Chapter Text
Toni's POV
Some random song Toni hasn’t heard before is playing in the background, but no one is paying attention to it. They are all too focused on the game and the people they are sitting with at the table.
Everyone’s glasses are emptying fast and every single one of them is pretending that their game is going well, thought Toni knows who’s going to win and who will go home empty handed.
She’s always aware of everything that surrounds her. Martha, her chosen sister, used to say that it was her superpower. But Toni disagrees. She would never consider herself anything close to a hero, for her it’s just part of the job.
And it’s what makes her so good at it.
No distractions, even when she has been working for almost five hours now. She looks up from the table, directly to the clock placed on the wall over the door a few feet in front of her; there’re still a few minutes left until her next break.
She takes the deck of cards and shuffles them for what feels like the millionth time that night. Toni doesn’t even have to look at them to know where every single card is placed, because she had been doing that for years and knows exactly how it works. So, she hands them to the people that are sitting at the table with her.
Dealing cards was not something she had planned for her life, but when Dave Goodkind offered to pay for her training and a good salary, she couldn’t say no. And now, almost four years later, he considered her his right-hand.
She remembers the first time she stepped into his club. Nothing surprised her; the club wasn’t something exceptional. For Toni, all of them were the same. Until he guided her downstairs, through a door way too fancy to belong to a night club.
The basement was transformed into a mini casino and Toni was about to turn around and decline his offer, knowing that getting herself into something illegal wouldn’t help her case. Not after all the shit she has been through. But he proved that nothing about her job would get her into trouble and that she had his protection for that matter.
Toni doesn’t want to think about the past anymore, though. So, she focuses on the game until it’s time to switch dealers so she can go outside to breathe some fresh air.
Once she’s upstairs, she tries to find her best friend, Dot, in the crowd, but she’s nowhere to be seen. However, her other best friend is behind the bar serving drinks. Toni raises her hand and waves at her.
Leah waves back with a smile and Toni walks outside.
Dot is not there either, so she sighs and leans on the wall. It’s not like she can text her because she has left her phone in the lockers room, with the rest of her things. She closes her eyes for a couple of seconds before some talking distracts her from her own thoughts.
“Why are you still doing this?” Someone asks.
It doesn’t take Toni too long to identify who the voice belongs to: Becca. She and Dot used to go to high school together and they sit together at the club when they happen to be there at the same time, which happens often.
“I told you to stay away from me! I still mean it.” Someone else responds, raising her voice. Toni tries to see who she is, but she doesn’t recognize her. She has her back turned to Toni, so the only thing she can see is that the girl is taller than Becca and also how her perfectly straightened blonde hair is falling down her back.
Toni’s eyes move to Becca, though, and even from the distance Toni can see that she looks like she’s trying really hard not to cry.
She talks again.
“Is it going to be like this forever then? You’re going to ignore me for the rest of your life?”
“That’s the plan. Yes.”
“How did you change so much?”
“Leave me alone, Becca.” The girl says.
Toni wants to look away because it feels private, but for some reason she can’t take her eyes off of them. Becca had never bothered anyone, she always had a smile on her face when she talked to people, so Toni is sure that whatever is going on it’s not her fault.
She can’t help but feel a little annoyed by the other girl for talking to Becca like that, but before she can say or do anything, a red sport car pulls over in front of the club and the taller girl gets in without looking back.
Becca shakes her head and turns around. Toni sees her wiping her tears before she starts walking to the club’s door, so Toni moves fast and opens the door for her.
“Are you okay?” Toni asks. Becca gives her a sad smile and nods.
“Yeah. How much of that did you hear?”
“I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intention to be nosy.” Toni says. Becca smiles again. Tears are forming in her eyes but she wipes them before they have a chance to fall. “Who was that?”
“She used to be a good friend of mine.”
“Is she trouble now?” Toni asks, following Becca inside the club.
“No. She’s just hurt, but I guess you heard her, we’re just going to ignore each other now.” Becca says. She looks at the table where her friends are waiting and then back at Toni. “I’ll see you around, Toni.”
Toni nods and walks to the back door because her break is almost over and she needs to get back to work.
She doesn’t notice how Becca turns around to tell her something she has forgotten to say.
-
Toni only gets a few hours of sleep that night. Her boss has texted her the day before, saying that he wanted to see her in his office early in the morning. Dot has also sent a few texts saying that she has been really busy that day and she couldn’t make it to the club.
So, she takes a cold shower and drives to Dave’s house, stopping at the first gas station to buy a bottle of Gatorade.
