ere's no time to feel sorry for myself because table twelve has a drunk tourist

out. Repeat until my fingers go numb

e Vincent Calder likes to lurk by the breakroom and breathe on my neck. The man is forty-five, married smells like che

Smile. Survive.

'" and asking if I want to get a drink after my shift. I keep saying no in a way that makes him laugh instead of rage. I've gotten good at th

ary taps the felt. Y

m a seven

sweetly, and he laughs then push

lsewhere for the last two hours,

in the b

while angry. Expensive suit, expensive watch, expensive everything. He's been standing by the marble c

knows the owner walks the floor some nights it's a popular rumor. Ever

ared

ind me with his sour breath and said, Getting sloppy, Ros

what you do when you're a girl from Pahrump working a job that pay

l the man in the bl

and finding it interesting. Nobody looks at me like that. Men look at me like I'm a snack, target or an inconvenience. This man lo

t don't look at girls like yo

nding it off since I was fifteen and working

to a kind of numb fury. I count out my tray with shaking fingers six grand in chi

n the doorway. He's a kind man with a tired face, a son in community colleg

wants to see

d turns

More

here's something soft in his eyes. Upstairs. Now,

ed to the boss's office after midnight is never anyth

hear myself ask. "Because wh

holds the door for me. Come on. H

ith the keycard and the mirrored walls that show me exactly what I look like right now. My vest is wrin

girl who's been on her feet for

ises and my st

ic claws up my throat. He saw me misde

I'm done. I'll lose this job and my mother's treatments and Matty's S

r. Enzo gestures down a short hallway. L

says good luck. I

eplate. I knock once and a voice from inside low and smooth,

the doo

a desk that probably cost more than my entire apartment, arms crossed, wa

ame like it belongs to him.

mming and for the first time in t