Just Pucking Money (UNI Lions 4)

Lily Nicole Austin

“Just lie still! You’re making it worse.”

Tears prickle behind my eyelids as I do as he says. Fuck, this was a stupid idea. I never enjoyed sex while we were together. What the absolute ever-loving-fuck made me think I might now that we’re broken up.

He grunts and pants as he shifts above me, pushing my leg to the side with a rough hand. I try to let myself go, to enjoy it, like I know people do. They must.

But I don’t understand. There’s nothing romantic about his jerky movements and I struggle to stay still like he wants me to. Most of all, I just want it to be over already. This was a mistake. I never should have come here.

He’s softening by the stroke and I hold back a sigh, hoping that’s it.

“Fuck, you’re bad at this.” He pulls out and I don’t move as he uses his hand to get hard again.

I can’t even keep him hard. The thought hits me deep and a single tear trickles down my temple. I close my eyes as he pushes my knee out to the side.

I feel him poking at me with his limp dick for a while before he swears and sits back on his heels.

“Roll over.”

There’s no hint of friendliness in his voice. I don’t know what I ever saw in him. But I met him when I was newly arrived at UNI, and he was kind to me back then. I was a fool.

“This was a bad idea,” I say. Instead of doing as he asks, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and take a deep breath.

“You’re telling me.” He’s still stroking his cock. “You could at least suck me off. You owe me that much.” He pulls off the condom and juts his hips at me as if it’s that easy.

“I don’t owe you anything.” I move off the bed and find my clothes.

“Fine, be a bitch.” He reaches for his phone on the nightstand and while I hurry to get dressed, I hear moans and grunts from the video he’s playing.

“You couldn’t even wait until I’m gone?” I pull my shirt over my head.

“Don’t ruin the mood.” He’s lying on his back now, his hand working his cock while his eyes are glued to the screen.

Fuck, I’m an idiot. But Connor was handsome and popular, so when he wanted me to be his girlfriend, I was over the moon. He was my first, and for months I put up with him telling me what to do and blaming me for everything. I was naïve. So fucking stupid. But that was last year.

I grab the rest of my stuff and leave. Closing his bedroom door, I keep my head down to avoid any of his roommates as I almost run out of the apartment.

I never should have come here. Connor and I broke up two months ago, and I should have left it at that. But then he texted.

And I knew he was horny. It’s not like I thought he suddenly wanted me back, or that he had changed and would appreciate me this time. But it had been two months, and sometimes he got me so close to feeling good. So close to...

I shake my head. No. This just proved it. We are not compatible. I’m not good enough in bed to keep a man satisfied. No wonder he cheated.

At least now I know.

Wiping away the occasional tear, I hurry to my apartment to shower before my first shift at Lucky’s.

I enter the apartment and relax when none of my roommates are there. I still can’t believe I was able to find a room I can afford this close to campus. Having to clean the apartment and do laundry and dishes is worth it for the reduction in price. Even if the room is tiny and I’m more of a live-in maid than a roommate to the others.

I tear off the clothes and wash myself in scalding hot water, desperate to scrub away any trace of Connor. Never again, I promise myself. He was a mistake. All of last year was a mistake.

When my skin is red and hot, I step out of the shower and get ready.

I can’t go back to him again. He kept me from making friends during my first year here at the University of North Irondale. And now I’m stuck living with three rich girls who barely tolerate me.

I dress in jeans and a t-shirt and grab my bag as I head out. I have to forget about Connor. He’s no longer part of my life.

“It’s smart of you to get a job before classes start,” Ellie says as she shows me to my locker. “Most people think they can just show up and get a job in a week or two.”

I place my bag and phone in the locker and change into the t-shirt with the bar’s logo on it. On Ellie, the shirt looks fine, but it stretches over my boobs. I pull the shirt down. Connor always said my boobs were my best feature. According to my stepmom, Alice, my face is too round and my blue eyes look icy and cold. She also complained that I’m too tall at five foot ten.

