Copyright owned by Ripley 2024
I want to thank Terry once again for his superb help in editing and polishing this. It's a lot of writing so anything he may have missed is all on me. I'd also like to thank snow for her help in thinking through the ideas to make the story what it was. I debated publishing this in three sections as it is quite long but upon the advice from other authors taking part in this writing challenge, I am posting it together. I've been working on this over the last 9 years and am very happy to finally finish it. Thank you to soflabbwlvr and everyone else at Lit who helped me with the push this story challenge gave me to get it over the finish line! I hope you find it worth the time to read.
Part 1
As Kiley backed into the street parking spot, she spared a glance at the dashboard clock. She was still doing pretty good on time, although the spot was farther away from her work than she expected. If this was going to be typical, she would need to give herself a bit more time. She had done that today since it was her first day.
"Thank goodness," she thought. The last thing she wanted was to start out being late. That was a quick way to lose her job, and she couldn't afford to do that. "That would be crushingly bad," she told herself.
Getting out of her Honda Civic, Kiley opened the trunk and grabbed her bag. As she walked briskly in the direction of the restaurant, she wrapped her trench coat around her and tied the belt. Despite that, it was obvious just how short her skirt was. With each stride, one of her long legs slipped through the opening to reveal itself. It wasn't quite 4 PM and there wasn't anyone around, but it was a reminder to button her coat completely up when she left at midnight.
"Just stay out of trouble," Kiley told herself. That advice was sometimes hard for her to follow, but it didn't change how good it was. She was glad she had on her walking shoes and not the heels they expected her to wear while working. It made it easy to keep up a brisk pace and she arrived at the restaurant with five minutes to spare.
It was a typical Italian restaurant with a brick facade in front, although the lack of windows was a little unusual. There were a couple of guys hanging around outside leaning up against a car and chatting. They eyed her as she approached but otherwise didn't do anything to acknowledge her. She turned right before the restaurant and walked down the alleyway to the back, per the instructions.
At the back entrance, there were a couple more guys. Whatever they were talking about, they both stopped immediately as she came around the corner. Unlike the guys in front, both of them said hi. Kiley recognized one of them from her interview. While others asked questions, he stayed in the background, just listening.
"Hi Kiley. We weren't introduced the other day. I'm Tony," he said as she drew near. She took his outstretched hand and shook it. He was a big man with large hands that closed around hers more delicately than she guessed he was capable of.
"Nice to meet you, Tony," Kiley replied. She looked over at the other man. Substantially older than Tony, he was also bigger. With a jagged scar visible on his shaved head and a crooked nose, Kiley guessed that he had seen his fair share of fights.
"That's Bud. Hey, Bud, say hello to Kiley. She is the new waitress in the bar," Tony told him.
While Tony seemed friendly with warm brown eyes, Bud was the opposite. His eyes were a pale grey blue, and when he looked Kiley in the eyes, she felt a little shiver go down her back.
"'Llo," Bud said. His voice was deep but relatively soft. Unlike Tony, he didn't offer his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Bud," Kiley said. The only acknowledgement she got was a nod.
"Here, let me take you inside," Tony said. Holding the door open for her, he followed close behind as she went into the restaurant. Coming around a corner, she found another hallway bisecting the one they were in. "Turn left," Tony told her.
Just before turning, Kiley glanced right and saw it led to the restrooms. "We use those restrooms too?" she asked.
Tony chuckled. "Sure. You think we are fancy enough to have one just for employees?"
"Sorry, stupid question," Kiley said, feeling a little blush. Hopefully there wouldn't be many others. She pushed through a door marked employees only and found herself in the kitchen. The aroma of Italian food surrounded her and she inhaled deeply. She couldn't help smiling at how good it was. The kitchen was relatively full as virtually all the staff were in there right now.
In addition to a couple of busboys and three people cooking, there was a group of women over by some lockers. They all had on something similar to Kiley. As she looked at them, Kiley immediately saw the difference between what she had on and what the waitresses in the restaurant wore. Her black skirt was a good four inches shorter, and she had on a cherry red tank top that exposed more of her breasts and wasn't long enough to avoid showing off her lower back if she bent at all. The regular waitresses had tops with short sleeves and wouldn't expose them like that even if they bent way over.
Kiley made a silent little sigh. "The things I do for the job," she thought to herself. She wondered if the customers were gropers. Eyeing one of the other waitresses dressed like her, she hoped that they got along. It would make things so much easier.
"Put your stuff in one of the lockers," Tony told her. "Then Jimmy wants to see you in his office." He leaned against the wall while he waited for her.
