The alley was my church, and tonight I was ready for communion. The smell of piss and rotting garbage was my incense.
I kicked the dumpster, the clang drifting like a f****d-up dinner bell. Another night, another shift serving overpriced whiskey to men who thought my smile was an invitation to grab my ass.
My skin still crawled from the last asshole's invasive touch.
And then I saw him.
Him.
Leaning against that stupidly expensive black car, suit looking like it cost more than my life. Silver at his temples, eyes like a f*****g shark.
My favorite regular. The one who never said more than "neat" when ordering his bourbon, but whose gaze burnt through my skin all night.
Every time I turned around, those cold, calculating eyes were on me, stripping me bare, seeing right through the "
