Chasing Kiarra

Kiarra always runs away from her problems, her feelings, herself. Then she runs straight into the arms of the mysterious and sexy Aidan Gold. Kiarra isn’t sure if she wants to tear Aidan’s head off or let him tear her clothes off. Either way, Kiarra soon learns that Aidan has a big, bad secret, and now the claws are out.

Age Rating: 18+

Original Author: Tacha

Note: This story is the author’s original version and does not have sound.

“Belle!!!”

My boss’s roar rang out through the diner just as I was refilling a regular customer’s coffee mug.

“Uh-oh, someone’s in trooouble!” Joe laughed as I just rolled my eyes.

“Who knows, Joe? Maybe he finally realizes my name is just the perfect alternative to swear words.” I shrugged my shoulders and gave the middle-aged man a wink before making my way back to the kitchen.

“Ha! He’s known that since he hired you, honey. I haven’t heard him say xxxxxxxxxx in a month. But that last name of yours seems to be his new favorite word.” I heard him laughing from behind me.

Like a lady, I gave him the finger without turning around, and continued to make my way toward the kitchen where I knew I’d find my boss, tomato-red with visible steam coming out of his ears.

I didn’t really care that much; this was just a temporary place to be anyway.

Marlin’s Diner, a place at the edge of town with a maximum of fifty customers per day, wasn’t exactly where I planned to have my dreams of being a full-time waitress at minimum wage fulfilled.

As expected, I found my fat old boss standing with papers in his hand, red as a tomato and steaming like a kettle about to whistle.

“What’s up, Boss?” I gave him an innocent smile. I had no idea what had gotten his panties in a twist this time.

Last time it had been because I had forgotten to take out the trash after a twelve-hour shift. The time before that was because I had gone on a rant in front of a customer.

Excuse me, but if someone answers my “Anything else I can get you, sir?” with a condescending answer about giving him a xxxxxxx behind the diner, I tend to go a little psycho. Sue me. At least I didn’t get physical.

So my point is, my boss got angry at anything. I could’ve forgotten to put the last one of the five sugar cubes in his morning coffee, and he would be a xxxx about it.

“Explain to me, Belle; what the xxxx is this?” He shoved the papers into my hands, and I could see veins throbbing in his forehead.

I sighed and took a look at the papers. I read the first few lines, looked back up at my xxxxxx boss, and rolled my eyes.

“This is obviously a lawsuit being filed against the diner; so what?” I knew what was coming next and was already packing up my stuff in my head, thinking about where my next stop would be.

I may need to find a friendlier town next time. This hasn’t been the worst, but it’s definitely not the best I’ve been in, either.

“This is a lawsuit against my diner, because you chose to fling hot xxxxxxx coffee at a customer!” Marlin was fuming.

I found it more funny than threatening, though.

Okay, it was hilarious.

Picture a walking tomato at about five feet tall, rounder than that, and fuming and steaming so furiously that at any minute there was gonna be ketchup all over the walls.

I snickered at that thought. Bet it would be my job to clean up the mess.

“Yes, well, if you recall, the guy smacked my xxx and called me “sweet cheeks,” which by all accounts is sexual harassment. If I’m not mistaken, you told the xxxxxx to get the xxxx out of the diner and told me that I did nothing wrong. So. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is this xxxxxxx lawsuit, Belle! Your temper is gonna cost me! And I swear, you don’t sit in front of the jury and tell them all that the xxxxxxx raped you, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life paying me back.”

I stood there looking at the short, fat man who’d been writing my paychecks for the past month and I felt absolutely nothing, except for impatience to get on with it.

“Sure, Marlin, but I need to get back out to the customers now. Oh, and don’t forget I get paid today,” I said as I walked back into the diner.

No use in arguing about the court stuff. I wasn’t going to be there anyway. I just needed my last paycheck before packing up and quitting.

The good thing about my never staying in one place for long was that I never got past the first two months of job training, so last-minute resignations weren’t a big deal.

The rest of the day went by like usual. A few customers here and there.

When the clock finally said 8:00 p.m., I was happy to see Charlotte walking through the doors to take over for the night shift.

“What happened to Marlin?” Charlotte tied her apron, looking from me and back to the kitchen with mild amusement.

“Ah, nothing much. The pervert from the other day filed a lawsuit based on nothing. Marlin is using it to get a payday.” I shrugged my shoulders and gave her a smile.

It was true that Marlin was using it to get a little extra cash. He could’ve fired me if he didn’t think he could win the lawsuit and settle it that way.

But since there were hidden cameras in the diner, which the pervert obviously didn’t know about, Marlin could counter the suit with a sexual harassment complaint.

I wouldn’t be here for it though, so it would be settled with no payout or payday for Marlin.

He wouldn’t be too happy about that, but honestly, the xxxxxx shouldn’t try to use sexual harassment as a payday anyway.

