Chapter 2 A Whole New World

• She jerks a shoulder and keeps on walking. “Listen, they don’t hire delicate flowers around here, so toughen up. You’re going to be dealing with groping hands and innuendos and drunks, so you need to be streetwise and savvy. If Dante doesn’t think you’re woman enough to handle the rowdy clientele, you’ll be back on the elevator lickety-split. Without a job.”
• The nerves are back, humming in my fingertips. “I see. I need to be tough.”
• Jade punches the elevator button. “Second tip?” She looks around, as if to make sure no one is listening.
• “Dante is a scumbag. Be ready to take off that dress. It might be your only chance to change his mind if the interview isn’t going well.”
• “Take off…my dress?” Surely, I didn’t hear her correctly. “I’m interviewing to be a waitress, not one of the pole dancers.”
• Jade laughs. “Nothing is free in Vegas. You want the job badly enough, you’ll unzip that dime store treasure you’re wearing and show him you’ve got assets.”
• Assets. What is she referring to? My body?
• I’ve never used my body for anything but house chores.Feeding chickens, mucking the horse stalls, milking cows. The men who came to the farm to conduct business with my father often made me feel embarrassed with the way they looked at me, but we never conversed. My father wouldn’t allow it. I’ve spoken to very few members of the opposite sex throughout my life, since my mother homeschooled me and we only ventured into town on occasion. I’ve definitely never been naked in front of one. Maybe it’s a lot more common for a woman to show a man her body for professional gain than I realize?
• “You look like you’re going to be sick, goldilocks.”
• At her use of the amusing nickname, I tuck a few strands of blonde hair behind my ear, shifting side to side in the cheap white heels I stole from my mother’s closet. “I’m just nervous, I suppose. This place is so big and wild. It makes a girl feel small.”
• The redhead sighs, shakes her head. “This town is going to chew you up and spit you right back out, isn’t it? Poor baby.”
• With that, the elevator door swishes open, moving sleekly like everything else in this establishment. Jade gives me a firm push and I’m suddenly standing in the gleaming gray marble elevator, Sinatra echoing in the small space, my knees starting to wobble. The last thing I see before the doors close again is Jades thumbs up—and then I’m off. Flying up to the very top floor to the executive offices.
• I stare back at my pale reflection in the mirrored walls and take a deep breath.
• My makeup is amateurish, but it’s the best I could manage, never having applied the stuff before. My clothes are second, maybe thirdhand. I’m more out of place than a cow in the pigpen. But I’m not going back to the farm. I refuse to be imprisoned ever again. Or smacked around and verbally abused. I can’t go back to that. I need to start making money before my tiny stash of cash runs out. I need this job. Terribly.
• And I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
• Alexander’s POV
• “No way. I don’t interview waitresses.”
• My manager,Dante, jogs to catch up with me as I march down the carpeted hallway between offices. “Please. I’ve got a staffing issue tonight I’ve got to deal with. Just ask the girl a few questions, make sure she’s got a nice ass and send her off to HR to do paperwork.”
• “No.”
• “God, you are such an asshole,” he laughs, but there’s frustration beneath the sound.
• So be it. I’m not here to make friends. In fact, in my position as a pit boss on the casino floor, I’m better off not having friends. I’m here to make sure cash flows the right direction and every cent of it is accounted for. I’m here to monitor gamblers and dealers, to make sure no one is trying to steal from the house. That’s my profession, I’m damn good at it. And interviewing waitresses is not in the job description.
• Besides, there are rumors about how Dante likes to “interview” the girls and I want no part of that vile behavior. I witness more than enough debauchery throughout my nights in the pit to add anything new. I cleanse my mind of those impurities at church every morning and start fresh each evening. Once upon a time, I was going to be a priest and that mindset hasn’t deserted me. Perhaps The Palace isn’t ideal for someone who is trying to live a pious existence, but there’s a method to my madness.
• Or a reason for it, rather.
• “I’ve never asked you for anything, man. Please. Five minutes of your precious time.” I walk into the employee check-in room with Dante hot on my heels. There is a row of men in suits and earpieces that scan my badge and officially put me on the clock. To my right, there is a wall of television screens that monitor different parts of the casino. This is only a small sampling of the surveillance that goes on, but that operation is on another floor.
• “I don’t have five minutes,” I rumble. “My shift is starting soon.”