When A Woman Hustles - Danielle Martin (book suggestions .TXT) 📗

MEET REESE

Chapter 1.
"No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong! That's not what I told you to do!!!"
The loud voice echoed throughout the tight space as 29 year old Reese Bivens stood still, her slip resistant shoes sticking to the poorly mopped floor. She refused to turn around or acknowledge the voice shouting behind her. She took a deep breath, slowly meditating inside her head. I'm really not with this shit today. I'm not going to do it. Reese tapped her foot impatiently while she looked at the clock which read 12:26. Shit. She had only been here for 1 hour. 
   "Excuse me Reese!" The voice behind her suddenly became closer. She switched her weight from one foot to another becoming flustered with heat as she felt someone's hot breath hitting the back of her neck. She rolled her eyes, not in the mood to be bothered or critiqued. "What?" She mumbled underneath her breath, barely parting her lips to speak. Today was not her day. Her mind drifted away as she reminded herself about the alternator she was going to need for that piece of shit car that wouldn't start this morning. She became frustrated thinking about her negative bank account. Electricity was 2 days away from being disconnected and she had not one red dime to go towards the bill. She shook her head, becoming overwhelmed as she realized just how much she had going on in her life right now. The last thing she needed was someone fucking with her. Today Reese was wearing her aggravation on her sleeve and holding her tongue was going to be damn near impossible. 
"Reese, I’m tired of you messing up on these orders! I got a lady in the front highly upset saying her chicken isn’t cooked all the way!"
Reese continued to stare at the deep fryer in front of her, not turning around to acknowledge her boss who was standing directly behind her. The grease popped everywhere hitting her in the arms and face. She was used to the sting. Reese continued to stand still, ignoring her boss and the popping grease feeling absent minded and completely clocked out from the world . "What do you mean it’s not cooked right?" Reese asked as if she was oblivious to what was going on.  She continued to speak with her back turned knowing it was adding fuel to the fire.

"IT’S NOT COOKED RIGHT! AM I SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE???!!" Her boss yelled again. Reese scrunched up her face, questioning how a woman’s voice could have that much bass? Dropping the handle on the fryer, Reese turned around to face Ms. Linda. She looked up at the 6'4 figure standing over her. Reese looked her up and down, examining Ms. Linda's salt and pepper grey hear and piercing dark green eyes. She glanced at the off white collar shirt and mismatch blue pants she wore, wondering why Ms. Linda never attempted to do her makeup or iron her clothes before she came to work in the morning. Every day she looked a hot, miserable mess. 
   "Ms. Linda I been frying this chicken just how you taught me how to do it. Now maybe you should have this cooker looked at because it may not be working properly."
  In return, she shot Reese an evil look as if she were disgusted. She stepped forward, invading her space. "That cooker worked just fine until you got here! It's only been 2 weeks since you started working and I’m losing customers already!"
Reese backed up, trying so hard to hold her tongue and not saying something out of line that would cost her this job. Indeed, everything about this place she hated, but truth be told, she desperately needed the money. 
"So exactly what do you want me to do?" She asked, knowing it was not the best response. She was sick of this bitch ragging on her and wanted to know what her problem was. Ms. Linda acted as if she hated Reese and every day she voiced her opinion to the owner that he was irresponsible for hiring her. Little did she know the boss man Mr. Frank gave Reese the job because he was interested in her. She met him about a year ago when she worked for a local catering business that hosted at a few of his events.  He gawked at her for months, desperate to get her out of the serving business and make her his woman. Although he owned several restaurants in Baltimore and had plenty of money to spare, Reese kept it casual and never took him up on his offer. Hell, he was married and damn near old enough to be her father. But soon as he came to her with a part time position that he had available at his Chicken spot, she took the job with no questions asked. Never in a million years did she think she would end up at a chicken place at damn near thirty, but desperate time’s calls for desperate measures. 
"What do I want you to do???" Ms. Linda repeated in a very nasty tone, snapping Reese out of her daze. She stepped forward, using her hip to nudge her out of the way. Reese stumbled over, her mouth dropping in shock as she realized this woman really pushed her off to the side as if she were useless. "I will cook this chicken my damn self if that’s the only way to get it done right!"
Reese crossed her arms across her shoulder as she watched Ms. Linda drop chicken into the fryer as if she were a professional, slamming utensils and plates around as she turned up the heat on the cooker. She enjoyed embarrassing her in front of everyone. All of the workers stood by and watched, staring as Reese stood to the side letting Ms. Linda do her job for her.  She sucked her teeth, watching as this woman's stomach hung over jeans sitting on the counter as she flipped the chicken in the grease. Reese felt that was the main reason why Ms. Linda was so miserable. She had been working here over 10 years. s. Linda committed her life to flipping chicken and to make matters worse she was not flattering or attractive at all. Her attitude only made her even uglier. "So I’m supposed to just sit here and watch you???" Reese asked, annoyed and not in the mood for this. Either she was going to step to the side and let Reese fry this chicken the way she was hired to do, or she was clocking the hell out and going home.
"You want to do something?" Ms. Linda responded with an obvious attitude. She turned around and quickly shoved a stack full of dishes directly into her chest, causing Reese to stumble back as the weight of all the dirty dishes suddenly fell into her arms. "Make yourself useful! Wash these dishes and whatever dishes are in the sink. And after you’re done with that, go clean the men and the women’s bathroom! What kind of black woman doesn’t know how to fry no damn chicken??!" Ms. Linda scolded her as she pointed her finger to the front, practically dismissing her.
Reese stood still for a moment, having an out of body experience. Over the past 15 years, Reese worked numerous jobs but never had she experienced this kind of disrespect. She had a lot going on in her life right now, the last thing she had time to do was kiss someone’s ass for a couple of dollars. As thankful as she was for Mr. Frank offering to help in her time of need, she couldn’t take it anymore and she had reached her breaking point.
 "Listen here bitch." Reese dropped the bucket of dishes back on the counter, stepping forward directly into her space. She watched as Ms. Linda’s mouth dropped in shock. She looked at her coworkers who stood shocked as well as she stepped even closer, sizing her up. 
"You been disrespecting me since day one, and I’m sick of it! I don’t give a damn about you! I don’t give a damn about this job! I don’t give a damn about no chicken! You can stop talking to me like you better than me. Fuck you and fuck this place!" Quickly, Reese whipped the apron over her head, throwing it right into her face.
"You little heifer!" Ms. Linda shouted while tossing the apron back at her. "You are an ungrateful rat! We gave you a job when nobody else would!"

