Wayward (Wayward #1) ✓ [bxb]

Chapter 4

SONG - FUCKED MY WAY UP TO THE TOP - LANA DEL REY

Today was a job day which meant that there was hardly anything exciting to look forward to. Brian had come in the day before from Italy and my presence was demanded for dinner and very likely a night of coitus. With the classes and work that I had scheduled for today, I honestly wasn't really forward to it.

I worked at a high-end boutique in the Upper East Side. While my many relationships had become a profitable venture for me, I couldn't depend solely on it. My job was both a back-up plan and frontier for new opportunities. The people who frequently visited were wealthy females with their men or simply men who were looking for wares to impress the women in their lives or their mothers or something. They always needed help deciding what clothes or scarves were better for the person they were buying them for. Help that I provided and was usually thanked for.

I couldn't count the number of times I'd been slipped business cards and phone numbers from these "grateful" clients hoping to make my acquaintance soon. So my job remained an asset even if it took a chunk of my schedule. It didn't hurt to keep hunting and looking because opportunities never really ceased in my opinion.

Besides with Brian's current attitude, dropping him wasn't such a distant prospect anymore.

"I'm out for lunch Ryan. Cover the counter for me?" My co-worker Marissa shouted from her station at the checkout counter.

"Of course." I paused. "Where exactly are you getting lunch?"

"The not very pricey Italian place down the road. The one with the really good risotto." She replied making me grimace. I really wanted her to grab something for me but I couldn't afford any unnecessary carbs. With my course load piling up this week, I really couldn't really afford to gym for hours at my apartment's twenty four hour gym.

But at the same time I had already finished munching on the olives I'd brought with me on the subway here and I really didn't feel like rushing to the supermarket about eleven blocks away for a simple jar of olives.

"Want me to grab anything for you?" She offered once I'd gone to the counter.

"Maybe just a chicken Panini and some juice." I replied. Some garlic bread sounded really nice also but I needed to lessen the carbs.

Being beautiful was such hard work.

She gave me thumbs up before disappearing to the back door reserved for employees only. The shop was unusually quiet today. Normally it would be bustling with women clambering around to grab the best and latest deigns before anyone could reach them.

I assumed that there were no parties or gatherings which required new clothes so that women really had no need to shop. But who the hell was the kidding? Women didn't need any real excuses to shop. All they really needed was an unlimited credit card and shops that were open and sold clothes.

Those two were reason enough.

A young woman in her thirties appeared with a man around the same age as her appeared to the counter.

"I'd like to purchase these please." She said dropping two dresses for me to ring up.

"Was your shopping experience up to your satisfaction ma'am?" I asked politely.

Her black and white manicured nails drummed against the counter "Obviously. Could you please ring up my purchase?" She was impatient. It wasn't my fault that Madame Henrique forced all her employees to recite that dumb line to customers after they'd finished shopping.

The man beside her had an inquisitive but leveled look on his face.

"Of course ma'am." I replied.