Walking over to the lockers, Kiley slipped in between a couple of the waitresses, murmuring an apology. They moved apart enough to give her room to take off her coat. After she put away her coat, Kiley couldn't help pulling down on first her skirt and then her top. It had been a while since she wore clothes this skimpy. It would take a little while to get used to it.
Putting her bag in the locker, Kiley fished out her work shoes. They were as comfortable as they were going to get with almost three-inch heels. With rubber soles and cushioned insoles, they were still fashionable. At 5'9", she was already tall without the heels. With them on, her legs looked like they went on forever, especially in their fishnet tights. She was easily the tallest of the waitresses, although that was nothing new to her. Recalling when she put herself through school by waitressing, Riley remembered using her height to intimidate anyone who wanted to give her a hard time. That included staff as well as customers.
Checking her makeup before closing the locker, she decided to reapply her lipstick. It was a couple of shades more noticeable than she had been wearing for a while. While it too made her a little uncomfortable, Kiley admitted that she looked hot. Her fair skin almost glowed in contrast to the colors of her uniform. She tugged at the neck of her top to pull it up a little further from her bra. There was nothing that could reduce the amount of cleavage showing.
"Okay, ready," Kiley said as she shut the locker and turned back towards Tony. He started to walk through the front door of the kitchen into the main part of the restaurant.
Following him, something dawned on Kiley. Taking a couple of quick steps, she caught up to Tony. "Pardon me, Tony, but I noticed a couple of the lockers actually had padlocks on them. It never occurred to me to think I would need one," she said as diplomatically as she could. She left the obvious follow up question unasked.
"I wouldn't worry about it. A few people aren't the trusting type, but that's their problem. Your stuff is safe. Anybody who touches someone else's stuff without permission doesn't last here long," he told her.
Kiley nodded as if reassured. "That kind of works as a warning just as well as setting my mind at ease," she realized. Fortunately, that wouldn't be a problem for her. Stealing from her coworkers was the last thing on her mind.
Tony led her over to the opposite side of the restaurant. There were a couple of doors there. "Manager's Office" was on one door. In the other, it had a sign saying "Mr. Balotelli's Office." They paused at the first one and Tony knocked.
Kiley met Mr. Balotelli during her interview, along with his wife. While Jimmy asked most of the questions, the restaurant's owner asked some of his own. Most of the time, it seemed as if his wife whispered in his ear right before he asked them. Those questions most often were about her background and where she worked before.
The two were a striking couple. While Mr. Balotelli was quite good looking, it was more suave than macho. Even Jimmy was bigger than he was, and he was much smaller than the guys like Tony and Bud were. Unlike the bulky suits that they wore, Mr. Balotelli's suit was perfectly cut to highlight his trim body.
While he was good looking, his wife was gorgeous. Kiley thought that she must be one of the best-looking women she had ever met. Average height, she seemed to be perfectly proportioned for how tall she was. Whether it was her pear-shaped breasts, her thin waist, or the curve of her ass, it created a powerful impression. Her almond eyes were an effortlessly smoky mixture of blue and green.
Feeling uncomfortable with the attractiveness of the owners, Kiley tried to focus her attention on Jimmy, the manager, during the interview. Still, she got the vaguest feeling that Mrs. Balotelli didn't quite like her. With her shiny blonde hair, light hazel eyes, and high cheekbones, Kiley was familiar with jealous wives and girlfriends. She only hoped it wouldn't get in the way of the job.
As she heard his voice tell her to enter, Kiley wondered whether Jimmy would be alone. Tony held the door open for her and then shut it behind her, leaving to do whatever he did. For a moment, she wondered exactly what that was. "Never mind," she told herself. "Eventually it will be obvious. It's none of my concern now."
Fortunately, Jimmy was alone. On second thought, maybe it was unfortunately. Kiley felt his eyes rove over her. She felt a little shiver run down her back, completely unlike the one she got from Bud. Unlike the dead eyes of Bud, Jimmy's were almost too alive.
"Turn around slowly," he said without even greeting her. Trying to control her nervousness, Kiley obeyed until she faced him again. "Smooth your skirt in back," he told her. Once again, she followed his instructions. Leaning forward, he looked at her. It was disconcerting how his eyes fixed on her breasts.
"Bend forward," Jimmy said. Feeling her face flush, Kiley did what she was told. "Stop," he said when her body was just about parallel with the floor. "Okay, straighten up," he told her. She was unable to avoid looking him in the face as she did so, but the big grin on his face made her deeply regret it,
"Alright, turn around and face away from me," he said. Hidden from his view, Kiley closed her eyes, dreading the next direction. "Bend over and touch the floor," his voice came again. For a brief second, Kiley contemplated rebelling. "I can't blow this job," she reminded herself, and then obeyed.
