Page 12 of On Your Knees

Zeland snorts from behind me and whispers, “You realize the suit I’m wearing costs more than you would earn in a year?”

“About that—who wears a suit to a college bar? Unless the guy wants a hookup with some scrappy college girl who he can throw away the next day.”

“Why would I come to a place like this to find a scrappy college girl when one lives in my multi-million-dollar house free of charge?”

“I’m a resourceful kinda girl—I had it all planned out. Getting in that car, having a panic attack, then vomiting everywhere. It was all part of my master plan to bag a millionaire like you. Is it working?”

Ridge smiles, like an actual full, white-toothed smile, and as I smile back, I realize what I’m doing. Is the grump actually warming up to me?

“Told you he likes you,” Zeland whispers in my ear.

“Alright, boys, I better get back to work. You reallyshould let some of the other girls serve you—they could use the tips.”

“Why would we do that?” Ridge asks. “We only come here because Zeland insists on seeing you, and the more money I give you in tips, the quicker you can move out. He says you won’t take charity, so I can’t just buy you a place. Tipping you well is the next best thing.”

“Thank you, I think. I’m really not sure if you’re being nice or mean, but I will take it as nice.”

Zeland chuckles beneath me, and I stand, straightening my work shirt. As I walk away, I look back over my shoulder and both men are watching me. I sigh and roll out my shoulders—leaving them will be bloody hard. Since leaving Gran’s, I have not lived anywhere I actually liked. They’ve only been places to sleep, and I liked the people even less. Yet I actually enjoy Zeland’s company, and Ridge is growing on me. Under his grumpy exterior, there is something softer, and I want to dig deeper and find out more. And the house, well, who wouldn’t love living in a mansion they didn’t have to clean?

Oh, I’m fucked, royally fucking fucked.

I should leave. I spend the next half an hour of my shift filling orders, while coming up with reasons I need to leave, and yet I don’t want to go through with it. So my inner musing turns into a pep talk about it being okay to be happy. Not everything needs to be so deep, and Zeland and Ridge are fine with me staying at their house. Sure, I know Ridge is put out by it, but Zeland assures me if he didn’t want me there, he would have thrown me out by now. I can tell he isn’t one to do anything he doesn’twant to, and the fact remains that he is home almost every night, which is something Zeland says he hasn’t done in months. I also love gaming with DarkSoul. It’s one of the highlights of my day, when I get to sit down and relax. Some people play sports, some like to read, but me, I love to blow shit up and shoot shit. The highlight is making people feel inferior because they got beat by a woman, one that likes to talk shit and gives back as good as she gets.

By the time my shift winds down, I have decided I will stay as long as they will have me. But I need to start paying rent or at least contributing somehow. Maybe they will let me buy groceries.

“Heyyy, beautiful,” some random drunk douche slurs as I walk past.

“Not interested,” I mumble. I’m tired, not in the mood, and my shift ends in a few minutes. I just want to go home and fall face-first on my bed, which I appreciate feels like I’m sleeping on a soft cloud.

“Hey, why the rush?” he says, coming around in front of me, and I cross my arms over my chest with a sigh.

“I want to go home. They called last drinks. Finish yours and be on your way.”

“You’re going home? Maybe you want company,” he says, stumbling into me and grabbing my pussy.

With a gasp of shock, I push him back, and he laughs. He isn’t as drunk as he is making out, and as I step closer to him, he perks up.

“Maybe I do want some company,” I purr, making him smile in a way that gives me the creeps. I grab hiscock lightly. “But you would be the last man on the planet I would take home.”

“You whor?—”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before I twist his cock so hard he will feel it for days, and he drops to the ground like a sack of shit.

“Fuck, stray, are you okay?” Ridge asks, looking me over.

I nod as my hands shake. Fuck, my anxiety is going to make me vomit.

“Aspen!”

Shit, double fucking shit!

Barbie races over and takes one look at the man lying on the floor. “You know what this means?”

I nod. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fired.”

“Fired? On what grounds,” Ridge demands. “Aspen works harder than anyone else and you are going to fire her after a drunk patron sexually assaults her?”

“Who was sexually assaulted?” Zeland asks, having missed everything that happened.

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