Rolling the Dice by Stephanie Harte

Author:Stephanie Harte [Harte, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803283647
Publisher: Head of Zeus

45

Lola

‘Can you both come down to my office?’ Cassandra asked when Millie and I walked into the foyer at the start of our shift.

My pulse started pounding so I glanced over at my friend for reassurance, but Millie seemed as worried as I was. This couldn’t be good, I thought.

‘Please don’t look so concerned. You haven’t done anything wrong. I just want to have a quick chat while the casino’s still quiet.’

Cassandra turned on her heel and led the way along the corridor. When she opened the door, the sweet smell of lilies wafted out of the light and airy room. Cassandra walked across the cherry blossom carpet and took a seat behind the mirrored desk, gesturing for Millie and me to sit opposite her.

‘How are you settling in?’ Cassandra asked.

‘Really well. I’m learning something new every day,’ Millie jumped in before I had a chance to speak.

‘That’s good. What about you, Lola?’ Cassandra turned her face towards me.

‘I feel like part of the furniture already. I love working here,’ I replied.

‘Considering neither of you had any experience, you’re both doing brilliantly,’ Cassandra smiled.

She was looking at Millie and me like a proud mum and I felt my shoulders drop as the tension slid away. A moment ago, I’d thought she was going to give us our P45s but now I was grinning from ear to ear.

‘Millie and I should thank our lucky stars that you were prepared to take us on,’ I said.

‘Everybody deserves to be given a chance. When I first met the two of you, I had a feeling you’d had troubled pasts,’ Cassandra said.

Her words startled me and put me on edge. The palms of my hands started sweating. I suddenly felt uncomfortable and started to squirm in my seat.

‘Was it that obvious?’ Millie asked filling the awkward silence.

‘Not to the untrained eye, but I’m a professional at recognising the signs. My first proper relationship was with my brother’s friend. Matthew didn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t keen on Julian and me becoming an item. I couldn’t see what the problem was and put his concern down to the fact that he didn’t want to share his bestie with his little sister. But he rubbished that idea. Matthew insisted he was just worried it would make things awkward for him if Julian and I split up. But of course, I didn’t listen. I was too smitten to see sense.’ Cassandra shook her head.

I had a strange feeling I could guess what was coming next.

‘Matthew and Julian had been friends since primary school. He was always over at our house, so I thought I knew him. But he was a Jekyll and Hyde character. To give him credit where it’s due, he hid it well. I swear to God the man was a nut job. One minute, he’d be incredibly loving and the next he’d be beating me senseless.’

Now that sounded familiar. All the bad memories of Troy suddenly came flooding back and threatened to sweep me away, so I took a deep breath to try to calm my racing pulse.

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