Warriors of Phaeton: Dathrow (Bridal Pact) Read online

  Her sister had misgivings about Brian the entire two years Pixie had been dating him. The little changes in Pixie’s life and appearance had caused Poppy to question Brian’s motives. On more than one occasion, Poppy had wanted to have “sister only” time. Poppy pointed out Pixie was not laughing anymore, had changed the way she spoke, and seemed uncomfortable in the clothes she’d started wearing. The little digs always made Pixie go on the defensive. So defensive she tried to change the subject quickly when those conversations popped up. In hindsight, she knew she hadn’t wanted her little sis to be right. Now there was no denying it. Poppy had been right.

  Pixie glanced at the clock. Two hours had passed. Two hours since her eyes had been opened to what was going on in her own house.

  Pixie would give anything to be able to talk to her sister. Unfortunately, Poppy was off in space with her new alien husband. Joining the Bridal Pact was the best thing Poppy had ever done. At first Pixie had not been supportive of her sister’s decision. Her rational mind had flipped the fuck out when she thought of her sister volunteering to be an alien’s bride. They had joked about little green men and the tinfoil-hat ladies who were giving interviews on the news. When Poppy had asked for help filling out the forms to apply, Pixie had felt sick to her stomach. Knowing that she wasn’t able to stop Poppy, she’d helped and semi-supported her as much as she was able to.

  It wasn’t until Pixie saw the Phaeton warriors on TV that she changed her mind. The men were so damn fine Pixie herself had been flustered when she met the ones who’d come down to escort Poppy to the ship to start her trial period. There was one in particular who’d made her heart beat faster. That butterfly feeling had made Pixie feel guilty. In a committed relationship with Brian, or what she thought was committed, and yet that warrior had made her palms sweaty and her pulse quicken. Now she felt like an idiot. Brian had been cheating on her for lord only knew how long and she’d felt guilt about simply being attracted to someone else.

  Stumbling to bed, Pixie didn’t bother to get undressed before lying down on top of the covers.

  “Dammit, Poppy, why do you have to be so far away. I could really use you right about now,” Pixie said to the empty room, her voice scratchy from the tears she’d shed earlier.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning, Pixie felt as if she was recovering from a hangover. Not bothering with a shower, she changed her clothes and pulled her hair into a messy bun. Making herself some toast, she wrapped it up in a napkin and opening the door, she froze when her foot hit something.

  “What the hell?” she asked out loud as she stared at the arrangement of flowers sitting in a crystal vase and blocking her way.

  Pixie saw a card peeking out from its holder in front of the colorful blooms and plucked it from its plastic prongs.

  I am sorry. Give me another chance. Love B

  Shaking her head, Pixie nudged the flowers out of her way. Once in the car she tossed the envelope onto the floor of the passenger side before heading to work.

  Brian was delusional if he thought that she would take him back. Not only delusional, but bat-shit crazy. There was no way in hell she would get back with him after what he’d done. That he thought an apology and some flowers would fix things made her so angry.

  At work, Pixie went straight to her office. An organized heap of paperwork sat in a neat stack on the edge, along with some employee request forms workers had put into her inbox.

  “Pixie?” Helen’s hesitant voice called from the hallway.

  “I’m here, come on in.” Pixie tried to sound chipper, but after the night she’d been through, it was nearly impossible.

  “Hey.” Helen poked her head around the door, two cups of coffee in her hands.

  “Did you bring me coffee?” Pixie smiled gratefully at the thoughtfulness.

  “Yeah, I needed to talk to you about something.” Helen set Pixie’s cup down on the counter and took a seat on the other side of her desk.

  Picking up the cup, Pixie blew over the top before taking a sip to check the temperature. “Thank you so much for this…I really needed it. Why are you in so early? I don’t have you scheduled until the late afternoon shift.”

  Helen shifted in her seat, seeming more uncomfortable by the second. The longer Pixie stared at her the more she knew this was about Brenda.

