like the worst combination of incense on the planet. It was like a hippie threw up in here during an orgy.
“I don’t know. For independence. So I can save up and take care of myself.” If this was a job interview, it was officially the weirdest one I’d ever had.
“How remarkably boring,” Rose replied while shaking her head. “You’re young! You worry too much.” Worrying was in my blood. I was conditioned to care, trained to obsess over where my next meal would come from or what asshole Mama was bringing home that night.
I gritted my teeth. Who the hell was this bitch? She didn’t know me, didn’t know my fucking life. She took one look at me, heard what Decker had to say, and created her own narrative. I was getting really tired of people and their assumptions. “I had to grow up at a young age,” I seethed.
“That’s not an excuse to be so serious,” she replied with a wave of her hand.
“It’s not an excuse, it’s my fucking life. For most teenagers, a job might just be something for extra spending money, but for me? It’s survival. So if you think you can hire me on and feel good about yourself for teaching me some bullshit, free-spirited lesson on going with the flow, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
I clasped my hand over my lips when I realized the toxic words had left my mouth. I stared at Rose as her smile grew wider. She clutched her heart for a beat before yanking open one of her desk drawers. Pulling out a tanktop, she tossed it to me before speaking. “Monica will give you your schedule. I