Page 12 of Dancing with the Devil

And I know, I know.Why work at the cafe when dancing pays extremely well?This job has always been my front. My dad would lose his shit if he found out that his daughter dances—the type that I’m doing—for a living.

I use most of my money from dancing to pay larger bills, and if my dad asks how my cafe salary allows it, I lie—which he’s usually too drunk to argue with.

Dad never really wandered to this part of the city, so I was safe.

Jordan snapped me out of my daze as he came back from serving a customer.

“You going to tell me what happened?”

I simply acted dumb. “Hm?”

“Come on, Nirah,” he sighed, putting the tray down onto the counter. He crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “Something happened last night, and it’s been occupying that little head of yours all day.”

Nobody knew about the shit my brother had gotten us into because I was afraid it’ll put their lives in danger, too. All Silvia knew was that for a few nights, guys had approached me. I told her it was because of my clothes, but it hadeverythingto do with Nereus.

“Here’s a customer,” I changed the subject.

“Nirah…”

“After work, okay?” I smiled, and he hesitated before nodding and leaving.

I put on my most convincing smile as a young blonde approached the countertop with her phone pressed to her ear. She had some files in her other hand and a shiny brown handbag over her shoulder. “Welcome to—”

“One cappuccino. Hold the cinnamon, low fat milk, and one tablespoon of sugar,” she interrupted me. “Yes sir,” she nodded, and I guess it was to the person on the other end of the line.

“Might as well order hot water and milk,” I mumbled to myself, tapping the screen in front of me as I placed her order.

“Excuse you?”

“I—”

“No, not you, Mr. De Luca. I’m sorry, sir. I’m just dealing with a very disrespectful barista,” she glared at me. I rolled my eyes but then froze.De Luca? I heard that name before.

I placed her order, but the name ‘De Luca’ kept rendering in the back of my mind.Where and when did I hear that name?

When I looked up from my screen, she was still standing in front of me. I looked around, but she simply stared back at me.Am I on camera? Is someone messing with me? Or has she just never been in a coffee shop before?

“Excuse me, could you please wait over there?” I kindly asked. “I have to take the orders of the other customers too.”

“That’s cute,” she pursed her lips with no emotion whatsoever—her Texan twang strong. “But my boss happens to be averybusy man, and can’t wait until you’ve served your other little customers so please, instead of wasting your time conversing with me, I suggest you get on that order.”

I bit my tongue, desperate to keep my job. Taking a deep breath in, I slapped a smile on my face.

“Well, why don’t you tell your boss that he’s notGod, so like the rest of the customers, he’ll have to wait.” I could have sworn the muscle under her right eye twitched.

“If my boss wanted to, he could buy this entire cafe, kicking your sorry ass to the curb,” she lowered her voice, inching closer to the counter. “So you might want to watch your tone with me.”

“You know what,” I paused, canceling her order. I placed both my palms down on the countertop, leaning forward. “Tell your boss to get his sorry ass over here and order something himself.”

She scoffed in disbelief, but before she could speak, I did. “And, you know what I’ll do when he walks through that door?” I pointed toward the glass double doors, holding her stare. “I’ll tell him to wait in line like everyone else.”

Her eyes darted down to my name tag, then back up to my eyes. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,peaches,” she quipped before whipping around and strutting to the door. The nerve of some people.

Eventually, it was time for my lunch break, and Jordan and I decided to head over to the fast food restaurant across the cafe, grabbing a table outside.

“Let’s go,” he said, unwrapping his burger, and I sighed. “I’m all ears.”

“I just…” I trailed off.