Ellie gives me a look when I turn around, fussing with the shirt. “We should get you a bigger size. Some of the guests here can be a bit... Well, I’ll talk to Sil. Priscilla Harrod. You met her. She handles pretty much everything. She’s a good manager. You can always talk to her if there’s an issue.”

I tug at the shirt, but it doesn’t really help. Ellie gives me a soft smile. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

I relax a little as she shows me around. The back room is only for staff. There’s a grungy-looking couch, a faucet and a microwave, and a door to a small bathroom, barely big enough for a toilet and sink. The few lockers take up almost an entire wall. It’s simple, and there’s random stuff here and there, boxes with empty bottles, an unopened package of trash bags, and a stack of napkins.

Ellis must see me take in the clutter, because she grimaces.

“Ignore the mess. There isn’t much space back here, so things have a tendency to overflow.”

“I’ve seen worse,” I say. “I’ve had jobs where staff weren’t even allowed to go to the toilet because the staff bathroom was used as storage and staff weren’t allowed to use the customer bathroom.”

Ellie frowns. “That sounds illegal.”

“It probably was.” I shrug.

“Right, well, no need to worry about that here. If you need a break, you just let someone know. But we do try to time it, so we don’t go during the busiest hours. Especially if we’re a bit short staffed.”

I nod. “Not a problem.”

“So how come you’re working?” She asks as we leave the breakroom.

“Oh, I’m on a partial scholarship.”

“You don’t have support from home?” She uses a key to open the door to a small supply closet. I spot a mop and bucket, shelves stacked with toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and paper towels. Ellie grabs a few rolls of toilet paper and hands them to me.

“Not really,” I’m not sure how much to tell her. She seems really nice, but I only just met her.

She grabs a few stacks of paper towels and closes the door.

“I get that,” she says and leads me towards the customer bathrooms. “My parents died, but at least I still have my aunt.” She smiles at me and knocks on the men’s door. There’s no reply, so she peaks her head inside. “Always good to knock,” she says to me, and if you refill the paper late at night, or the crowd is rowdy, or you just have a bad feeling, you should ask someone to come with you. Sil doesn’t mind if we stay close together if there’s a lot of drunk frat boys with wandering hands.”

I nod, grateful that it sounds like harassment won’t be accepted here.

“I have my stepmom, but she’s mostly focused on her son,” I say as she uses a key to open the paper dispensers. She points to the stalls and I open doors and make sure they all have paper.

“Ah, evil step mom?”

I squint and take a moment. “Not evil exactly. But Alice’s son is sickly. He’s been in and out of hospital a lot, so any money she gets her hands on goes to his medical bills.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“Yeah.” She has no idea. All my life, my dad would tell me stories about mom. One of them was how she went to UNI and got a degree in nursing. When she was pregnant with me, they used to talk about how they hoped I would get a good education, something that would set me up for life. So after she died, dad kept talking about UNI and how mom would want me to go here.

All my life, he talked about my college fund and how he worked extra shifts just to add to it.

Last year, I arrived here, thinking I would have an easy four years. Not as easy as most of UNI’s rich students, but easy enough. I was supposed to live on campus and eat at the dining halls. The fund was supposed to cover books and tuition and even be enough for clothes and some take out now and then.

That didn’t happen. It turns out Alice had access to the money and spent almost all of it on her son.

I shake off the resentment and focus on Ellie.

“Usually, it’s enough to make sure the papers are refilled before the evening rush, but they do sometimes run out.” I follow her to the women’s bathroom and we make sure it’s stocked.

Then Ellie takes me to the bar, telling me a million little things that I need to know.

I glance out over the dimly lit room and my heart freezes. Ellie says something, but my mind is too loud. It’s not until she puts a hand on my arm that I snap back to reality.

“What’s wrong?” she asks with a concerned look toward the couple I was staring at.

“That’s my ex,” I say and turn away. I don’t want him to find me staring. “I guess he’s on a date.” The woman next to him is pretty as she smiles at him.

“I take it you had a nasty breakup?” Ellie is wiping off a tray.