It’s a path she knows better than the one to her own house, basically because Dave preferred to have his office in his house instead of renting some other place, so Toni spends a lot of time there. It makes sense though, giving the fact that his house could perfectly be called a mansion.
She rolls down the window and presses the ring bell. She doesn’t even have to say anything because the doorman, Robert, had probably seen her through the camera and recognized the car.
Once the gates open, Toni gets in the driveway and parks the car in front of the garage, on the left side of the house. Then, she walks to the front door, where Robert has opened the door for her.
“Morning, Toni. Dave is waiting for you in his office.”
“Thank you, sir.” She responds to the old man.
She goes to Dave’s office and sits at the desk in front of him, like she has done so many times before.
“Thank you for coming, Toni. How are you doing?” He asks, sorting some papers in the drawer of his desk.
“Good. Did something happen?”
“No. Don’t worry. I called you because there’s a favor I need you to do for me.”
“Sure. What favor?”
“Do you remember how I told you that my daughter Shelby was coming home from Europe this week?” Dave asks. Toni nods.
Of course she remembers. He talks about that every time he has a chance. How his perfect daughter is studying in Europe and travelling around the world. Toni always wonders if he’s really proud of her or he just likes to show off.
It doesn’t impress Toni, though. Only because her father has a lot of money doesn’t mean she deserves to have the life she has. Not that Toni knows her, because she doesn’t. But she still thinks it’s annoying.
Toni had learnt how money moved everything, and she remembers not having any of it, too clearly.
“I do remember.” She ends up saying.
“Well, she’s back and she wants to stay here to finish her studies. The problem is that I want her to learn that if you want something you have to work hard for it.”
“Okay?”
“I’m going to give her a job at the club, helping Leah Rilke at the bar. And I need you to keep an eye on her.”
“ Keep an eye on her? What do you mean?”
“Look, Shelby is complicated. She gets around people she shouldn’t sometimes. I want you to make sure she’s safe.”
“Why me?” Toni asks, almost with chuckle.
It’s an awkward thing to ask someone, to keep an eye on their daughter. What did he want? For Toni to babysit her? Wasn’t she alone on the other side of the world, free to do whatever she wanted?
“Because I trust you, Toni.”
“Can you maybe explain…?” Toni starts saying, but there’s some noise at the front door that distracts both of them.
Dave stands up and walks to the door, taking a step outside. Toni notices that he’s looking at someone who was walking up the stairs, but she doesn’t see the other person from her position. What she does notice is how tense Dave is now.
“Where have you been all night?” He asks in a tone that gives Toni chills.
“At Andrew’s.” A familiar voice responds.
“Come here. I told you yesterday that I needed to talk to you.”
He moves to the side and waits for the other person to walk inside first, then he closes the door and walks back to his seat. Toni raises her head to look at a blonde girl, maybe her age, that she recognizes as his daughter because of how much they look alike.
Her hair is a little messy and there’s the ghost of some makeup on her face, probably from the night before. Toni looks her up and down and back up to lock eyes with her.
There is something hypnotizing about her. Maybe the glow in her green eyes, or the way she narrows them when she notices Toni, like she’s trying to read her the exact same way Toni is doing with her.
But her outfit distracts Toni from her train of thoughts. Because she had seen it before, and she knows it was last night. It’s confirmed when the girl talks again and Toni recognizes her as the girl that treated Becca like shit earlier.
“What’s all this about?” She asks his father.
“This is Toni. Remember I told you about her?” Dave says.
Toni’s plan is to just stay there and wait for it to end. But she can feel Dave’s eyes on her so she stands up and extends her hand to the girl.
“Toni Shalifoe.”
The girl shakes her hand for a brief second, so briefly that it doesn’t even feel like a touch. “Shelby Goodkind.” She says, but her eyes are on her dad’s again, waiting for some kind of explanation, so Toni sits down. Dave tells Shelby to do the same and she obeys, leaving a good amount of space between them.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Shelby asks.
“What do you mean?” Dave says.
“You didn’t mention Toni was a woman…my age?”
Toni sits up on the chair, defensive.
“Do you have a problem with any of those two facts?” Toni asks.
“No”, Shelby glances at her for just a second. “I didn’t think you’d trust your business in someone with so little…experience.” Toni is about to say something but Dave raises his hand to stop her. He knows her well enough now to know that nothing nice was going to come out of her mouth.
“We’ve talked about this. You know how little it takes for me to make a call and send you back to Europe. Is that what you want? Because last time we talked we had an agreement.” Dave says.
His voice is louder than it should be, in Toni’s opinion, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like the panic in his daughter’s eyes. She had it coming.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” She says. Her whole body’s expression changes in a second and she looks so small in her seat that Toni almost feels sorry for her. Almost .
