But then I was distracted as she showed me through the front door. The screen door banged open, and she strutted past a living room with two worn-out couches and a television positioned on a stand in the corner. The kitchen was small and sparse. A bare table sat in the dining room with boxes of liquor placed all over. When she noticed my gaze, she shrugged. "Sometimes my dad uses this place for storage. He thinks it's safer than in the bar where a few of our old employees weren't so trustworthy, if you know what I mean."
When I met her gaze, she nodded towards the rickety stairs. "Shower's upstairs. I won't scare you off by making you use Brandon and dad's shower. That whole area of the house is disgusting. Come on. I'll grab you some clothes too."
After she showed me the shower, which was in a bathroom that was clean and decorated in lace and pink, I relaxed a bit. It'd been awhile since I had been at a place that wasn't the lap of luxury. For some reason, this grounded me. I felt more settled, like no one was going to swipe me off my feet and run away laughing. Then I stepped inside the shower and breathed in the smell of lilies. When I used some of her body wash, I held back a grin at the image of Mason's hands on my body. He would've loved the smell on me. He would've loved to lather me with it before he would pull my body back against his. Then his hands would slide to my waist and slip down—
"We don't really have a uniform policy."
My elbow jerked up as Heather tore me from my thoughts. As it banged against the shower, a stabbing pain flooded me, but I bit back a curse.
She fell silent for a second before she cleared her throat. "You okay?" Her voice grew as she must've opened the door and stepped inside. Then she snorted at herself. "I don't even know your name. What is it?"
"Samantha," I called over the water. I hurried to finish rinsing my hair and everything else.
"Oh. Hello again. Mine's Heather. Again." She chuckled again. "I sound like a virgin on her first date with the Hulk. Stupid as shit." But she laughed again. "Anyways, what I was saying before is that we don't really have a uniform policy, but the girls all started wearing jeans and a tee shirt. They liked to show the girls and usually tore off the bottom to show off their stomachs, more tips. We have a lot of regulars, but on the weekends we'll get some rich pricks too. They're usually trying to hide from the wives or girlfriends, but they come around enough. The tips are good."
Rich pricks. I frowned as I wondered if Mason knew of the place.
Heather interrupted my thoughts again. "I put some jeans and shirts on the bed. Take your time washing up; just come down whenever you're done. You were sweating a bunch so I'll make some food too. You're going to need some good sustenance in you to get through the night. There are a few of the other servers that'll be bitches to you, especially if you tell 'em who you're dating." She paused a beat. "Not that I'll say a word. I won't. That's for you to share if you want. Something tells me that you're a bit on the secret side, but to each her own. My brother will go crazy. He loves the Kade boys. He reminisces about when Mason first showed up on their team all the time. You woulda thought that the Lord himself came to save their team from damnation from the way Brandon puts it. Okay, I'll be downstairs. See you in a few."
Brandon knew Mason? The other girls knew them? Then I cursed at myself. Of course they knew them. What the hell had I been thinking? But as I got out of the shower and finished dressing, I headed downstairs to find out because I wasn't going anywhere. This wasn't about Mason and me; this was about my mother and me. My chin locked with determination as I turned the corner and saw Heather in the kitchen. She handed me a plate with a sandwich on it.
Analise might not know it yet, but I was going to make her regret forcing Mason away from me. And getting a job at Manny's was the perfect start to enact some revenge.
CHAPTER NINE
Training that night was easy. The most difficult thing was staying friendly when a few of the customers got too friendly, but Heather stepped in and handled those situations. I figured out how to take orders, how to write it down on the pad, and to time when the food would be done for customers. Filling drink orders was easier, but I got frustrated a few times I would get one drink only to have the other customer at the same table decide on something else. Heather chuckled as she watched me get flustered, but she linked elbows at one point and gave the table a polite smile as she took their orders. I would've headed straight to the bar to fill 'em, but she completed another task on her way to the bar.
Multi-tasking was going to be a skill I'd need to learn, but by the end of the night I felt more confident. It helped that Brandon was nice every time I came to him with a question. He took the time to explain the different drinks and always told me not to worry; I would catch on soon enough. By the fourth time he issued that same support, I caught a frown from Heather across the diner. Something told me he hadn't really heard her warning that I was dating someone, but it didn't matter. I wasn't going to date him.
There were two other servers that showed up, both of them were nice, so nice that I wondered about Heather's warning from before. That was until the nine o'clock girl showed up. Her name was Gia and she would've been elated to reign with the Elite at my school. She had platinum blonde hair, manufactured boobs, and an outfit that barely covered her. A swimsuit might've covered more, but she was the shot girl as Heather explained. It was to be expected.