Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
It’d been hot in there, but we’d all decided—Hades, Crew and me—that it would be best to work with the door closed.
I was regretting that now.
There wasn’t a dry scrap of clothing on any of my body.
When I came out, I ran straight into a woman that was carrying a mop and a bucket.
The lone custodian, Melinda.
I hadn’t met her, but I’d seen her personnel file.
And she looked just as pissy in real life as she did in her employment photo.
“’Sup,” I said as I saw her.
She looked at me with disdain—not even partially concealed—and said, “What are you doing in here?”
I pointed behind me. “Maintenance on the lights.”
She narrowed her eyes and let me know without words she didn’t believe me.
I opened the door to the maintenance room and showed her all the wires.
She looked down at them, then back up at me.
“You don’t look like you know what you’re doing,” she said. “And you’re very untidy.”
Wasn’t every man?
I’d had enough of being told what to do during bootcamp.
There wasn’t a single thing I liked more when I got out than being able to go back to leaving my room however the fuck I wanted it.
Dirty? Hell yes.
Clean? Also yes.
I do what I want, and I didn’t apologize for myself.
“I’m not done.” I closed the door and it clicked closed with a resounding ‘fuck you.’
Her eye twitched and I moved around her, leaving her at my back to do whatever pouty bullshit she’d been doing before I’d gotten there.
When Crew had told me she was unpleasant, I hadn’t expected that.
But here we were…
“Yo.”
I looked up to find Crew standing there, aiming a shit-eating grin my way.
“’Sup?” I asked.
He gestured toward the door. “Could you help me pick something up?”
I nodded and went and did just that, helping him lift a heavy beam off the floor that needed to be set into place for the show that was set to go on in about forty-five minutes.
“Thank you,” he said as he dusted his hands off. “Normally there’s a three-man crew who helps, but something’s going on with them today. I’ve yet to see them anywhere I am since I walked in the building.”
“That likely has a lot to do with me, I’m sure,” I said. “I overheard one of them talking outside the room I was in earlier. They weren’t happy that a maintenance man was hired without consulting them first.”
He rolled his eyes. “Jesus fucking Christ. I have half a mind to shut this place down.”
“Is it makin’ good money?” I wondered.
He shrugged. “Decent, I guess. But we employ a hundred people. If I close it down, then who the fuck knows what they’ll do.”
He’d had this discussion with me already.
Why I’d been the one to help him make this decision, I didn’t know. But I’d sat down and gone over the pros and cons with him, where I’d then pointed out that if he could be making passive income while he was away and working, why the fuck not?
His only step was to find someone that knew what they were doing and could handle this job, and he trusted enough to do it.
That person wasn’t me, and if he wanted to keep it going while he was gone, he’d have to make that decision fast.
But I had hope that he would make it happen.
Just like I’d find for sure whoever the fuck was that kid’s mother for him, and figure out what sort of thing was going on here that had all the women scared.
Or, at least, Hades would.
With what little chatter I’d heard from my back all afternoon, everyone seemed to love her.
Which was quite the opposite of what I’d experienced at her own family-owned circus.
Maybe her getting out and spreading her wings was a good thing.
There was a rush of feet moving, and we both turned to survey the women that were hurrying toward a side walled area.
“What’s going on?” I asked Crew.
He looked toward the room, then at his watch.
“The first show started,” he said. “I didn’t realize we were that close.”
I walked toward the door where the hurrying ladies had disappeared through, and felt my feet literally become glued to the floor beneath me as I caught my first look at the woman on the stage.
Where we were at, it came into the side of the stage, but also allowed you a full, unencumbered view of the stage from front to back.
In the middle of the stage was Hades.
And she was juggling fuckin’ knives.
I felt my heartrate pick up at seeing it, and wondered what kind of balls it took to perform in a show doing a routine that you’d just literally learned how to do only hours before. Oh, and for shits and giggles, you added the dangerous vibe to the routine so that you’d give your new fake man a heart attack.