Texas King

CHAPTER ONE

"Hurry up with that trash, runt, before this pizza gets cold!" Cole shouts at me as I gather up all the stray trash in the pizzeria to dump it for the night.

I stop in front of the back door that leads out to the parking lot with two trash bags in my hands that probably weigh more than I do and drop my head down.

Cole's voice is like nails on a chalkboard. He's always an ass, but tonight he's been piling on an extra helping of jerk, and like the perfect sidekick, his brother Corey is always right there, arms crossed, and glaring at me like he's waiting for a reason to squash me like a bug.

I push through the door and breathe in the cool outside air. It feels good outside, and relief floods through my body as the door shuts behind me. They can't see me out here, and, more importantly, I can't see them, or hear them, or feel their threatening stares at my back while they plan some horrific way to torture me.

It's always been a battle with them, even before my mother died. They resented her. She was strong and fierce, and the only mistake she ever made was marrying their father. They hated her because of that. They still hate her, and by proxy, they hate me, which is evident in the way that they treat me. It started small, but over the years, their cruelty has known no bounds.

Tonight, they've taken to pushing me around all night, giving me unnecessary chores and hovering over me as I perform them, and belittling me in front of customers. You name it, they did it. But this moment is a much-needed reprieve. They think I hate taking out the trash, but besides the times I'm out on deliveries, carrying the trash out is my only break from them at the shop. The shop that my mother started from the ground up. The shop that I have always thought I would run some day, but somehow, my stepfather has snatched it up from right underneath me.

I'd been too young to take over when my mother passed, and he'd stepped in. Once upon a time, I'd thought he would give it back to me someday, but I know better now. I know that now, it belongs to him. And like the true nepotist that my stepfather is, he put Cole and Corey in charge of it.

They really are the stepbrothers from Hell, too. It isn't enough to take my birthright from me; no, they have to demoralize me, too. They have to constantly remind me that I'm stuck cleaning and delivering pizzas in the crappy delivery car because they think they're smarter than me due to feeling whatever legal loopholes they jumped through to keep the pizza shop away from me are far above and beyond my own understanding. And I can't afford legal help, anyway, even if I knew where to start. The measly paycheck they give me is barely enough to be called minimum wage.

At the sound of footsteps coming my way, I scurry forward, beelining to the dumpster and making quick work of tossing in the bags before going back inside to grab the finished pizza and address for the delivery.

"If we have to give a discount because you're late delivering this, it's coming out of your pay," Cole says as he watches me take down the address for the delivery.

I roll my eyes at him before I have a chance to think better of it, and I immediately regret it.

Cole's face goes sharp and venomous as he narrows his eyes at me. "You got a problem, sissy boy?"

I wince. I hate it when they call me that, even though it's true. There is something about me that is just soft and effeminate that I just can't ever seem to shake. Even in my baggy work uniform, it's easy to see that my body is too small, my shoulders are too narrow, and in the wrong kind of light, most people can't decide if I'm male or female.

When my mother was alive, it was something I'd hardly ever noticed. She'd always made me feel normal. Whether I was sneaking into her shoe closet or trying on her skirts, she'd never batted an eye or said an unkind word. And then...she died. And everything changed but me.