Page 16 of Gin & Jewels
“Nervous,” she breathed.
I grinned to comfort her. “Don’t be nervous, hon. You’re in good hands.” In fact, I knew the best way to relax her before we headed out for dinner and drinks.
My hand went farther up her leg and under her skirt. I grabbed Leslie’s glass from her and set it next to mine before leaning in and kissing her neck. Things progressed with only my fingers doing the pleasuring until she was loosened up.
In more ways than one.
When I gavemy two-week notice at the casino, I expected to work two more weeks before my last day, but they let me go right away because they had an entire stack of applications from women wanting to be cocktail waitresses. I was okay with that because I was eager to start my job at The Velvet Box and learn all I could.
It had been two weeks since I started, and I was loving it. I never knew there were so many different cuts and grades of diamonds. I couldn’t wait to own something—anything—from the store once I could afford it.
My mother had jewelry, but when Keith went to sell the pieces, he found out they were fake. The only real pieces she owned were her wedding and engagement ring, and I’d hid them from Keith when I saw him rummaging through her jewelry box the day after our parents died. I knew something was off, and when he asked me where their rings were, I’d shrugged and told him I didn’t know and that maybe they had been burned with them. In reality, I had taken the rings, including my dad’s, and put them in the air vent in my room—I’d seen it done in an episode ofVeronica Mars. Before Keith could find out if they still had them on their person, they were cremated, and he assumed—because he didn’t want to look suspicious as to why he was urgently wanting their jewelry—they burned with them.
I was starting to gather my purse from my locker when Steve walked into the small break room. “Cassie, I think you’re doing an amazing job.”
“Thank you so much.” I beamed.
“Have a good couple of days off, and I’ll see you on Monday when I’m back in. Martina and Ray will be here on Saturday with you—they’ll show you how to close up for the night.”
“Can’t wait.” I’d been working only until six when the store closed, but now my hours would be longer because it took another hour to close the store and put all the jewelry in the safe before leaving. Someone—usually Steve and one other person—came in at nine a.m. to put all the jewelry out again.
Grabbing my purse, I walked out of the store and started toward the bus stop when a car horn honked. I turned and saw it was Micky. I’d been avoiding him because I was worried he’d ask me to hang out with him again. I really wanted nothing to do with him.
He pulled up to the curb and rolled down the window. “Need a ride?”
I hesitated because of who it was, but I would get home faster by car than riding the city bus, so I sucked it up. “Um, sure.” I still had a slight fear that we would crash and die. Anything was possible, but over the years, my fear had been conquered more times than not. I just couldn’t see myself getting behind the wheel.
“Where are you coming from dressed like that?” he asked as he pulled into the flow of cars.
I looked down at my black slacks and floral blouse. “Work.”
“I thought you worked at the casino?”
“Worked,” I emphasized. “I got a job at The Velvet Box two weeks ago.”
“The jewelry store?” I nodded. “You get free shit or what?”
“No.” I chuckled. “A twenty percent discount.”
“Or five-finger.”
I furrowed my brows. “Five-finger?”
Micky laughed. “Yeah. A five-finger discount.”
“What does that mean?”
He chuckled harder. “It means you steal it.”
I sucked in a breath. “I would never steal from Steve. He gave me this job without me knowing anything about jewelry.”
“All right. I was just joking.” We didn’t speak for several minutes until he asked, “Do you need a ride tomorrow?”
“No. I have the next two days off.”
“I can pick you up on Saturday if you want.”
“Really?” I pretended I was interested only because riding the bus was a pain.
