Page 10 of Sacrifice

Eve took a moment to process, then said, “I didn’t know you were going for that.”

It wasn’t cool to be bitter about someone else’s good fortune, but Sienna had only been working there for four months compared to Eve’s four years. If anyone should have got that job, it was her.

“Yay. Congratulations,” Eve said in a tone unenthusiastically flat.

For fuck’s sake. Can this day get any worse?

“Gilbert says if I carry on like this, I’ll can apply for a transfer to memberships by the end of the year.”

“Awesome.”

Memberships was the holy grail of doddle jobs and paid well. No shelf-stacking or dusting when you oversaw a revenue stream.

Fucking Gilbert.

He’d never forgiven her for knocking him back, she bloody knew it. Maybe it was Sienna and Gilbert that had hooked up at the party. That might explain things.

“So, we should celebrate, right?”

“I’m not sure I’m up to it.” Eve rubbed at her temples.

Sienna frowned. “Thought you might have had too much when you disappeared early. What happened to you, anyway? I called and called.”

“Sorry, I got one of my migraines.” She didn’t care about using the line on Sienna and, in truth, by the end of the evening, her head had hurt. It had throbbed with the unendurable pointlessness of existence.

Eve pulled the zip on her bag and searched around for her phone. It wasn’t there. She moved on to her coat and searched itspockets. Not there either. “Crap, where’s my phone? For fuck’s sake!” Eve rubbed at her temples some more.

“Look, Gilbert’s pretty pissed off with you for showing up late again. I was going to stock take, but Gilbert says I’m an asset to the shop floor and you, well, it doesn’t look to me like you’re in a people-pleasing frame of mind.” She smiled at Eve sweetly and batted her eyelashes. No doubt part of the technique she’d used on Gilbert to steal her promotion.

Either that or a blow job.

Eve registered the condescension. “Meaning?”

“Just that you can stay in the stockroom today,” she handed Eve the clipboard she’d been holding, “And I’ll cover the shop.” She furrowed her brow to look at Eve with insincere concern. “You really do look like shit.”

Eve huffed out a small laugh and gave her a condescending smile of her own. “Sure, Sienna. I’ll do that.”

“Great. You know it makes sense.” She turned to go back to the shop, but paused to linger in the doorway. “You know, I think I’m really cut out for management.” She swept out and the door clicked closed behind her.

“Awesome.”

No coffee and stuck in the cupboard for the day. She eyed the list on the clipboard. Normally, they worked on the stock take together. There were hundreds of items: soft toys; t-shirts; stationery; themed sweets; books.

Books. Egyptology was a big area of interest for visitors, and they stocked a selection of books on the subject. She made her way to the shelves where spare copies were stacked. The uncomfortable encounter with the handsome stranger outside still loomed large in her mind. The tablet of Apophis he claimed to own had been real news when it was discovered, and Eve was pretty sure that the collector who bought it was a big noise in the archaeological circles.

She found what she was looking for almost instantly. ‘The Latest Discoveries in Egyptology: A Comprehensive Guide, by Dr Lucien Knight.’

Yes. Perfect.

Dr Lucien Knight was a well-known figure in the field and one whose work she’d even referenced when she’d been writing her degree thesis.

Eve flicked through the pages until she found the Apophis tablet, where the author talked about the challenge of housing it under the correct conditions in his collection to prevent further decay.

Ha, I knew it. What a fraud.

She let the pages fall back into place and flipped out the flyleaf of the loose cover. At the very bottom there was a picture of the man himself, crouched to examine some small unrecognizable artefact in the dusty setting of a middle eastern backdrop. He wore shorts, heavy boots and a loose, pocketed shirt with its sleeves rolled up. He also had a strong jaw with a dusting of stubble and dark, tousled hair.

A rush of heat flooded Eve’s chest. She’d seen that handsome face a few minutes ago. She’d thrown her coffee over Dr Lucien Knight.

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