The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

THE PRICE OF POSSESSION

A Reverse Harem Tale

Pizza Shop Exorcist

Book One

by

Dakota Brown

THE PRICE OF POSSESSION

AReverse Harem Tale

PizzaShop Exorcist, book 1

AllRights Reserved

Copyright© 2021 by Dakota Brown

CoverDesign © 2021 by Camila Marques

All rightsReserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in anymanner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisherexcept for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Names,characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imaginationand or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons,living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Publishedby Untold Press LLC

114NE Estia Lane

Port St Lucie, FL 34983

www.untoldpress.com

PRODUCEDIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dedication

This one is for David B. Riley.

Thank you for publishing my first stories way back.Thank you for your friendship through the years, and everything else. You willbe missed.

Acknowledgments

Sendinga shout out to my team: My PA Becky Hodges, Lizzy, Shoshanah, Justinn, Sean,Jen, and Therese. You all keep me sane–relatively, because, let's be honest,what is even sanity for an author–and on track. Thank you so much for all thethings you do for me. I also want to thank my cover artist. I absolutely lovewhat she created for this series.

Everybook is a journey, and let's be honest, last year was an adventure. This yearis looking to be one, too. I just hope that those hobbits have about gottenthat ring thrown into the volcano so we can get on to the good parts of the questin our everyday lives and move past all the bad stuff. Writing these adventureshas kept me going through the last twelve months, giving me a lot of positivesto focus on and escape into. Hopefully, they've provided some escape for you aswell.

Ihad a ton of fun writing Chris Price and her guys. I hope you enjoy readingabout her, because I have lots more planned. I needed some snark in my life,and this character provided ample outlet.

Takecare of yourselves, dear readers, and I'll see you around the internet.

Chapter 1

Price

The aroma of garlic and tomatoes strengthened as thedoor to my office opened. I glanced up from the computer monitor I squinted at."What's up, Billy?"

"Chris, one of the customers is hassling Stacy."My restaurant manager had deep furrows in his brow and his dark eyes sparkedwith anger. The only person who hated customers disrespecting the servers morethan him was me.

Slamming my boots down onto the floor from where I'dhad them propped up on the back of the desk, I shoved my chair backward andstood, a feral grin on my face. "I love it when they're dicks while I'mdoing paperwork."

A smirk broke through Billy's frown. "Get'em BossLady," he said as he followed me out of the office.

I stormed through the kitchen, though I didn't taketime to talk to my employees like I normally would have. Right now, I was outfor blood. I headed into the dining area.

 Stacy stood by a corner table shooting a desperatelook toward the kitchen. Her expression lightened when she saw me. The manyelling at her increased his volume and I could hear him shout over the 80'srock blasting through the speakers. White man, early forties, clean cut hair,wearing jeans and a polo. Great, not even an interesting challenge, just anaverage asshole sitting at one of my tables.

There weren't a lot of people in the pizza parlor yet,as it was relatively early, but he had already caught an audience. I was surehe was loving that. I just felt bad for his kids for having such a horriblerole model. His wife didn't look any more pleasant than he did, so maybe thetwo boys sitting there looking uncomfortable were completely screwed.

"You're completely incompetent..." the man declaredas I approached.

"Hey, asshat, what's your problem," Isnarled as I kicked out the chair next to him, stomped my combat boot down onthe seat and leaned well into the man's personal space.

He turned and I swear he was frothing at the lips.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the bloody owner, asshole. Who the hell areyou?"

That stopped his tirade for a moment while he tried toprocess the image I presented to him. His gaze traveled up my five foot two frame.It wouldn't have been intimidating, but his eyes widened at the bleached blondhair, shaved sides, spikey top and a few extra piercings. The angry glarecombined with the black leather jacket–anarchy symbol on the front–and acidwashed jeans and combat boots certainly gave him pause–I owned the throwback tothe eighties persona.

"Your server..."

I cut him off as he jabbed his finger toward her. "I'mgonna stop you right there. You're being a dick. Don't care what the problemis, there are other ways to resolve your issues than beating up on the waitstaff."

He opened his mouth.

"Is it going to be polite?"

"What?" he stammered.

"The words about to come out of your mouth. Arethey going to be polite?"

He shot to his feet so he could tower over me. Igrinned and hopped up on the chair.

"You listen here, I'm the customer and I demandrespect." He shook his finger at me.

"You can demand it all you want, but you've donenothing to earn it. You can't come in here and throw at temper tantrum like achild and expect to get respect."

His eyes widened and he whirled away. "We'releaving!"

"Mate, you gotta pay for your pizza first."

"It's not even what I ordered."

"Yeah, and if you hadn't been a dick about it, wemighta worked something out. Now you're going to pay for your pizza and tip thewaitress really nicely or I'm going to call the cops. Retail theft is illegalin Santa Fe, and, well, everywhere."

The man's jaw dropped, and I grinned. "Pay foryour food, tip the lady, then get out and never come back."

The kids got out of their chairs and one of themtugged at his arm. "Just pay, let's go."

Their mom was staring at me like she couldn't decide ifshe should scream and run in fear or go all self-entitled on me.

The man must have decided I was serious. He pulled outhis wallet, grabbed out a bill, threw it down on the table, and stormed