Page 5 of Sawyer (Sabre Security Daddies #6)

M ost people feared the monsters under their beds. Not Lele. No, under the bed was her safe haven, especially now, when the true monster in her life was pounding on the door at two a.m.

The nightmare had held her in its grip. In it, she’d been paralyzed with fear the monster would get her. She tried to run through the house in her dream, trying to escape. But no matter how fast she moved her feet, she never moved from the spot where she stood. And the monster was getting closer.

She turned to watch it approach. It was a giant monster, but she couldn’t make out the face. When she opened her mouth to scream, no sound would come from her throat.

The monster was going to get her. Just as he grabbed her arm, she woke. Grabbing her blanket and Lucky, she crawled under the bed.

The dust under her bed was off the charts, which meant she hadn’t needed her safe space in a while, so that was an improvement.

The bad news was now her nose itched. She pinched her nose to stifle the sneeze and made a mental note to deal with it later.

You never knew when you’d need to hide in your safe space.

“Don’t let me forget, Lucky,” she whispered to her stuffed animal.

She couldn’t remember why she’d named her black cat Lucky, but it fit.

Well, as much as the name could fit a black cat with stars in her eyes.

Her father had won Lucky for her at the Tennessee State Fair when she was seven, and she’d loved the stuffed kitten on sight.

Not that Lucky could keep her safe from the monster. The monster would get her one day. Someone said if you dreamed you fell off a ladder in your sleep and hit the ground in your dream, it would really kill you. Was the same thing true when the monster caught you?

When had the nightmare started? When she was younger was all she could remember.

Her father had taken her to talk to a counselor about it once.

The counselor said something about her having gone through a lot with the loss of her mother, and then her father remarrying a year later, giving her a whole new family.

That had never made sense to her. She loved her new family. Her stepmother was sweet and soft-spoken. Her stepbrother had always stood up for her when the kids at school teased and bullied her. He’d tried to find out who started the rumors about her taking and sharing drugs, but he never could.

She’d tried naming the monster in her nightmare. Her stepmom had told her the story of Rumpelstiltskin and how, once the princess learned his name, he would disappear and never come back.

It was a nice story, but no matter what she called the monster in her nightmare, he never disappeared.

In her heart, she knew if he got her, he would hurt her.

Or worse. When she was younger, she’d tried hiding in all sorts of places, but she never felt safe.

The only one that had ever worked was hiding under the bed.

Not that he wouldn’t find her one day, and that would be that.

Maybe everyone had it wrong. Maybe monsters were afraid of getting under the bed.

Hours later, without any sleep, Lele crawled out from under the bed and got ready for work. As soon as she opened her front door, she groaned. Two new holes marred the thin door. No wonder she’d had a nightmare. Someone had really tried to get in, even if it meant breaking down her door.

Would this be what the landlord used to kick her out of her house?

She’d done her best to fix it up as much as she could.

At the very least, she'd have to pay to replace the door. Like she had the money to do that. Hector had paid for the first month, but after she got her first paycheck, she’d insisted on paying her own way.

He didn’t argue. It was only right, but with what she made working for him, she had no room for unexpected expenses.

The time she spent calling her landlord and apologizing made her late for work. She stepped out onto the front steps and noticed it was raining. And not a light drizzle or sprinkle. It was coming down hard.

Lightning flashed, and she counted the seconds until the thunder rumbled. The lightning was three miles away. Probably. After pulling on her raincoat and boots, she pulled out into the pouring rain on her motorbike and headed to work.

It would have been nice to live in a house closer to her job, but she could barely afford the rent where she was. Hector would give her the extra money if she asked, but he had done so much for her. She needed to stand on her own two feet.

She grimaced when she saw her stepbrother’s car already in the parking lot. He was never there early. Never on the days she was on time anyway.

"It's about time you got here," her stepbrother called as she entered the arcade. “What happened this time?”

Her stomach started to ache. He wasn’t trying to be mean.

That was concern, not anger, in his voice.

"It doesn’t matter. Neither of the bathrooms has been cleaned, and no one did kitchen prep last night.

What made me think I could trust the new employees?

