Page 5 of Enzo

Chapter Three

The alarm clock wentoff, waking her out of a pleasant dream where she was being held in a pair of muscular arms and kissed senseless by a male with green eyes. She hated alarm clocks. She rolled over to turn it off and noticed it said seven. Why was it going off so early? It wasn't like she had a job.

The word job triggered memories of the day, and she rolled out of bed, almost hitting the floor in her haste to get up. She had a job. She took a quick shower before jumping out and looking in the mirror. She looked at her hair and once again told herself she did the right thing. When it had been time to get her mass of hair done again, she considered the cost and thought about her ability to eat and then cut it all off. She'd been natural now for a few weeks, and though she still looked strange to herself, she was getting used to it. That, combined with the fact that she didn't need almost forty-five minutes to curl her hair, was making her happy.

The ringing phone brought her out of her thoughts. Her time was running out, and she needed to leave soon, so she would dress and talk at the same time.

"Hello."

"Deja, where have you been? I've been calling you, and please don't tell me you're still in that apartment building."

"Calm down, Fire. You know I can stay here until the end of the month."

She could hear her best friend Safire stewing on the other end of the line, but she didn't want to move in with her. She loved her, but two plus-sized females in a small apartment wasn't going to work out well.

"Deja."

"I found a job."

"Where? What will you be doing? Is it in a doctor's office? I'm so happy for you!" The last part came out high-pitched. Her friend loved to celebrate when things went right in Deja's life.

"Not a doctor's office, a club."

"A club?" Safire screeched that.

Deja took the phone away from her ear and used the time to slip into her shoes. It was warm outside, so she didn't need a coat. She grabbed her purse, making sure she had her keys and mace. She looked in her wallet to make sure she had a little money so she could buy something to drink on her break and maybe even get a sandwich if they served food. She headed out the door, still talking to her friend who was having fits on the other end of the line.

"Deja Brown, you don't even like alcohol. How can you work at a club?"

"All I have to do is pour the drinks, not down them. Besides, I like daiquiris." She was walking fast because she didn't want to be late on her first night of work.

"The non-alcoholic kind!"

"Well, I'm turning over a new leaf. Give me alcohol and plenty of it. As long as I make money, I don't care."

It was still summer, so it was light out, and she could swear that it was the third time that car passed by her. Maybe she was wrong; talking to Fire distracted her. She almost felt like she was in some other world because the streets seemed out of order to her, but she recognized the house on the corner, so she turned the corner and ended up in front of the club with ten minutes to spare.

"I don't know the name of the club. Well, there's no sign out here with the name, and yes, it is a club. It has the appearance of an upper-crust gentlemen's club. Nope, I don't know the address. Yeah, you're right, I'm falling down on the things I should know. Uh-huh, I will text you all this information on my break. I have to go, and yeah, you know my phone has a chip so you can find it anywhere. Later."

She acts like she's our mother.

The sarcastic voice in her head said with a slight sneer.

Thank God, we have her, or we'd be all alone.

The other voices ganged up on Ms. Sarcastic. Safire had kept them safe more than once. She took a deep breath before making her way up the steps. Maybe the night hadn't started since she couldn't hear a sound coming from inside.

One pull on the door told her how wrong she was. The music was playing, there were loud voices, most of them male, and laughter causing the club to vibrate. They all stopped to stare at her when she stepped inside.

Maybe this was a mistake because they were all big. Like almost seven feet tall with eyes that almost seemed to glow and teeth that seemed a little too sharp when they smiled real wide. The one male at the bar was drinking as he watched her.

"My, my, what do we have here? She's a pretty bite-sized morsel." He grinned at her, taking a deep breath as if he were scenting the air. "She stinks."

A frown crossed her face. She took a shower and made sure to put on deodorant. She sniffed at herself but couldn't smell a thing.

"Remember that scent because it will be the last thing you ever smell if you put one hand on her." Enzo walked out from behind the bar. "You're right on time. Follow me, I'll show you where to clock in and store your things."

She nodded and followed him. She hadn't been sure what the dress code was, so she put on a pair of black slacks with a white shirt. He took her behind the bar to another door on the side. Her body flared back to life, reminding her that he seemed to have a direct line to her clit. She hoped that sleep would help, but it only seemed to make her hypersensitive to him.

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