Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“I’d like you to still work here. Make sure that she knows the ropes. Make sure she’s not fucking up too bad. Work at The Pizzeria. Do whatever you need to do to make sure that she’s ready, then you can slowly wean yourself off.” He paused. “And if you find a job in the interim that you like, then we’ll discuss you leaving earlier.”
The excitement inside started to bubble. My sister taking over some duties meant that I’d eventually get out of this place.
It wasn’t that I hated working there. It was just that I wanted to be able to do my own thing. Go my own way. Like my brother.
Like my own dad did.
And Jaycee was in the way of making that happen.
Sadly, it would take me months to make sure she was ready.
But that wasn’t the end of the world. She would eventually catch on… right?
Wrong.
Even worse, she made Cassius hate me.
CHAPTER 2
Karen’s Kickasserole.
-Casserole dish
CASSIUS
I hated her.
No, hate was too nice of a word. More like loathed.
“You either get me a refund right now, or I’ll need to talk to the owner.” McKees, the man that I was supposed to be piloting his boat for—fifteen fuckin’ minutes ago—growled.
McKees, like me, was pissed.
Why?
Because for the last six fuckin’ months, Jaycee Paradis had been fucking things up left and right. Overcharging some people, undercharging others. Not putting gas in their damn boats until she ‘felt like it.’
But, over the last six months, Alice had been there to fix all the shit that Jaycee fucked up.
However, Jaycee was now in charge by herself, and there she was, fucking shit up left and right.
“I can go get my s-sister,” Jaycee stuttered, looking intimidated.
She stood up and started to run to the back room, and McKees looked over at me, already pissed as hell.
I didn’t blame him.
Being charged two thousand dollars twice was a big deal.
It wasn’t like that was something you could just ‘fix.’
“I know, I know.” I held up my hand. “I’m just as frustrated as you are.”
I didn’t own a boat of any kind. Not because I wouldn’t mind having one—I would—but I had other things to be spending my money on. Like fighting Oberon Kalb every step of the way as he tried to make my life miserable.
“She’s a menace to society,” he snapped.
She was something. I wouldn’t even say a ‘menace’ because that was too tame of a word. She was a whirlwind of destruction.
“Um, Alice?” we both heard Jaycee cry. “I know that I’m not supposed to be interrupting you until four, but you’re here, and I need help.”
You’re here, and I need help.
What a fuckin’ joke.
“I’m working, Jaycee,” Alice could be heard saying. “I told you that though I may be here, I’m not actually here. I’m literally in the middle of a Zoom meeting with the mayor. Please leave.”
“But…” Jaycee tried, but Alice interrupted her. “Leave.”
That was the other problem.
Jaycee couldn’t figure shit out. She ran to the first available person that could fix it for her. She’d had six months to learn the trade, and in those six months, it was like she’d gotten stupider. Which, one would think, was quite impossible. But I assure you, with Jaycee, it was not.
Alice had started a job as a construction manager with my friend, Etienne, a few weeks ago. At first, she’d started slow as to help with the transition of her working full-time with Etienne and giving Jaycee time to understand that everything was ‘over’ for her at The Marina, but like the rest of us, Alice had seen the writing on the wall.
Jaycee was never going to be ready.
From what I understood, it was never supposed to be full-time for Alice at The Marina, according to what little I’d gained from Silvain, Jr. It was always something that she would do for just a while, then fly the coop like the rest of them did.
Only, no one ever expected Jaycee to be so dumb, apparently.
“Weaponized incompetence,” McKees, a former therapist before he’d struck it rich, said. “That’s what she’s doing. Jaycee is more than capable of doing what she wants to do, but I see the intelligence in her eyes. I know what she’s doing. She’s fucking up, and appearing as if she can’t, so that someone will save her bacon and make it to where she doesn’t have to work. Which is unfortunate for the Paradis family. Because they’re either going to always be taking up the slack, or they’re going to have to cut the purse strings.”
My vote was cutting the purse strings.
How two women could look exactly the same, yet completely different at the same time, was dumbfounding.
Alice had everything together. Over the last six months that I’d been watching her—and holy hell, was it hard not to watch her—I’d gotten a lot of time to see the woman that she’d grown into since I’d been gone.