  “Helen, is this about another coworker or did you have something else to talk to me about?” Pixie probed, hoping her employees hadn’t been aware of what a fool she’d been.

  “Well.” Helen drew in a deep breath. “Pixie, we all like you. You’re a great manager. You can pull us out a jam without breaking a sweat and you’re always fair when we need time off.”

  Pixie nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “And?”

  “Well, there’ve been some rumors going around about Brenda and I wasn’t sure if I should say anything since it’s not really my business.” Helen’s voice was filled with reluctance.

  “Helen, is this about my boyfriend and Brenda?” Pixie asked the question plainly, unable to hold back the words.

  “Yes,” Helen breathed out as if relieved.

  “How did you know about them?” Pixie couldn’t stop the question from flying out of her mouth.

  Helen pushed her stick-straight hair behind her ears and pushed up her glasses. “She was bragging about it to a bunch of the part-time servers last week. I don’t think she would have said anything if she knew I was standing there.”

  Well shit. Pixie cringed at the thought of her workers knowing that not only was her boyfriend cheating on her, but doing it with one of her own employees. Pixie had always tried to keep her personal life out of her work life. Dropping her head to the desk, Pixie thumped it a few times against the hard surface.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Pixie. Nobody really likes her anyway and we’ve always thought she was a huge bitch,” Helen said softly, obviously trying to make Pixie feel better.

  “This is just so embarrassing. I cannot believe this is happening right now.” Pixie murmured against the paper calendar her face was pressed into.

  “Well, if you need me to, I can vouch that you were going to fire her before you found out about her messing around with Brian,” Helen offered.

  “Jesus. I forgot I still need to fire her.” Pixie’s voice was accompanied by another thud of her skull against the paper.

  Raising her head, she rubbed the sore spot she’d managed to pound into her forehead. “Hitler on a pogo stick!”

  At Pixie’s exclamation, Helen let a giggle escape.

  “Don’t make fun of me. I’m trying not to curse in front of an employee.” Pixie shook her finger at the still-giggling Helen.

  “I can’t help it, Pixie. Remember last week when that bag of trash split open as you were carrying it out the back? You yelled ‘Jesus on a skateboard!’ loud enough for the people in the lobby to hear you. There was one old man who kept asking ‘what happened?’ because he thought his hearing aids were going out.” Helen laughed.

  “It was better than screaming the word I really wanted to that started with an F and ended with a K.”

  The teasing conversation had lightened Pixie’s mood enough for her to let a small grin come over her face. “Plus, it ruined my new shoes. There is nothing on this Earth that will remove ricotta from black suede.”

  Helen watched her for a moment before she asked, “You going to be okay?”

  Pixie nodded. “Everything’s going to be fine. Do me a favor and have Brenda come directly back when she clocks in today. I have a lot to do today and not much time to do it in.”

  “Will do. I’ll let you get to it, boss,” Helen said as she quickly stood up and headed to the front dining room to get started with prep for the afternoon shift.

  Once Helen left, Pixie let her head drop back down to her desk. Talking to Brenda was not something Pixie looked forward to in the least. Yes, she wanted to beat the crap out of the skank. Did she want to sit down and pretend to have a
civilized conversation with her? That would be a hell no. Pixie was good at her job though and this was one of those times where she’d need to maintain her professional demeanor no matter what was said. Even if it killed her to do it.

  Gathering paperwork from Brenda’s file, she started assembling the termination forms. The amount of errors that Pixie had noted over the past couple of months made her grimace. What the fuck had she been thinking, giving Brenda this many chances? As she finished the file, making sure that the forms were highlighted where she would need Brenda’s signature, she heard a knock at her door.

  Pixie glanced up to find the owner of the restaurant waiting in the entry. The big, burly Italian man looked stressed instead of his normal happy-go-lucky self.