“You could say that. As soon as he found out I wasn’t rich, he told me I’m not good enough for him.” My cheeks are red. “But that didn’t stop him from texting me earlier today. Inviting me to his place.”

“Did you go?”

I grimace. “Yeah.”

I glance over again, and this time Connor notices. He looks me up and down, his eyes lingering on my chest. Then he scoffs and turns away.

“Come on.” Ellie grabs a half full bag of trash. “Let me show you where this goes.”

I follow her through the back again, grateful for the reprieve.

“You should give the other servers your number if you want to pick up some extra shifts.”

I think Ellie is trying to get my mind off Connor, and I do my best to focus on her. We exit the bar into an alleyway with a dumpster.

“Definitely,” I say.

“And you should try to work when there’s a hockey game. Those are the nights with the best tips. Especially if the Lions win.”

I nod. “Do the players come here?” There’s a slight increase in my pulse at the thought. Not that any of them would give me the time of day, but a girl can dream.

“At least some of them usually drop by after the game.” Ellie smiles as we head back inside.

As we return to the bar, one of the other servers, Gina, puts away an empty tray.

“I am done for the day,” she says and stretches out her back. “It was nice meeting you. I hope you’ll like it here.”

“It was nice meeting you, too.” She’s the one I spoke to when I first arrived here today. Her dirty blonde hair is in a tight ponytail and from what I could see, she takes no crap from the customers. She disappears in the back and I turn to the room. Only a few of the tables are occupied, and I’m not really sure what to do now. Then Connor gives me a smug smile and raises a hand, beckoning me over.

“You want me to take it?” Ellie asks.

I take a deep breath. “No. I’ll do it. I have a feeling it’s something I have to learn to deal with.”

The walk over to his table is longer than it looked. Connor’s eyes keep roaming over me.

“What can I get you?” I ask as I stop.

“We’ll have another round.” He gestures to the almost empty glasses.

“Great,” I say with my customer service smile. “I’ll bring those right over.”

I pray the bartender knows what the orders were, because I don’t want to stay there a moment longer.

A minute later, I return with the drinks and put them down. The woman has her hand on Connor’s arm and giggles as he leans in and touches her cheek. He can be so fucking charming, it’s disgusting.

I place the drinks on the table, hopeful he’s just going to let me go.

“It must be strange,” he says in a loud voice, clearly meant for me to hear, “to have no other qualities than being able to carry a drink across the floor to make up for being poor.”

He tears his eyes from the woman and looks at me with a scornful smile.

Before I can react, he turns back to his date. “How about some wings?”

“Sure, if they have mild.”

“You heard the lady.” Connor raises an eyebrow. I fight down the urge to pour his beer in his lap. Instead, I just smile and leave.

Ellie shows me how to put in the order for the kitchen. It’s similar to systems I’ve worked with before.

“I forgot to ask. Have you worked in a bar before?”

I shake my head. “No. But I’ve worked in restaurants, a fast food place, and some other places. How long have you been working here?”

“A couple of years. But I don’t really work here anymore. I just jump in from time to time and Sil asked me to help with training the new people. But with my new job, I won’t be able to take on many shifts.”

“What kind of job do you have?” I do my best to ignore Connor and pay attention to Ellie.

“I work in finance.”

We scan the room and talk a bit more while Ellie shows me where everything is kept and the bartender tells me her systems.

Once the wings are done, I grab them and make my way across the room again. In my mind, I keep repeating my mantra. I am a professional. He’s just a customer. I will act professionally. He means nothing to me. But it’s hard to remain objective when I know the mouth kissing the woman’s neck was on my body just a few hours ago.

“Finally,” Connor says when I put down the plate.

“Enjoy,” I say with my fake smile.

Connor looks at the woman as if he’s about to devour her. “Oh, I will,” he says in a low voice. Then he looks up at me. “Unlike with you.”

My stomach churns and I spin so quickly I almost overshoot. Thankfully, I see three guys sitting down at a table and hurry to them.

“What can I get you?” I ask and thank the stars I learned how to fake a smile long ago.