“You’re going to work at the club, as we talked. Toni will show you around and you’ll have the same schedule, that’s why I wanted you two to meet here.” He says, glancing between the two of them, then he focuses on Shelby. “If you have any kind of problem, Toni is the person you have to go to, and I don’t want to hear a single complain about you.”
Shelby moves uncomfortably on her seat and Toni has to give her credit for not responding to him, because she sure would’ve done it. She sees her clenching her jaw though, and it gives Toni a little satisfaction.
“Is there any possibilities you can show her around the club today?” He asks Toni.
“Yeah.” She says, though her mind screams fuck no . “We can meet there in like two hours?” She looks at Shelby, who nods, because what else could she do if her father is looking at her like she has just killed someone?
Dave smiles at them.
“Good. You can go now.” He says, raising his hand, pointing at the door. They stand up at the same time and start walking to the door when Dave speaks again. “Oh, and Shelby? If you come here with that attitude again, we’ll have a much longer conversation.”
“Understood.” Shelby says, her voice sounding weak.
Toni opens the door and they walk outside the office.
Shelby goes upstairs without saying anything else, so Toni walks outside, wanting to forget about her immediately.
-
Two hours later, Toni is in front of the club, pulling her copy of the key out of her jeans’ pocket. She hears someone walking to her, and she knows it’s Shelby, so she decides to ignore her and open the door. She’s still a little bit pissed off that Dave called her so early to his office for something he could’ve done over text.
“This is so stupid.” Shelby says, following Toni inside. For once, Toni agrees with her. “I was here last night. I already know how it looks like. Didn’t see you here, though.”
“I work downstairs.”
“Downstairs?”
“Let’s get over with this fucking tour, alright?” Toni says turning to look at her, to which Shelby responds with an almost imperceptible nod.
Toni turns on the lights and locks the door at their backs. Then she starts pointing at every part of the room: the dance floor on the left, with some seats on one side and the bar counter on the other; and the VIP part on the right.
Now that the neon lights are not on it looks lifeless and too empty.
“There was some live music last night. Is it always the same band?” Shelby asks, and Toni sees her looking to her left, where some tables are placed in front of a little scenario.
“Yeah; always them.”
“They were good.”
Toni rolls her eyes because she’s not in the mood for small talk with this girl she doesn’t want to be friends with anyway. Not after seeing the way she treated Becca the night before.
She walks to the bar counter instead, waiting for Shelby to follow her.
“Forget about the scenario, pageant queen. This is where you’re going to work, serving drinks to drunk idiots.” She drops her hand on the bar counter with a thud. “Do you even know how to make them? Do you have any experience?”
“Daddy made me take the course. I don’t have experience but he said some girl named Leah was going to teach me the basics and stuff.”
“Daddy has everything planned for you, huh? You don’t have to move a muscle.”
“What’s that about now?” Shelby asks. She looks pissed, and for some reason Toni loves it. She wants to get under her skin. And she’s kind of hot when she furrows her brows like she’s doing now.
“Am I wrong?”
“This is not what I came here for. And if you’re not able to keep it professional I’m leaving.”
“I don’t think you have that option.” Toni says, remembering Dave’s tone. Shelby just looks at her and Toni knows she’s holding the urge to send her to hell. Though maybe is the cross necklace she’s wearing what stops her.
She walks to the two doors a few feet away from the bar. Then, she takes a card out of her pocket and hands it to Shelby.
“Don’t lose it.” Toni says, using her own card to open the door and get inside the lockers room. She shows Shelby which one is hers. There’s also a sofa in the middle of the room with a little coffee table and a few chairs.
When they get out, Toni opens the second door to some stairs that takes them downstairs, to the basement, where the mini casino is. Shelby seems impressed by it and Toni can’t help but ask, “how come you haven’t seen this place before? Your dad literally owns it.”
“The last time I was here this was only a dream of his. There were not poker tables or anything. Besides, he prohibited me to come here until I was 21 but by that time I was already far away.” Shelby says, still looking around the room, until her eyes find Toni again. She closes her mouth as if it wasn’t her intention to share too much.
“Well, this is all. You don’t have to come here, ever. Your place is upstairs.”
“You’re not my boss, you know? I don’t know how you think this is going to work but you’re not going to give me orders of any kind.”
“I’m the closest thing of a boss you have. So, I’m pretty sure I’m going to give you all the orders I have to.” Toni grins. They have gotten really close, and even if Shelby is a little bit taller, Toni’s confidence wins. “Besides, I already have the boss’s trust, you’re still trying to get it.”
