Page 3 of Juno

“I never left,” she admitted. “I’ve just been sitting out in the parking lot.” Well, that was true for the most part. First, she sat in Saint’s truck to talk to him, and it was parked in the back lot. Then, she got in her car and figured out that she had forgotten her phone. Lying to everyone daily had her trying not to tell fibs to everyone, and this time, she succeeded. Not that she cared about lying to Bruno.

“I mean, why are you back in the club? I’m about to turn off the lights and head out,” he said.

“Oh, I forgot my cell phone,” she said. “I think that I left it in the dressing room.”

He held up her phone in its bejeweled pink case and smiled at her. “You mean this phone?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s the one. Thank you for finding it for me,” she said, holding out her hand. Bruno stuffed it back into his pocket and her heart sank. He was toying with her and had probably had way too much to drink. He was a mean drunk, and she knew better than to fuck with him when he was like this—but she wanted her damn phone back.

“How about we play a little game?” he asked.

“I’m not up for games, Bruno. I’m tired and just want to go home and crawl into bed,” she insisted, still holding out her hand to him. He grabbed her extended hand and pulled her against his body. God, he smelled like booze and cigarettes, and she felt like she was going to puke. Juno was also sure that she’d wear his marks from the way he was holding her wrists.

“You’re hurting me,” she spat.

“I’m all for us going back to your place and crawling into your bed,” he slurred. Juno regretted using those words, but she was really just trying to keep her wits about herself and get the hell out of there.

“That’s not what I meant, Bruno. Please let go of me,” she begged.

“How about you give me a kiss and I’ll think about letting you go,” he said. She knew that Bruno was lying but calling him a liar right now might not be her best move.

“I’m not going to kiss you, Bruno. You’re my boss,” she reminded.

“Right, and as your boss, I’m telling you to kiss me. If you want to keep your job, you’ll do as I say.” She needed her job, but at what cost? She had heard some of the other girls talking about Bruno doing this to some of the women, but she never really thought he’d go after her. He had always seemed harmless—until now.

“I need my job, Bruno,” she insisted. “You can’t do this. It’s illegal.” Thinking that she could use logic to wiggle her way out of this was foolish, but she was out of options and desperate.

“Are you threatening me?” he spat, his hand tightening on her wrist.

Juno cried out in pain, “You’re hurting me, Bruno,” she said, “please just let me go. I won’t tell anyone that this happened. You can even keep my phone, just let me go.”

“I’d listen to the lady, Bruno,” a man’s voice said from behind her. Bruno looked past her as she turned her head to see who was coming to her rescue, but she already had a pretty good idea who it was.

“Saint,” she whispered.

“Who the fuck are you and why are you in my club?” Bruno asked.

“I’m Juno’s friend, and I’m giving you one more chance to do the right thing here, Bruno,” Saint said.

“Yeah, and who’s going to make me? This is my club and you’re trespassing,” Bruno said. “I’ll call the cops, and you’ll go to jail. Who will help poor, helpless Juno then?” She wanted to insist that she was not helpless and that she could handle herself, but she had done a poor job of it so far. Bruno was still holding her wrist, pressing his fingers into her flesh, and Saint was riding in on a white horse ready to save her. Yeah, she was totally the damsel in distress and that plain pissed her off.

“Go ahead and call the cops,” Saint taunted. “I’m sure that Juno would love to tell them all about you threatening to fire her if she didn’t kiss you. Hell, I’m betting that you were going to ask her for more than that to get her phone back.”

“And there are other girls who he’s done this to. I’m sure that they’ll talk too,” Juno added. She wasn’t sure that any of the other women would come forward to talk to the police about Bruno. Some of them were underage, and although they’d be able to put him away for a long time for having sex with a minor, those girls might be too afraid to stand up to him. Some of them still worked for him and like her, they needed their jobs, or they’d end up on the streets. Juno was hoping that Bruno was dumb enough to believe her threat.

“What’s it going to be? I’m sure that I can do a lot of damage to you and your club before the cops get here,” Saint threatened.

She could almost hear Bruno weighing his options. “Fine,” he spat. He released her wrist and shoved her in Saint’s direction, practically falling into his arms.

“You good?” he asked, checking her body over for any issues.

“I am now,” she said, looking up at him. She knew that the knight in shining armor thing was only in her imagination, but damn if she wasn’t seeing Saint in a whole new light.

Bruno stood there, watching them; his smile was mean. “I see what this is,” he spat. “You two are together and now, you’re upset that I touched your woman.”

“That’s not it at all,” Juno insisted. “You can’t take my phone and then tell me to give you sexual favors to get it back, Bruno.”

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, honey,” he growled. “You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass since you started here, Juno.”

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