Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 by D. J. Pierson, Kim Young Page B

fucking tell me?” I blurt out.
    “Kacie
is nothing like them and has suffered their ruthlessness her entire life, more
than you could ever imagine,” he tells Meg before looking at me. “I’m sure you
would have found out sooner or later.” Jake’s smirk annoys me.  
    “Jerk-off.”
This only makes his smirk bigger.
    “Before
you go banging the new girl in town…” Meg starts.
    I
interrupt. “It’s not like that.” She looks from me to Jake, then back to me.
    “Okay.
Before you go anywhere,” she corrects herself, “there’s someone I want you to
meet. She’s a friend of Molly’s and she needs a job. Her boyfriend recently
took off and left her with a kid. Molly said the girl would be available nights
and weekends because her mom watches the baby. She also has waitressing
experience. I figured after you chased off two of our better waitresses
yesterday, you could use her.”
    “I’ll
talk to her now. Jake, are we good?”
    “We’re
good as long as you remember what I told you.”
    “I
won’t forget it.”
    “Meg,
it was good to see you. I’ll be hanging out with the girls if either of you
want to stop over and have a drink with us. Jade had some friends meet them
here to surprise Kacie with a small welcome home party.”
    “See
ya, Jake.” Meg watches him leave the office. She may even be checking out his
ass. “What was that about?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Didn’t
look like nothing to me, but whatever. I’ll take over tonight if you want to
hang out with Jake and have a few,” she offers.
    “What’s
gotten into you tonight?” She’s never this nice.
    “I feel
bad for being such a bitch to you yesterday. You’ll still be here if anything
happens that’s too big for me to handle, so why not?”
    “Thanks,”
I say, hesitantly. “Let’s go talk to this girl. What’s her name?”
    “Ashley,”
she tells me. “Try not to sleep with her tonight and scare the poor little
thing away. She has a kid to support.”
    “I
thought you said you were sorry for being a bitch?” I stare at her.
    Meg
smiles. “I apologized for being a bitch yesterday. I don’t recall saying
anything about today.” She wraps her arm around my back, I put my arm around
her shoulders, and we walk out to the bar together. She’s lucky she’s family.
    As
soon as the girl comes into view, I understand why Meg was nervous for me to
meet her. She’s gorgeous. Brunette with big brown eyes and a beautiful smile.
She definitely has a nice body. It seems as though Meg really has no reason to
worry. I’m not even thinking about the quickest way to get into her pants.
That’s odd.
    “Ashley,
this is my cousin, Evan. He does all the hiring around here. Just try not to
look into his puppy dog eyes and you’ll be just fine.” She pretended to lower
her voice for the last part.
    “Don’t
listen to the wicked witch. Want to come with me?” I motion for her to head in
the direction of my office.
    “Thank
you so much for seeing me like this, Evan. It’s okay if I call you Evan, right?
I’m sorry. I can’t seem to shut up right now. I talk when I’m nervous.”
    “There’s
no reason to be nervous.” I smile at her just before we get to the hallway. “How
long have you known Molly?” Molly has been with us since we opened Skyline and
is probably the best waitress this place has ever had. Just because she
mentioned this girl to us, she’s hired. I trust Molly just as much as I trust
Danny with my car.
    “Uh,
I guess about two years now. I used to live in the apartment next door to her.”
A sad look spreads over her face. “I had to move back home with my mom
recently.”
    “Okay.”
She doesn’t need to torture herself by telling me about her ex-boyfriend. I
offer her a seat and she takes it. “Meg said you have waitressing experience?”
    “I
do. I was at a club not too far from here about eighteen months ago. They let
me go when I got pregnant,” she says, averting her eyes to the side.
    My
heart goes