Shelby takes a step back and Toni considers it a small win.
“Is that all?”
Toni nods. She doesn’t know why Shelby is suddenly so uncomfortable. She hates that she can’t read her like she can read literally everyone else. The thing is, Toni doesn’t want to give her more attention than necessary either.
She points at the door with a movement of her head and Shelby turns around and starts walking there. Toni’s eyes travel down her body for a couple of seconds, but she shakes her head and follows her upstairs.
“Where can I find my schedule?” Shelby asks, stopping in the middle of the room to look back at Toni, who’s now leaning on the bar counter.
“Well, your shifts start at 6 p.m. and end at 2 a.m., every day but Sundays and Mondays. That if you end up having the same one as me like Dave said.” Shelby nods. “I’ll tell Leah to send it to you.”
“Okay.”
“You start on Tuesday.”
“I’ll come early so I can meet Leah.”
“Do whatever the fuck you want.” Toni says.
“What’s the deal with you? You haven’t said a single nice thing all day. Your parents didn’t show you manners or what?”
Toni takes a few steps towards her, pointing at Shelby with an accusatory finger, her blood boiling inside of her. Shelby tries to take a step back but she stumbles a little. However, she manages to stand straight.
“Don’t you fucking dare talk about my parents.” Toni says, with her finger still pointing at Shelby.
If there was a single thought about trying to be nice to Shelby in Toni’s mind before, it was all gone now. There was absolutely no need for them to be friends. And Dave would have to deal with it if he disagreed.
“Jesus, Toni, I was kidding.” Shelby says, and it only serves to annoy her more.
“Yeah, right. You think I didn’t see you being an idiot to Becca last night?” The mention of Becca awakes something in Shelby because her whole mood changes. There’s a new kind of tension in the room now.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Guess we’re even now.” Toni says.
Shelby doesn’t say anything else; she turns around and walks to the door. It’s locked, but the keys are in the lock. Toni sees her struggling to spin them because of how much her hands are trembling.
For a moment Toni thinks Shelby’s about to have a panic attack, but then she manages to open the door and get outside without looking back, leaving Toni standing there, wondering if she had pushed too much.
-
It’s not until two days later that they see each other again. It’s during one of Toni’s breaks, around midnight.
She walks past the people that’s dancing on the dance floor until she gets to the bar. Shelby and Leah are both behind it, but Leah is the only one who pays her attention. She gives Toni a glass of water, like she does every time Toni has a break. She drinks it from one sip.
Toni can feel Shelby’s eyes on her a few times, and she wonders what’s inside her mind, but of course she doesn’t say anything. She pretends not to notice, until it’s too obvious for Toni to ignore her any longer.
“Have you landed to the real world or are you still up on the Eiffel Tower?” Toni asks. Shelby gives her a sarcastic smile; which Toni finds kind of cute. She would never admit it out loud, though.
“Good to see you too, Toni.”
“Oh, I know. You’ve been staring at me for the last ten minutes.” Toni smirks when she notices how Shelby lightly blushes.
“Shouldn’t you be working instead of bothering me?”
“I’m on my break. I can keep bothering you for about twenty more minutes.” Toni says, looking at the clock placed on the wall behind Shelby.
“What do you even do down there? Are you a waitress or something?”
“Yes. That’s why your dad trust all his business with me.” Toni says. Shelby rolls her eyes. “I’m a card dealer. Do you know what poker is?”
“You think you’re funnier than you are.”
Toni wants to respond but someone asks for a drink and Shelby moves to the other side. It’s doesn’t matter though, because the band starts playing a new song and it catches Toni’s attention.
Not the band, but the brunette girl at the bass.
Her love story with Regan is over. It has been for months, but Toni still can’t avoid staring at her when they are in a room together. Though, a few minutes later she feels Shelby leaning on the counter to speak close to her ear.
“You know, maybe you should ask for her number instead of just staring from down here.” She says when the song they have been playing ends. Toni turns her head and they are so close that she can feel Shelby’s breath, so they both move at the same time to put some space in between.
“Fuck off.” Toni says, but Shelby’s not looking at her anymore. Her eyes are focused on the scenario.
“Shit, I guess that plan wouldn’t have worked either.”
Toni doesn’t know what she means until she looks there and sees that Regan has walked down and she’s kissing some girl Toni doesn’t know. It makes her feel sick, and she needs to get out of there before she can do something she would regret.
Not without shooting a look at Shelby first. When she walks to the door, she hears Shelby yell something on the lines of “it was just a joke!”
Toni slams the door at her back and doesn’t go upstairs again that night.