Love and Sorrow (Small Town Secrets Book 5), стр. 43

Justin flashed me one of his smiles that were known to make my knees wobble as he followed the girl.  “We’ll be back.”

I could hardly wait.

From a loss prevention perspective, Play It Again was perfect.  Not only were a lot of items locked up until a cashier sold them, but the checkout area was on a platform, allowing employees a better view of the entire store.  And then, of course, there were cameras in areas harder to see, like the porn room.

From the perspective of the scorned woman, however, there was far too much that I could see—and it was damn near impossible for me to pull my eyes off them.  It didn’t help that there weren’t many customers at this time of night—and none of them needed my help.

So my attention was focused on Justin and his date.  One of the first things I noticed was how desperately she seemed to want his undivided interest, as if forgetting that they were in my store for a reason other than just to piss me off.  I almost felt sorry for her, the way she kept flirting with him like she’d just met him.  Justin, on the other hand, was trying to keep it low key.

What the fuck was he doing anyway?

I knew he had other women in his life—but flaunting her right in front of my nose in a place I couldn’t escape?  That was fucking cruel.

One of my regular customers came in the store, asking me questions about a foreign film.  He did that about once a week, and I’d finally figured out a month ago that it was just an excuse to talk to me.  He rarely bought or rented anything.  Once in a while, he’d pick up a used Stephen King novel, but most of the times, he was asking me to look up something that we didn’t have in our store.  While I was chatting with him, though, Justin and Chelsea finally got in line.

Oh, joy.  But that was good.  I could finally get this shit over with.

Looking up from my computer screen, I said to the other customer, “I can’t find it anywhere.  Do you happen to know how old it is?”

“I don’t.  I’ll try to get a date on it, maybe figure out if there’s one with subtitles, and let you know.”

“Sounds great.”  This was his game—but I knew when he’d come in next week, it would be a completely different movie, and I started to wonder if any of these movies he had me look up even existed.

Probably not.

“Thanks, Randi.  You’re always good to me.”

“See you next time.”  The only good thing about this guy was that it was obvious to me he was flirting—but, the way Chelsea was giggling, her arm wrapped in Justin’s, a fat lot of good any of that shit did.

When they took their spot at the counter, Justin set a DVD on the counter of a hard-to-find chick flick, one of our biggest rentals.  What made me smile inside was I knew Justin hadn’t chosen that one himself.

He’d probably wanted to look through the pornos.  Poor guy.

To reaffirm that I knew more about him than this stupid girl, I said, “Justin, I’m trying to update the address on your account.  I know you live on Larkspur, but what’s the address?”

“892 Larkspur, apartment 208.”

Sure, I was being a good employee, but I was also letting Chelsea know in no uncertain terms that Justin and I were good friends.  “Great.  Do you guys want anything else?  Soda, popcorn, candy?  Make it like a total movie night?”  While I would have never said it out loud, skinny Chelsea could have stood a little more meat on her bones—especially with Justin.  I loved how we were sometimes rough and aggressive in bed, but a tiny thing like Chelsea might not be able to handle it.

“Yeah.  Popcorn sounds good.  Maybe a candy bar.”  After looking through the candies on the shelf next to the counter, Justin picked up a king-sized Snickers bar.  “What about you?  Get whatever you want.”

“No, thanks.”

“Aw, come on.  One candy bar won’t kill you.”

Fighting against a smile, I nonetheless relished the fact that I’d inserted a tiny wedge.  As if she were turning to me for help, sister to sister, Chelsea asked, “You guys have diet sodas, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said, pointing to the cooler a couple yards away from Justin.

“I’ll get a drink,” she said to him with raised eyebrows before fetching a bottle.

Leaning his elbow on the counter, Justin turned to look at me, a lopsided grin spread across his face.  “You fuckin’ girls.  Always worried about what you look like.”

I couldn’t help the scowl that spread over my face.  “Yeah—and you like what we look like.  Besides, when have I ever been that way?”

“Guess not all of you.”

Damn right—and I tried not to smirk when Chelsea returned, setting the bottle on the counter.  After Justin paid, I slid everything in a bag and took it to the other side of the counter.  Trying to remove all traces of sarcasm, I said, “Have fun, kids.”

But I really hoped they wouldn’t.

Justin, fully sarcastic, said, “Oh, yeah.  I’ve been dying to see this movie.”

Lying again while providing excellent customer service, I said, “Nice to meet you, Chelsea.”

While she wished the same to me, she also grabbed Justin’s arm like a leash, and out they walked.  Another customer came to the counter with four pornos for rent, providing temporary distraction.  Unfortunately, he didn’t distract me enough to stop wondering what the hell I was going to do about Justin.