Page 1 of Shadow Lies

ChapterOne

"Alexis!" Frank’s bellow permeated through her ear buds even as they pumped loud music directly into her ear canal.

There was no ignoring him.

Gripping the mop handle in one hand, she pushed the long curly piece of hair that had escaped from the elastic band out of her eyes.

She felt very much like Cinderella at the moment. Overworked. Under appreciated. Yelled at constantly by her evil stepmother.

At least Cinderella had those cute mice and bluebirds to keep her company as she cleaned. Not to mention a fairy godmother to give her anything her heart desired.

Alexis only had Frank.

She drew in a deep breath before she pulled out one earpiece and called back in as sweet a voice as she could muster, "Yes, Frank?"

"Don't forget to mop the men's bathroom real good. The place smells like piss."

“Got it,” she said, shoving the earbud back in and hoping this was the end of the conversation.

As she wheeled the bucket toward the foulest of all rooms, the men’s bathroom, she snorted at the irony of this particular task.

Her whole life was in the toilet, so why shouldn't it smell like piss too?

The real question was, how could her boss distinguish one foul odor from another? The combination of stale beer, spilled drinks, vomit, and yes, urine—not always in the bathroom—was the aroma that surrounded her from four p.m. until closing time, Wednesday through Saturday.

The sad part was, as shitty as this job was, she was still grateful for it.

Working at the bar paid the bills. This crappy job made it possible for her to continue to hide out in her old college town. To pretend to herself that she was still a student working toward her degree.

If not for this job, she’d already have had to crawl home with her tail between her legs and tell her parents she’d messed up. Bad. Like career-ending, life altering bad.

She sighed. This was what her world had become. Mopping floors, hauling glasses, restocking bottles in the afternoon. Then slinging drinks for tips when the college crowd arrived late at night.

How the hell had this happened? Well, to be fair, she knewhowit happened, but it still didn’t feel real.

More important was, how was she going to turn her life around?

As she considered that, the song cut out and she heard the ringing of an incoming call coming through the earbuds.

She glanced at the door she’d propped open.

Frank was nowhere in sight. Even so, she kicked out the doorstop and let the door swing closed before she swiped the cell’s screen to connect the call.

She didn’t need her boss bitching she was on the phone while also on the clock. As if her minuscule hourly rate was going to break him.

“Hello,” she answered, not knowing who was calling from the blocked number and not caring.

Any distraction was a good distraction. Although, it did stink in here, especially with the door closed. The faster she got finished the better.

With that in mind, she reached for the mop again as a woman’s voice came through the earpiece. “Is this Alexis Jackson?”

Here it came. Some scam pitch for lower interest rates on her credit card balance. Or, another favorite, a warning that the extended warranty on her car was about to expire and she needed to extend it.

Yeah, right. Like the ten-year old hunk of crap she’d bought used on Craig’s List had a warranty.

She wasn’t even sure it would pass inspection next year given all the warning lights blinking on the dashboard. It looked like a damn light show in there.

“Yes.” She braced herself for some phone solicitor bull shit.

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