Authors: Chloe Walsh
Cam opened the door next to Kyle’s.
My eyes took in the soft cream carpeting and long cream colored curtains draping to the floor.
The room looked too nice to belong to a house full of college kids.
“This room is never used, it’s the smallest of the bedrooms but it’s decent.”
A large window occupied the majority of the yellow painted wall opposite the door.
A double bed with a white timber frame took up a large portion of the room, along with a matching wardrobe, locker and…
“I get my own TV?”
I blurted out the question, when I noticed the flat screen television mounted on the wall opposite the bed.
“Uh huh, don’t get too excited, it’s just one of Kyle’s old ones, and it doesn’t receive channels. It does have a dvd player installed that works, so that’s a bonus.”
I turned around and grabbed Cam for a hug.
“Thank you so much Cam.”
She squeezed me back.
“Get some sleep Lee. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Do you mind if I take a shower?” I called after her.
“Go for it babe,” she replied, pulling out the door.
I stood for a moment, breathing in the silence and allowing a small smile to creep across my face.
I could relax, finally.
“Good morning,” I said quietly as I walked into the kitchen.
The shaved headed man sitting at the table raised his head in surprise.
“Good morning to you too. I take it you’re the infamous Lee?”
His razor sharp green eyes studied me and I began to fidget nervously.
“Yes, and you’re Kyle? I asked.
I hated how my voice sounded so meek.
He threw back his head and laughed. What was so funny?
“Nope, you have the wrong man sweetheart. I’m Derek.”
I blushed and muttered a half-hearted “Sorry.”
He grinned broadly, “Don’t be. Although when you meet Kyle, you’ll wonder how you ever confused us. I’m far better looking.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just nodded.
“So Lee, are you in town for business or pleasure?”
“Oh, I’m… Business. I need to find a job,” I stuttered.
Derek stood up from the table and I automatically took a step back.
Breathe, just breathe.
“Well yesterday’s paper is on the table if you want to have a look through it? I’d give you a tour but I’m late for work,” he said as he rinsed his cup and placed it on the draining board.
“Oh thank you. I will check that out.”
I tucked my tangled curls behind me ears.
Derek walked right up to me and I flinched.
He furrowed his brow and regarded me with a hurt expression.
“I’m not a rapist you know?” he snapped, “I need to get into the fridge. You’re blocking my way.”
I jerked away from where I was standing, “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.
Derek didn’t say anything as he pulled out a container of food.
“If you see Cam, tell her I had to go into work early.”
I nodded, “Okay.”
He regarded once more before blowing out a breath and muttering something about a nodding dog.
I waited for the front door to slam before I released my breath.
I needed to get a handle on this.
I had made it.
I was safe.
I was free.
I walked through the glass doors of The Henderson Hotel.
The paper I had seen on the kitchen table this morning had advertised a job opening in the housekeeping department, so here I was.
I had been all over downtown Boulder looking for work, but to no avail.
The sheer size of the city made me want to crawl into the ground. It was a miracle I stayed calm.
Crowds made me nervous.
I slapped on my bravest smile as I approached the counter on the other side of the spacious lobby.
The middle-aged blonde-haired woman in a navy suit jacket looked up from behind the counter as I approached.
She stared at me for a moment, her eyebrows raised.
“Can I help you?” Her voice was raspy, like she smoked twenty a day for a few years too many.
I sucked in a deep breath.
“Hello, yes, my name is Lee Bennett and I would like to apply for the housekeeping job advertised in the paper.”
The woman eyed me from head to toe.
“Sorry Hun, we don’t hire highschool kids, too unreliable. Besides there are application procedures you need to go through to secure an interview.”
I blanched, my heart sinking a little.
“I’m not in highschool.”
I stood a little taller, trying my best to look more grown up, “I can promise you I’m a hard worker, and very reliable.”
She smirked, “You starting college soon? Because the boss is not interested in college kids either, he needs staff who are serious about their job and are committed.”
Her straight-laced attitude put me at ease.
Straight talking I understood, it was insinuations and code talk that I didn’t.
I smiled at her, “I’m not going to college, and have no plans to ma’am. I need the job, and I can promise you that I am serious.”
She leaned forward a little, her gaze drifting over me, “You got any experience in housekeeping?”
I shrugged, “I have experience serving and till work, and I keep a clean house. I’m a real fast learner.”
After a pause, her face broke out into a wide grin.
“Perfect, you’re in.”
Thank god.
“Thank you so much ma'am.” I beamed at her.
“Come on back here sweetheart, and let’s get you set up. The name’s Linda by the way.”
I followed Linda through the door behind the counter, amazed at how easy this had been.
KYLE
“Are you even going to consider it? It’s what’s best for the company Kyle.”
I glared at the man sitting in front of me.
He looked exactly like me, thirty years in the future.
“Nope,” I replied, shifting my legs onto my desk.