  “Sal, it’s good to see you.” Pixie walked over to shake her boss’s hand. “I didn’t realize you’d be stopping by today.”

  “I didn’t plan on coming in, but we need to talk,” Sal’s voice boomed in her small office. He was the type of guy who had a voice to match his outward appearance. Big and boisterous.

  “Sure. Is there a problem?” Pixie tried to keep the smile on her face as she started to inwardly panic.

  “Yes there is.” Sal moved into an empty chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Giving Pixie a sad smile, he started speaking. “Pixie, you’ve been one of my best employees.”

  Pixie nodded, taking her own seat at her desk. She cleared her throat before saying, “Thank you, Sal. That means a lot.”

  “I’m just going to cut to the chase.” Sal leaned his beefy body forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “There’s an employee who has cost us money. Lots of money, Pixie.”

  “Yes sir, I am aware of the situation and I was actually getting her termination papers ready this morning,” Pixie interrupted.

  “That’s not good enough, Pixie.” He shook his head at her with a frown. “We’ve had a number of our suppliers making extra unscheduled shipments because orders were never placed. Mistakes like these are expensive. I could understand one or two but accounting has gone over the books and this started over four months ago.”

  “I understand, Sal. I am going to rectify that mistake immediately.” Pixie nodded, agreeing with what he was saying but having a horrible feeling about where this was going.

  “I know you will, Pixie. You’re normally a great manager but this one situation has gotten out of control.” Sal rubbed his red face. “That’s not all though. The other owners have decided that they’ll hire outside of the business for a manger for the downtown location.”

  Pixie swallowed hard. She was smart enough to know she’d fucked up. She was no longer going to be in line for a higher position. The hiring decision made it apparent the owners were not as confident in her abilities as they once had been. What sucked was she had no one to blame but herself. This wasn’t Brenda’s fault. Yes, she had messed up the orders. That wasn’t the problem. The issue was Pixie should have done her job months ago and fired Brenda when her poor performance had continued.

  Pixie blinked quickly, trying to keep her eyes dry. She knew what she had to do. “Sal, I understand and respect your decision. I made some poor choices that cost us money.” She looked away from him for a moment before taking a deep breath. Sitting up straight in her chair, Pixie stared Sal straight in the eye before continuing. “I would like to put in my resignation verbally.”

  “Now, Pix—” he stuttered.

  Pixie held up her hand for him to let her speak. “Sal, I have loved working here. Truly I have.” She smiled at him, feeling better with her decision the more seconds that passed. “I love this restaurant, but there’s no coming back from this. My good employees have been treated unfairly by my ignoring the mistakes of one. I doubt that I would have the same trust and respect from them for much longer if it still is even there.”

  “Pixie, are you sure this is what you want to do?” Sal shook his head at her sadly.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I am willing to stay on to train my replacement. I would like to make sure things are taken care of before I leave. Does that sound agreeable?” she offered.

  “That would be appreciated.” Sal started toward the door. He turned around and leaned against the doorway. “You know my nephew started serving here a few weeks ago, right?”

  “Of course, I hired him. He’s doing wonderfully by the way.” Pixie watched Sal, unsure what he was getting at.

  “He overheard some gossip in the dining room and came to me to take care of it.” Sal gave her a knowing look, lowering his brows.

  “Oh…” Pixie didn’t know how to respond.

  “Do you need me to…take care…of anyone?” Sal asked, thumping his meaty fist into his palm.

  Pixie grinned at the thought of her large boss beating up on poor Brian. No doubt Sal would win that fight. Sal might be in his fifties but he was still a solid man with a powerful form.

  “Don’t worry about it, Sal.” Pixie winked at her soon-to-be ex-boss. “Let’s just say I’m aware of the situation and my home life has had a few changes take place. I would appreciate though if you could do me a favor.”

  “What do you need?” Sal asked without hesitation.