Charlotte frowned for a second, before she turned it upside down and laughed.

“That would do it. Well, I’m ready to start working, so you head home, hon. Sleep tight!”

And with that, she picked up the coffee pot and went around to the three customers in the diner, asking if anybody needed refills.

Before heading out, I made sure I got my last paycheck from Marlin. His mood had turned from boiling to brewing, probably contemplating what to do with all the money he didn’t know wasn’t gonna get.

I left Marlin’s Diner, slowly found my way to my apartment, and started packing. Well, packing might be too big a word for what I was doing. Packing implies boxes and time.

Putting my clothes into a gym bag, which took less than fifteen minutes, was more like checking out of a motel room.

Before leaving the small space I had lived in for the past month, I made sure I had the important stuff. My golden, heart-shaped locket hung around my neck. It was my most prized possession.

Not in terms of money. I honestly don’t think it’s worth more than twenty bucks. But it has sentimental value. It’s the only thing I have from my parents.

I don’t remember anything about them, seeing as I was dumped on the steps of a fire station when I was 2. But there’s a small picture in the locket of a woman holding little baby Kiarra and staring at me with so much love and adoration that it hurts.

The locket was the only thing I had with me when I was found.

Even though my parents abandoned me, I had to believe it was for a good reason.

The lady in the picture looked like me so much, I assumed she was my mother.

Her deep brown eyes reflected my own, and even though I had dyed the tips of my dark brown hair blonde, our hair looked scarily similar as well.

I had inherited her full Cupid’s bow lips, but our noses were a bit different. She had the cute little button nose that most girls envied, and mine was just, well, a regular nose, I guess.

She was stunning, and the love in her eyes for that little baby made me believe she didn’t give me up willingly.

I treasured the locket because it told me that at some point I’d had parents, or at least a mother, who loved me.

I don’t remember much from the first years of my childhood. I just remember hoping that she’d come back for me. When that didn’t happen, I hoped for a family to adopt me into theirs.

That never happened either—but no surprise there.

I had a temper, and no family had had it in them to take up the challenge. So, I had bounced around from family to family, bed to bed, until I had finally turned eighteen and was on my own.

The locket was all I had left of my parents, and nothing would make me give it up.

One time a girl from one of the group homes had found it and wanted it, but I wouldn’t let go of it, not even when they took me away in the ambulance after the beatdown I’d gotten from the other girls.

I laughed a little to myself thinking back to that.

When I came back from the hospital, I’d ended up cutting the girl’s long blonde hair, and I may or may not have pushed her down the stairs—by accident, of course. She learned her place after that; she never even looked me in the eyes again.t.

What can I say? I’ve never claimed to be completely sane.

After checking that everything was in my bag, I left the apartment unlocked and the keys at the counter, so they wouldn’t have to break the door down when the rent wasn’t paid on Monday.

I tugged up the hood of my jacket and started heading toward the train station.

Where to this time?

Guess we’ll see what trains leave at this hour.

It was just past ten when I made it to the station. I looked at the train schedule while I stood in the ticket line and tried to decide on a destination.

I overheard the lady in front of me saying the name of a town I’d never heard of and decided: why not?

So, when it was my turn, I repeated the order to the clerk and made my way into a train leaving at ten thirty.

According to the schedule, the ride would take about four hours, so I found a comfortable spot, threw my bag on the seat next to me so people didn’t get any funny ideas about talking to me, and leaned back with my head against the window, falling into a doze.

“Miss, this is the last stop. You need to wake up”

I was awoken by the conductor lightly shaking my shoulder, before moving on. I looked out the window but didn’t see much except the streetlights right outside lighting up the small platform.

Other than that, it was dark. Which made sense since it was almost three in the morning.

I grabbed my bag and got off the train, smiling a thanks to the conductor on my way, and left the platform.

I had absolutely no idea where I was at, but I started walking down the street. It didn’t look like a big city, more of a friendly small town.

That’s at least the vibe I got, looking at the small cozy houses with their white fences.

As I walked, the wind seemed to pick up, and the cold autumn air made me shiver and hug myself a little tighter.

I needed to find somewhere to stay, since it would be too cold to just find a bench.

I kept going down the dimly lit streets, looking for something. If there wasn’t a motel, at least this place should have a bar where I could find some warmth and maybe a drink or ten.

It was Friday night—well, Saturday morning, by this point—and the young adults of this town must have had somewhere to go to get their drink on.

I started to notice the scenery change.

Instead of the small, cozy family houses, the buildings got a bit bigger and looked more like apartments. Soon I was walking down a street lined with clothing stores, shoe shops, and exactly what I was looking for.

A bar.

From the looks of it, it was the only one around. It had a big red neon sign out front that said, “Sam’s Bar,” and I heard music spilling from the open front door.

I sighed, relieved to find some warmth in the cold, and headed inside.