My Heart be Damned by Chanelle Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

a lot that you’d do this for nothing in return.”
    “I wouldn’t say nothing. I’d like to hang out more.”
    “Yeah, definitely!”
    He smiled, looking down at the steering wheel. “Okay cool. I guess I’ll see you later.”
    “You coming down to see me tonight?”
    “Of course. Gotta be there to support your first day. You excited?”
    I shrugged. “Let’s put it this way, I’m not here by choice.” I glanced over at the time illuminated on the dashboard. “Better get in there. See ya later.”
    “Bye, Amerie .”
    I climbed out of the car and into the chilly air, sucking in a deep breath. I could do this. Plenty people had after school jobs. How hard could waitressing be? Compared to battling Damned, this should be a piece of cake.
    Reluctantly, I pushed open the door and headed inside. The Hut looked like a totally different place when it was empty, and all the lights were up. It was open for business, but not many people were there. A couple sat in one of the booths, and there were a few people playing pool. There was no one on the dance floor and only soft radio music playing overhead.
    “Good, you’re here,” John said, appearing beside me. “Thought you weren’t gonna show.”
    “Didn’t really have a choice, did I?”
    He slapped a hand on my back, chuckling. “Yeah, well, let’s move past that. It doesn’t matter how you got the job. Point is... you’re here.” He looked down at my bag and coat. “Put that stuff in the staff room. Should be a couple empty lockers. You can use whichever you like. Then come back out and meet me at the bar. We’ll go for a tour, and I’ll get you shadowing someone for the day.”
    He pointed to a side door marked ‘staff only’ and I dutifully headed towards it. The staff room was small and shabby. A few beat-up sofas sat against the left and right walls. The wall opposite the door held lockers, and a large, wooden table pressed holding a microwave and a kettle. A mini fridge squatted underneath.
    I screwed up my nose. The room looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in months. The microwave had started out white but was now a murky brown color . The time was frozen on a permanent midnight. I mean, it wasn’t bad enough to be unsafe, but it didn’t look too clean either.
    Finding a spare locker was easy. Finding a spare locker with a key that worked was slightly harder. When I finally managed to turn the key, I shoved my bag and coat inside and slammed the door.
    Spinning around, I came face to face with a pale brunette. Her thick hair was tied back away from her face, but strands had come loose, and, in the few moments that it took for me to assess her, she had blown the loose hair out of her eyes three times.
    “You Amerie ?” Her voice was husky. Sexy. I wanted a voice like that.
    I nodded once. “Yeah.”
    “I’m Emily. John asked me to show you the ropes. So you’ll be shadowing me for the day,” she explained. I couldn’t decide whether she was happy about our arrangement, or not.
    “Oh, okay. Cool.”
    She led the way out of the staff room and over to another door in the restaurant area.
    “This is the door to the kitchen. Usually, we keep it open. That way when our hands are full, we don’t have to stop, and wait for someone to hold it open for us. The quicker we can get multiple plates over to a table, the less likely we’ll drop it. It’s all about speed here.”
    “Yeah, makes sense.”
    We walked into the kitchen and Emily introduced me to the three chefs, playing a game of poker at one of the side tables. She showed me where to put the order slips, how to check on the food, and whether it was ready to go out, and how to take orders quickly, but write legibly. Then she sat me at an empty table back in the main room and told me to familiarize myself with the menu, even though I practically knew everything on it.
    I think she forgot about me because an hour later, I was still sitting at the table, staring at the plastic menu.