Page 14 of White Charms and Dark Secrets

“Shut up, you’re making a scene!” I snap, feeling heat creep into my cheeks. I don’t want to have this conversation in public, and I definitely don’t want to have it in front of Rhydian.

“Well, as entertaining as you two are, I have other things to be doing right now,” Rhydian announces as he stands up.

“You know what? So do I,” I bite out, standing too. “Thanks for the coffee,” I say, turning to leave.Not that I got to drink it.

I shake off the nagging feeling in my gut that I’m just looking for excuses to run without having this conversation. I don’t want to address that right now.

“I’ll see you at seven tomorrow night, Kayla!” Rhydian shouts after me. I turn back to ask him a few questions, but he’s already phased out of the coffee shop.

Damn. I didn’t even ask him how much he’s going to pay me. Despite it being more bar-work, I know it’ll be a very different experience from working in that dive bar. I smile as I turn around again and head out of the door into the cold.

I better get freaking hazard pay.

Eight

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

“There’s no way in hell I’m wearing that.” I gape at the outfit Rhydian is holding up.No freaking way.

“Well, you could always wear the same outfit my upstairs severs wear. The one like Acacia wears?”

He smiles deviously as I feel myself pale. I guess sometimes you just have to accept the lesser evil.

I snatch the damned outfit from him. “Fine, but let it be known I’m not happy about it.”

“So long as you can smile and pretend you are in front of the customers, that’s all that matters,” he replies. “I’ll give you a chance to get changed. Your shift is only four hours, and the enchanted bar does most of the work here. Just smile, make sure everyone is having a good time and ordering more drinks. Okay?”

“Got it.” Having someone work behind a bar when the bar makes its own drinksandserves them without assistance seems a little pointless to me. However, if he wants to pay me five times what I was making in the dive bar just for standing around doing nothing but smiling at customers, that’s his problem.

“Also, you don’t need to worry about any of the more... shady clientele. We always have a security guy down there, and he’s been instructed to keep you out of trouble.” Rhydian leans against the doorway.

“I didn’t see any security down there last time,” I prod.

“He’s a little hard to spot, but trust me, you’ll be fine,” he reassures me.

“Fine, whatever you say, boss,” I say, rolling my eyes as I throw the ridiculous outfit onto the sofa.

“As my employee, I should probably discourage you from sassing me, but I kind of like it.” I hear the door shut behind him before I can turn around and respond to what he said.Typical Rhydian.

I sigh, disgruntled, but resigned as I pick up the tiny, black shorts. I’d doubt my ability to fit into them if I didn’t already know how good Rhydian was at estimating sizes. As I shimmy out of my jeans and pull off my shirt, I realise something. I’m wearing the damned underwear he bought me that day in the sex shop.

What kind of idiot takes a job working for apossiblecriminal slash fae prince slash the universe’s most dodgy bar owner that bought her underwear the first time they met? Well, the first time they met him as Rhydian anyway.

Something is definitely wrong with me. I smirk. At least my life isn’t boring. I pull on the tiny black shorts, that somehow miraculously fit. I eye the skimpy and tight white top. My black bra will show right through it.Ugh.I pull it on regardless, finding it seems to form to every inch of my body perfectly. I walk over to the mirror I’d spotted in the corner of the room.

I watch the smile spread across my face as I flip my long hair back over my shoulders. Despite my reservations, I must admit I look pretty good in this. A little slutty, but damn, maybe I needed to convince Rhydian to come shopping with me. Not for every day clothes, mind you, but he’d pick out much better outfits for going clubbing with Lizzy than I ever do. My reflection’s smile vanishes. Not that I’ll be needing a new dress anytime soon.

Shuffling away from my sad reflection, I shove all my things into my bag, and then walk back over to the mirror. Forcing a smile, I shake off the sad thoughts and focus. I tilt my head; one thing does look off about my whole outfit. I slide off the bracelet that Rhydian gave to me. It looks weird with the outfit somehow.

I shrug, throwing the bracelet into my bag. It’s only four hours until the end of my shift anyway.What’s the worst that could happen?

Nine

This

Fuck. I jerk back, stumbling a bit in my attempt to get away from the shattered glass shards now covering the floor behind the bar. It would be just my luck to cut myself on one of them. Even more likely with my luck, my painful death caused by a thousand tiny glass cuts.

The pretty mirror that previously decorated the wall behind the middle section of the bar is now lying in small, jagged pieces at my feet. A witch cursed with bad luck goes and breaks a mirror. Go figure.

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