Sneak Peek at Reaper Unleashed...

“You can sit where you like,” the woman told Sarah.

“Oh, I actually wondered if I could speak to the person who does the hiring.”

“We don’t have any openings,” the man behind her growled as he moved up behind the woman. “Especially not for someone who’s been fired.”

Sarah was shocked; how did he know she’d been fired? “Um, may I ask how you know that?”

“Sure. We were warned. Feller came in here yesterday telling us that we shouldn’t hire anyone fitting your description cause she was fired for rudeness and dumping stuff on people. We don’t want none of that here, missy. Now have a sit and eat or get out,” the man growled glaring at her.

Sarah was shocked because this must be the work of that asshole that she’d insulted last night. The man was trying to prevent her from getting another job. How dare he! He’d come in here and told these people she might come in and request a job. She was pissed.

Leaving the diner, she drove to the restaurant only to get told the same thing. She was livid but at least she still had the interview for this afternoon. She glanced at her watch. She’d have just enough time to go to the last place on her list, a cleaning company that took in laundry.

Sarah was beyond mad when she discovered that the man had also come to the cleaners with the same story and she wondered if there was a single place in this town that the man hadn’t gone to and bad-mouthed her. She was about to head to her interview when her phone rang. Not knowing the number, she answered hesitantly.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Miss Banner?”

“Yes, this is Miss Banner.”

“Perfect. I hope I caught you before you left to come to your interview with us at Sunshine Day School. If not, I am sorry. I’m calling to let you know that we actually just hired the last applicant who showed up and won’t be needing you to interview. We appreciate your interest,” the woman said and Sarah wanted to cry. She’d been counting on the interview, hoping that he hadn’t gone to the daycares too. Only now it looked like she wasn’t even going to get a chance.

“Oh, well, um, do you want me to interview anyway in case this person doesn’t work out?” she asked, hoping they’d say yes.

“No, thank you for offering but that’s not necessary. We will keep you on the call list and if another position opens up, you’ll be on the list for us to call first. Thanks again, Miss Banner, and we will call you if we have an opening.”

Sarah woodenly thanked the woman and smacked her head against the steering wheel. Damn, now what was she going to do?

That was when a sign across the street caught her eye. It read Blue Bird Strip Club and Sarah stared at it for a long moment. She closed her eyes. This was crazy but she was sure that asshole wouldn’t have walked into a strip club and bad mouthed her. Then again he’d said he was soon to be a prospect with the Blue Bandits and everyone around here knew that they ran the Blue Bird.

She knew that she could pack up Josh and just drive away when her paid weeks at the motel were up, go to another town and get a job, but she’d miss Sammy, and she’d never had somewhere to call home and she wanted that. Being here with Sammy over the last three years had kept her strong. When Cody had handed her the credits and told her to get the abortion, she hadn’t known what to do. She was alone with a baby on the way and she’d known damned good and well that she wasn’t going to kill her baby.

She had already started working for Hal a few weeks before she found out about Josh. Sarah had already started to create the bonds of friendship and it didn’t take Sammy long to figure out she was pregnant. She’d been Sarah’s rock from the moment she found out and she still was. They’d been friends for a long time and Josh loved his Auntie Sam almost as much as she did.

Sarah knew her friend would help her, but she’d promised never to be her mother and she’d do what she had to do to keep that promise. A hard determination filling her, she started the car. She drove across the street and parked next to about twenty bikes and a few cars. Seemed it was early for the crowds, which was good for her. She gripped the wheel, looking out the window at the two men leaning against the wall near the door.

Was she really going to do this? She must be losing her mind. She sucked in a deep breath, her eyes on the two men wearing leather vests. One had a nose ring, with a chain hanging from his waist and wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. The other wasn’t wearing a shirt but wore a leather vest too; his upper body was covered in tattoos.

She wasn’t frightened by the tattoos; they were beautiful. She’d always thought tattoos were sexy. He had a butterfly across his chest that was coming from the mouth of a skull. It wasn’t a traditional girly butterfly; it was made up of jagged edges and fire and it was a work of art. Breathtaking in a way and frightening in another. Sarah could see that the man with the tattoos had a scar that ran along his left cheek from beneath his eye all the way up to his hairline.

She was debating driving away and forgetting about her promise to not be her mother when she realized she couldn’t do that. She just wasn’t able to live off her best friend no matter what, not when there was a chance that she’d be able to get a job.

Steeling herself for walking into this club, she got out of her car. Pulling her purse onto her shoulder, she began moving towards the door. The man with the nose ring tapped the other and pointed at her. The other man laughed at whatever he’d said and Sarah wanted to run back to her car and get the hell out of here, but she didn’t. She kept walking towards them with determination.

“Are you lost, sweetcheeks?” asked the tatted man.

“No,” she replied flatly, refusing to allow them to frighten her away. She was doing this for Josh. The flyer had said they paid five hundred credits plus tips and that was better than anywhere else in town. She should have come here first but she’d wanted somewhere men wouldn’t be jerk-offs and this didn’t seem like that place to her.

“This is a strip club you know,” the second man snickered.

“I know,” Sarah said between her teeth, not willing to back off this idea now that she’d had it. She was determined to talk to whoever did the hiring here, even if she had to get past these two buffoons to do it.

“And you decided to come here wearing that?” he asked, his brows rising to his hairline in amazement.

“Yes,” Sarah said flatly.

“Sweetcheeks, I think you should get back in your car and leave. This isn’t the place for a lady,” nose ring guy told her, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“I’m here to apply for the waitress job. Now let me through.”

“Uh, yeah. I don’t think you’d be a good fit for that job. So why don’t you just get back into your car and leave,” tattoo said, gesturing to her car.

Sarah wanted to scream at them that she wasn’t a child, she was twenty-seven years old and she could damned well decide for herself if she wanted to walk into a damned strip club.    

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Copyright 2015 Michelle Woods