  “I need to terminate an employee and have all the paperwork prepped. Due to some…personal conflict it may be safer for one of the owners to do it. I would hate to take care of it and then open the business up to a possible lawsuit because of my personal connection to the employee,” Pixie explained, holding out the termination folder.

  “Everything was documented?” Sal inquired while flipping through the folder.

  “Yes, every instance was documented, signed and dated with a witness present. There should be no problem. I simply no longer trust the employee to be truthful and would rather not give her an excuse to cause any problems for the company in the future.”

  “Got it. I’ll take care of this today since I’m already here.” Tapping the file against his fist, he nodded at Pixie. “Why don’t you take the day off? In fact, take a few days. You have vacation and we still have to interview so there’s no one for you to train yet.”

  Pixie thought the offer over for a few moments. It would actually be a good thing to have the time to figure out her housing situation. Not only that, but she needed to find a new job as well.

  “Thanks, Sal.” Pixie moved back to her desk and sat down. “I’ll just finish up this paperwork and then get out of here.”

  “I’ll call you later and let you know how everything goes.” Sal nodded to her before leaving.

  Pixie looked around her office for a moment. Her nose started to burn, indicating she was extremely close to letting her tears fall. She leaned down and placed her forehead against the desk again, taking deep breaths. Well, as the saying went, when it rained, it poured.

  Chapter Three

  When she left work, Pixie knew it was time to clean house. Since Brian had made sure the lease was in his name only, the housing situation was easy. Thanking her lucky stars they hadn’t bought property together, she packed up her things quickly. She left the clothes she didn’t want, grabbed her personal items and walked away. Brian had picked out and financed all the furniture that decorated their sham of a home so all the large items stayed. It had been a relief to Pixie that she didn’t need to figure out what to do with everything…including the couch. Thinking of how many times she’d taken a nap on it made her sick to her stomach. She really did not want to go down the road of “Where did Brian fuck Brenda?”

  She simply left her keys on the counter, grabbed some food items and texted him that she was gone. Her brief text instructed him to get rid of any stuff she’d left behind.

  Once in her car, she stalled for a moment. Now where? Remembering that there was an extended-stay hotel not too far from work, she started driving. It actually ended up being a brilliant idea. After checking in, she patted herself on the back. The small suite was affordable and close to the restaurant. It was also completely furnished with a small kitchen and offic
e area, which made it a winner in Pixie’s book. Yes it smelled slightly funny, but she kept reminding herself this wasn’t long-term.

  Pixie plopped down on the bed and stared at the bags on the floor. Four bags. Her life boiled down to the equivalent of four bags. She felt as if she’d come full circle. This was the exact same position her sister had been in just a few short months ago. Poppy’s predicament didn’t contain a cheating bastard of an ex, but she’d been packed up and ready to start fresh just like Pixie was doing now. Poppy had consolidated her apartment and her life had ended up fitting into a few small pieces of luggage. If anyone had suggested Pixie would be in the same place not long after her sister, she would have laughed in their face. Laughed hard and long. Now that she actually was in the same situation, she no longer felt like laughing.

  Scanning the room, she let out a frustrated sigh. “What the fuck do I do now?”

  Walking into the bathroom, she went to the mirror. Brown hair that was between wavy and curly reached the middle of her back. Plain brown eyes. Leaning close to the mirror, she had to admit that her lashes were pretty awesome. No lengthening mascara needed there. Smiling at her reflection, she took in straight teeth that had luckily never needed braces. She had a rounded face that had filled out as a result of her love affair with ice cream.

  Pixie wished she could go back in time and pay more attention to what Poppy had been trying to tell her. She was no longer sad about what had happened with Brian. She was pissed. Pissed that everything she’d worked so hard for was gone. Angry she’d wasted two years of her life with an asshole. Furious she’d let him change her into someone she no longer recognized. Everything she believed was real ended up being smoke and mirrors in a magic show. A magic show where she played the duped audience member.