Reluctant Muse

Victoria Blisse

Description

Carrie is a shy student who works in a fast food joint to make ends meet. Her boss is a bully and she meets Jamie when he stands up for her. She's got terrible self esteem problems, but Jamie is an artist and wants to paint her naked. He's also a dominant and he wants to play with her submissive side. Can Carrie overcome her fears and the ghosts of her past to fully give in to Jamie? This excellent short story from award-winning author Victoria Blisse has domination and submission themes and has been specially formatted for today's ebook readers.

Sujets

• Erotic literature

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 22 février 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781849893299
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page

RELUCTANT MUSE


by
Victoria Blisse


Publisher Information

Reluctant Muse published in 2011 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

Copyright © Victoria Blisse

Cover image courtesy of Gabriel S. Delgado C.

The right of Victoria Blisse to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.





Reluctant Muse

“Did you get all that?” Mr. Singleton asks, tapping a foot impatiently.
“Yes, I think so.” Carrie stutters, not looking up from her feet.
“Right. Well, I’ll leave you in Jamie’s capable hands now. He’ll look after you, make sure you learn all the ropes. I’ll see you at the end of the week for your assessment.”
“Thank you, Mr. Singleton.” Carrie briefly looks into his eyes then lets her gaze drop again.
“You’re welcome. Work hard and behave well and you’ll have a permanent position here at Betta Burga. See you.”
The suited Singleton walks out of the front door and it is as if the staff all let out their breath at the same time.
“Thank fuck for that.” The dark haired, Goth-eyed server grins. “I can’t stand that suited son of a…”
“Now, Fiona, do you think you could pretend to be the nice, sweet Betta Burga server that the company thinks you are for just a little longer whilst I get the new girl settled in?”
“Well I suppose so, Jamie, but it’ll cost you an extra five minutes on my lunch.”
“Done. Now get the sign out and the door open, it’s party time folks.”
“Right, Carrie is it?” The tall, blond Jamie looks down on the scared newbie and she nods. “Okay, so you’re starting out on the grill as it’s the easiest thing to do. We’ll move you up as you get more confidence.”
“Okay.” Carrie feels the guy’s arm across her shoulders and holds her breath. He smells nice, clean with a citrus hint but she doesn’t like being touched by strangers, even nice smelling ones and shrugs out of his grip as soon as she is able.
“Well, it’s as simple as this. Fiona or I will shout over a number like, ‘Five, please.’ And you then just have to flip five burgers on to the hotplate. Be careful, it is really hot.” He flips one burger onto the grill. The spitting and hissing of grease is instantaneous. “So, you time it using the clock up there, two minutes on the first side, one minute thirty on the other then you move it over from the grill to the warmer where Graham takes over with the buns and the cheese and the other accompaniments. That’s it, okay?”
“Yeah, got it.” Carrie smiles. It’s not exactly challenging is it?
“Great.” Jamie flips the burger off the hotplate and into the bin. “It starts off a bit slow, but it will get busier. If you need any help don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I think I’ll manage.” She rolls her eyes as he walks away from her.
“Oh, I’m sure you will. Just have to cover all the bases. Catch you later.”
Jamie moves through the other members of the staff, confidently chatting and laughing as he checks everything is ready to go.
“She’s a bit, you know…” Fiona comments as they serve two hungry students, “…timid. I don’t think she’s going to last long.”
“Oh, I don’t know, she doesn’t strike me as a quitter. Even you were quiet on your first day, Fiona, you soon found your tongue.”
“Well, I suppose you’re right. I know how to use it now too.” She slowly licks her lips, and Jamie blushes and looks away.
Carrie, meanwhile, is already thoroughly sick of tossing burgers. The smell, the sight and the sound are all making her feel rather queasy.
“You get used to it.” Graham aims a weak, pale smile her way. “I mean the smell, anyway. Are you at the University?”
“Yes.” Carrie replies, smiling at the skinny, shy boy, “I’m doing English. You?”
“Nah, we could never afford it. I just work here and when I’m not working here I work in the factory. Brings in the money I guess.”
“Have you been here long?” Carrie’s natural shyness is overridden by her boredom.
“Since it opened.” Graham beams proudly, the livid red spots on his chin aligning into a curve like his smile. “I’m the longest serving member of staff here. Most people don’t last more than a year or two.”
Carrie could understand why. What boring, monotonous work, but it would pay her bills and get her through university and then, well then maybe she could do something she loved and finally be happy with her life.

