Page 24 of Guarded Secrets
She wasn’t good for him.
But he fucking wanted her.
***
Keeley stepped out of the office with the feeling she’d barely escaped the lion’s den with her life. She pushed through the swinging door to the bar area. Of course, Josie was right there, looking suspicious. “Where’ve you been?”
“On break.”
“You take a long-ass break, that means more work for me. You’re in the wrong line of work if you want to be a diva.”
Owen stepped through the door right after her. The expression on Josie’s face would’ve been comical, except she’d obviously jumped to all the wrong conclusions. Keeley figured nothing she said would make the situation better so she ignored the comment and went to check on her tables.
The rest of her shift passed slowly. A headache had started with a dull throbbing behind her left eye, and by the time the last customer had paid their tab, all she wanted to do was get through the shutdown routine and go home to bed.
Plus, the headache made her short-tempered, and didn’t help her deal with Josie, who’d been borderline abusive all night. Keeley gritted her teeth and ignored the snide comments. That plan worked until she headed for the restroom with the caddy of cleaning supplies. Josie passed her with a fake stumble and jabbed Keeley with her elbow. The second time that night.
Keeley felt the last fraying thread on her temper finally snap and she let loose. “Cut the mean-girl crap, Josie. No more throwing elbows. You don’t have to like me, but you don’t have to be so darned aggressive. Ignore me and I’ll ignore you. But you jab me like that again, and I’ll jab you right back.” The words came out in a rapid stream of irritation.
“What are you talking about?” Josie had the aggrieved look down pat. “You bumped into me, and now you act like I assaulted you? Get real.”
Owen had the chairs up and was mopping the floor. He paused, glowering at them as he leaned against the mop handle.
Keeley didn’t care if Owen or Jen, who was at a booth writing on a clipboard, heard their argument. One of the cooks popped his head out the swinging door, looked alarmed, then retreated.
“Here’s real for you.” Keeley seethed, pulling up her shirt to show her lower rib cage. She pointed to the red mark that was already turning purple. “This is from the first time you elbowed me tonight.”
“Itrippedand accidentally brushed against you.”
Owen was at Keeley’s side in an instant, his expression furious as he scrutinized the bruise. He turned to Josie. “What the fuck, Josie? You did this to her?”
Josie morphed from self-righteously indignant to a teary victim in a heartbeat. “It was an accident, Owen. Keeley’s slow and keeps getting in my way. I only want to do my job.” Her eyes welled with tears.
“Either you’re incredibly clumsy to be tripping andaccidentallyelbowing me while doing your job, or you’re lying.” The pain spiked in Keeley’s head. “Given that this is the same mean-girl crap you tried fifteen years ago in high school, I’m going with lying.”
Josie turned drenched eyes to Owen. “It’s so unfair. I’ve worked here longer, but you treat her special, and then she acts like a diva to the rest of us. She’s always been like that. Lots of girls hated her in high school because she thought she was better than everybody.”
“This isn’t fucking high school. Get over it.”
“But it’s not fair, Owen.”
“I don’t give a shit about fair. This is how it’s going to be. You’re to work with Keeley like you work with any other employee here, and that means you don’t make comments, you don’t bully, and you don’t fucking jab them with your elbow. If you can’t handle that, then you let me know and we can terminate your employment right now.”
Keeley gave in and rubbed her thumb over her temple, where it felt like an icepick was skewering her brain.
Tears had Josie’s mascara running down her cheeks. “You’re so mean. It used to be fun working here. Now it’s not.”
“Don’t give a shit about that either. We need to get this place closed down. Keeley, you’re going home. Josie, if you want to keep your job, you’re on refills.”
“It’s my job to do the bathrooms tonight,” Keeley said.
“I’ll do them. Get your stuff. I’ll walk you out. Go home and deal with that headache.”
Keeley groaned because the look in Josie’s eyes told her Owen had confirmed everything she’d said about being treated differently.
Too tired to deal with it, she got her things from her locker, giving Owen a quiet thank you when he walked her out to her car.
CHAPTER EIGHT