You’re going to need to get them in shape before you unlock the doors.

I have a meeting at town hall, or I’d help. "

He was being nice. She was in charge of the training, not him.

As mayor, he was busy trying to keep Elk Jaw a great place to live.

“That’s all right. I’ll get it.” Then she added the same thing she always said.

"Maybe you should consider hiring older, more responsible people and stop hiring kids.

They can't work late, and the ones you hire don't listen to the training I give them.

It's not that they don't know how to do it, it's that they don't want to do it. "

"Older employees want higher wages and insurance, among other things.

It doesn't matter why it hasn't been done.

It only matters that it hasn't been done.

If sales take a hit because of this, the shortfall will come out of company paychecks.

And I don't think I can afford to pay you to retrain them. "

She sighed and forced a smile. He showed her the books, and he wasn’t wrong. Even though the bar seemed busy every night, the bottom line was Videotopia was barely breaking even. She was glad he could pay her at all.

There was no sense in complaining when there was nothing more either of them could do. “You go ahead. I’ll get clocked in and tackle the bathrooms first. After that, I'll take care of the kitchen."

“You’re a lifesaver, Lele. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Walking to the back room, she stored her gear and grabbed the cleaning supplies she'd need to take care of the bathrooms. She should be more grateful. At least her stepbrother had provided a job that allowed her access to the gamers in town. Since she designed video games for a living, or at least that was what she’d wanted to do, working at Videotopia was as good as it was going to get. At least for now .

The next morning, she slept in. This was her only day off, and she planned to make the most of it.

When she finally crawled out of bed, she turned to Lucky. “We need to rev up your jets, Lucky Lou, and I know just the way to do it,” she said as she crossed the room. “Nothing gets your motor running like a dance off. Let’s get dressed.”

Once she had Lucky in her white bedazzled spandex halter top and her rainbow-striped bellbottom pants, Lele put on her metallic jumpsuit with the zipper all the way down the front and her platform heels.

Bringing up her favorite disco dance playlist, because, yes, she had five, she cranked up the volume as high as it would go. And then, to quote the disco sensation A Taste of Honey, she Boogie Oogie Oogie ’d till she just couldn’t boogie no more.

She went through all her dance moves with each song, especially Daddy Cool by Boney M. She imagined the new guy who’d been at Videotopia every night for the last week. He was big and handsome. But more than that, he was nice.

He always smiled at her when she stopped by his table to ask if he wanted another beer. If someone had told her when she got out of prison that she would be able to reconnect with her Little side, she would have called you a liar.

Turned out, her Little hadn’t really been gone after all. She’d just been sleeping. But as soon as she realized the cage she’d been living in was gone… really, truly gone. The no locks, no bars, no guards kind of gone… she came out ready to play.

Little Lele had changed, too. She’d been sweet and shy. Now she was sassy, fearless, and ready to dance.

Well, sometimes Lucky got worried she wasn’t a good enough dancer. She’d do this little twitch that meant she was worrying again. That she wasn’t good enough. That her dancing looked more awkward than fun. But Little Lele was not about to let that fly .

“We dance,” she’d said, spinning so her skirt flared, hair whipping around her shoulders, eyes fierce. “We don’t judge.”

Yeah, Big Lele loved this new Little Lele.

An hour passed like it was nothing. One moment, they were channeling retro euro-disco, the next, they were all in. Full-body movin’ to the grovin’ like the dancers in Saturday Night Fever .

Breathless and laughing, Lele spun with Lucky held over her head. “Lucky, if we’ ever made it into one of those European Disco contests…” she brought Lucky swooping down and spun, “…we’d have owned that stage. Right?”

Lucky didn’t answer, well, with words anyway. But her eyes sparkled, and she nodded on the inside.

Still, even with the joy of dancing with her best friend, lost in her Little dance world, Lele couldn’t shake it. That prickle on the back of her neck. Like eyes on her. Watching.

She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to freak Lucky out. Not when they were getting their groove on.

Besides, who would be watching her ?

Who’d care enough to spy on a woman dancing with her stuffie in the middle of nowhere?

Silly.

Totally silly.