* * * *

“Come on, fatty, keep up.” Steve barks at Carrie as she tries desperately to flip ten burgers all at the same time. “We’ve got customers waiting.”
“Ignore him,” Graham hisses once Steve moves back over to the tills. “He’s a total wanker.”
Carrie smiles weakly at Graham, who she’s struck up a low level friendship with over the last day or two. She slips the burgers on to the warmer and flips more raw meat onto her grill. Saturdays, apparently, are hard work and Steve is not making the job any easier, breezing around with his stubby nose in the air, barking commands and doing little to no work himself, making the rest of them work harder to compensate.
It’s quite simple for Carrie to slip into a little protective world of her own as Steve yells and shouts his way around the kitchen. Carrie is used to it. Being called fatty is nothing new and now it barely even hurts her any more. How can you be wounded by a name that fits you so well?
It started out with her Dad, he called her fatty so much she all but forgot her real name after her mum died. The kids at school were just as cruel. Even though she wasn’t being fed at home, she was still tall with curves that weren’t expected for a teenager. However, at school it was only words, not so at home. She spent as such time as she could in school and that is what finally saved her from the loving grip of her father and put her into the relative safety of the home. The taunting continued but she knew how to deal with it. At sixteen she got her own flat and finally had a place to escape from the world.
“Yoo hoo, oy, fatty, you’ve burnt the damn burgers, you fucking retard.”
Steve’s clicking fingers bring her out of her daydream. She then hears the beeping alarm that tells her the burgers need flipping, so she flips them.
“No, doofus, they’re overdone. They need to go in the bin and you’ll be docked the price from your damn pay packet and I’ll tell my uncle how incompetent you are, fatty. So stupid you can’t even flip a burger.”
The whole room is deadly silent, the customers pausing mid-burger bite, the servers ceasing their serving.
“They look alright to me.” Carrie says, pointing to the grilled burger, the bars of colour only slightly darker than they normally would be.
“Oh, oh they do, do they?” Steve’s sweaty, porcine face turns red and his eyes seem to bulge as he takes a step closer to Carrie, his body just a mere hair’s breadth from touching her. “Well, I say they need to go into the fucking bin and I’m the fucking boss, do you hear me? You’re the damn spaced out retard who wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing. Fuck, you’re stupid as well as fat.”
“Steve, you can’t speak to Carrie like that.”
Jamie is standing just behind Steve, his hands on his hips, a stern look plastered over his usually smiling face.
“Who says?” Steve spins his head to the side and glares.
“Me.”
“And who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I’m the senior manager here, mate, and I don’t care who your damn uncle is, I’ll fire your ass if you speak to one of my members of staff like that ever again. Do you hear me?” Jamie’s eyes are burning with anger, his fist straining at the side of his body.
The burger alarm pings and Carrie turns round to flip them off the grill and onto the warmer. Steve lets out a shuddering breath.
“Fine, whatever. My shift is over now anyway but my uncle will be hearing about this incompetence.”
As he stalks off, he quite deliberately pushes Carrie in the back, sending her forward over the hot grill. She automatically puts her hand out to balance, and it comes down on the scalding hot metal before her.
“Oops.” Steve laughs as he walks out of the building, Jamie dashes forward and grabs Carrie by the wrist, he pulls her to the sink where he puts the cold tap on full and dunks her hand under it.
“He’s a bloody wanker.” Jamie hisses under his breath, and then he shouts over his shoulder,
“Back to work people, Carrie is going to be fine. Fiona, finish serving your customer then take over the grill, please.”
Carrie knows it hurts, she can feel the throbbing of the burn beneath the icy pain of the running water but Carrie learnt not to cry or to show fear or pain many years ago, when burns like this were a common place punishment for minor indiscretions.
“Carrie, are you okay?” Jamie is stooping down slightly to look directly into her eyes, she nods, blinking back the tears that threaten to fall.
“You’re not really, are you? No, well he’s a prick. I’ll be reporting him, he can’t get away with behaviour like that. We’ll keep this under the running water for a bit longer then we’ll see how bad it is.”
Carrie nods again, a tear slipping down her cheek, not from the pain but from the sympathy shown by this virtual stranger.
“We’ll fix you up, don’t worry.”