   "So the fuck what?!" Reese got even louder, prepared to let out all her frustration she had built up. Indeed, she had only been working there a little shy of 2 weeks. But in that short span of time, this woman literally drove her up the wall and she had a lot she wanted to get off her chest. "What you need to do Ms. Lindaaaaaaa is stop taking home all that free chicken, tighten up that gut, and stick a dick up your ass before you go to bed at night! Maybe then you won't be so uptight and you'll stop taking your job so damn serious! I don't have to answer to you or nobody else for that matter! I fucking quit!" Reese waved her hand inches away from her face causing her to jump. 

 "I wish you would!" Ms. Linda glared "Your were worthless when you walked in that door! You the same way going out. You think you look so good and you too good to work. That's why your ass is broke and can't pay your bills!"

Reese scolded her, wanting nothing more than to draw her hand back and slap the taste out of her mouth for speaking on something she knew nothing about. She looked around, embarrassed that everyone was staring at them. This place was filled with a bunch of nosey workers, crack heads, and high school students. Reese couldn’t understand how she could have possibly gotten this desperate for cash. Then she reminded herself about that light bill that was due and immediately became frustrated all over again. "Fuck this!" Reese snatched the plastic name tag off her chest and threw it across the room as if the light weight would cause damage. She wanted to fuck shit up, but she decided the best thing to do is walk out of here with her head held high and not let these demons get the best of her. She flipped her long ponytail over her shoulder, shooting Ms. Linda one final nasty look as she stuck up her the middle finger. She turned on her heel and trotted towards the front. Reese knew for a fact she wouldn't miss this place, but she was going to miss that $125 check every week. Chump change. But she needed it.

  Reese cut through the lobby and out towards the front of the restaurant to retrieve her belongings. Ms. Linda did not follow her which was the smartest thing to do. All she wanted was to get the hell out of here. Secretly, she was glad that Mr. Frank was not here to witness her showing out. Although she was not attracted to him in a sexual or emotional way, she appreciated him for going out of his way to help her when no one else would.  Indeed, she had been looking for a side job for months. This was the first to come through for her. Now just like every other job she had in the past year, she walked out and gave up.

Reese grabbed her purse which hung in the closet next to the door. She stuck her head inside, making sure her wallet and all her personal belongings were still intact. She didn’t