That irritated him. Good, let the bastard squirm.
I folded my arms across my chest, just to make a further point.
“Why do you have to be so fucking awkward? I’m only trying to help you out son.”
I flinched at his words.
“It’s a little late for that. Why don’t you go focus your attention on that shit stain of a son of yours, and let me take care of myself?”
His face reddened, and I could tell he was losing his cool façade.
“You stupid little shit. You know what you problem is? Your too goddam proud to ask for help.”
I smirked, relishing in the fact that I was annoying the crap out of him.
“Let’s just cut the crap here David, you’re pissed that your dear old daddy entrusted me with his empire, and not you.”
He slammed his chair back and leaned over my desk.
“You’re going to destroy everything he built,” he snarled, “You’re a fucking kid. You haven’t even graduated from college. You don’t know the first thing about running this place, nor will you have the time once you go back to school. He was my father, this should have been mine.”
Ah finally, a little truth, I was wondering when he would admit it.
“It sucks when your father lets you down, doesn’t it dad?”
Chapter Two
LEE
I should have known coming here was a bad idea from the get go.
Parties were not my thing.
This was my first one actually.
Leaving home and moving across the country was now most definitely coming back to bite me in the butt.
The Hill was a million light years away from the world I left behind.
I was shy. I kept myself to myself.
Cam was my polar opposite; vivacious and wildly spontaneous.
This party had her name stamped all over it, and I knew I hadn’t a hope of escaping.
As it stood, the bedroom she had allocated to me was occupied, with a drunken couple.
I should have locked it like she said. I would in future.
“Watch out Lee.”
I turned just in time to receive a beach ball in the face.
I glared at the perpetrator, whose face was newly familiar to me, Derek Porter.
From the brief amount of time we had spoken this morning at the breakfast table, I gathered he was a joker.
“Excuse me Derek,” I muttered as I moved past him.
I needed some space.
Outside in the back garden was not much better, but at least I wasn’t in danger of beach ball attacks or food fights.
Were these people really over twenty-one?
I felt forty beside them.
“Will you lighten up and have some fun?”
Cam approached me in all her partial naked glory.
I took in the skimpy beige stretch dress she wore, that barely covered her girly parts. I loved the girl but she flaunted herself.
The color of her dress complemented her sun kissed skin and long blonde hair.
She was stunning to the eye.
I could never wear anything so short and revealing,
I hadn’t worn a dress since the second grade.
I looked frumpy beside her, still in my white shirt and black pants I had worked in today.
I discreetly pulled my long dark hair from its ponytail.
My curls, now a tangled mess flowed down my back. My sneakers were worn, but clean and they were staying securely on my feet.
God knows what could be on the ground at a party like this with all these drunk people.
“I can’t help it. I’m not used to this Cam. I have to get some sleep.”
I started work at seven in the morning.
The hotel was uppity on the large scale, scattered with several bars and dining rooms on the ground floor.
Thankfully, I was upstairs cleaning the rooms.
There were sixty-one bedrooms, twelve on each floor and the penthouse suite on the eighth and top floor.
My only previous experience in the workforce had been as a cashier at Moe’s Gas Station in Montgomery, and that was a poor comparison to the Henderson hotel chain.
Linda said the hotel was just one in a chain of twenty across the country.
The pay at was great; eleven dollars an hour.
The only downside was the uniform.
I had been relieved when Linda had told me I could work in the black trouser pants and plain white blouses I had on.
I had been instantly deflated when she had called me into her office and handed me a bundle of clothing covered in a plastic wrapping and a nametag at the end of my shift.
I had taken it out of the packaging and gaped at the indecent length.
For the first time in my life, I had thanked Jesus for being short.
A short, fitted black pinafore dress was to be my uniform from tomorrow on.
I predicted the pinafore would fall just above my knees, hopefully...
I was definitely not the type of girl who could dress skimpily.
I smoothed down my t-shirt at the back; the thought of showing too much skin made me self-conscious.
I worked my first ten-hour shift today, and it was good, the other staff seemed friendly, especially one of the bartenders who I had met on my break, I think his name was Mike.
I was grateful for the job, it meant I could pay my way here from the get go.
“Lee I know you’re not used to parties and crowds but could you please try and enjoy yourself. This is for you.”
Cam batted her big baby blues at me and I wanted to strangle her.
This was so not for me.
I hadn’t had a chance to speak to her about my job, since when I got back here the party was in full swing.
“Oh come on you dry balls let’s have a shot,” she said when I made no attempt to answer her.
Grabbing my shoulders, she led me back to the kitchen and poured some black liquor from a bottle into a pair of glasses.
“To your fresh start,” she smiled at me and clicked her glass against mine.
“Cheers,” I muttered begrudgingly and tipped the foreign substance to my lips.
I was not a drinker, my only experience had been when I was twelve and Cam had swiped a bottle of daddy’s whiskey.