Page 39 of Wicked Minds
After all the craziness of a busy week, it’s exactly what I need, and I’m hurrying toward the exit when Ben slides into my path, not looking the least bit happy with me.
Just great. Exactly what I need when I’m two feet from freedom.
“Ben,” I state with a small yet tight smile. “My shift is over. I was just heading home.” Of course, he knows this already. The final stragglers have just been kicked out, Royce along with them, when the front doors were closed and locked for the night, and other girls move past us, waving their goodbyes as they head out.
He boxes me in with his larger frame so he’s towering above me, a purely intimidating move. “I’m receiving complaints from the other girls about how you’re not pulling your weight,” hestarts. “The fact that you refuse to stay late on occasion to help tidy up is not fair on everyone else who has to pick up the slack.”
I stare at him in outright shock. “That is not… I haven’t beenrefusing…” I stammer.
“Blindly following the dictations set out by a jealous boyfriend is not a healthy relationship, Riley,” he states in a pitying tone that makes me want to drag my nails down his face.
“He’s not…” I trail off, unsure whether I would say my boyfriend or jealous.Both would be true, but the first is information I don’t want Ben to know. I’d rather he think Royce is my boyfriend if it means he mostly leaves me alone. As for the second, Royce put down that stipulation to protect me, because he knows what a sleazebag Ben truly is.
“You can either explain to the other girls why they have to cover your workload, or you can get over this little… spat and get back to work.”
My teeth grind furiously against one another as I stare up at him. He hasn’t given me a choice at all. Not really.
“Fine,” I hiss. “I’ll get back to work.”
His toothy smile is slimy. “That’s my good girl.”
Shudders roll through me as memories rush forward like water through a faucet. Bertram’s face overlays on top of Ben’s, forming a grotesque monster, and I must space out for a moment, because the next thing I know, Ben is snapping his fingers impatiently in front of my face.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Get back to work!”
Needing to get away from him as fast as possible so he doesn’t see how badly I’m trembling or notice the sweat now dotting my forehead, I scramble onto the club floor and begin the task of cleaning up.
I’ve barely been at it for five minutes when I hear yelling coming from outside, followed by banging on the front door.
“What in the actual hell is going on out there?” Ben gripes as he emerges from his office, stomping toward the chaos.
With a sense of foreboding, I trail after him, not entirely surprised when he unlocks the door and Royce flies through it. “Where is she?” he snarls menacingly, fisting the front of Ben’s shirt and raising his other hand. “Tell me where the fuck she is this second or so help me god…” He completes his threat by driving his fist into Ben’s face.
“Royce!” I half gasp, half chastise, although ultimately, I’m happy to see him. To know he cared enough to come searching for me when I didn’t appear out front after my shift ended.
Besides, Ben deserved that punch for how he spoke to me earlier. I’m sure as shit not about to feel bad for the asshole who is now cursing up a storm.
Hearing his name, Royce’s head snaps in my direction, his ice-blue eyes blazing with… concern? Could I be reading that correctly?
His gaze drops, searching every square inch of me as if expecting to find me battered and bruised, and I realize that itisconcern I see in his eyes.
“I’m fine,” I assure him.
“Of course she’s fine,” Ben grouses, holding his hand gingerly over his eye. “You heathen! What did you think was happening in here?”
Royce only snarls at him, an inhuman sound that has Ben shuffling backward even though his shirt is still being securely held in Royce’s strangling grasp.
“Why aren’t you outside?” he barks at me.
“I, uh, had to stay behind to clean up.”
At my explanation, his nostrils flare and he whirls on Ben. “I thought I told you,” he begins in a disturbingly calm tone, “that she wasn’t to be alone with you. That she wasn’t going to bestaying behind after closing anymore and that you sure as fuck weren’t going to ogle her while she goes about her job.”
“We’re only working,” Ben snaps as though Royce is being ridiculous.
Royce huffs out a disbelieving breath, and before things escalate further, I step forward and place a placating hand on his forearm. “We were,” I assure him. “Ben was in his office when we heard you,” I explain, knowing he needs to hear it if there’s any chance of us ending this without more fists flying.
Seeming to forget about Ben’s presence entirely, he lets him go and turns to me, dropping his face to mine so his intense stare can bore into my eyes while he searches for the truth behind my words.
