Incognito

  INCOGNITO

  by Maria Jackson

  INCOGNITO

  Published by Maria Jackson

  Copyright © 2017 Maria Jackson

  All Rights Reserved

  May not be copied or distributed without prior written permission.

  Cover photo: © Deposit Photo

  This book was adapted with permission from a previously published book by A.R. Steele.

  One

  Somewhere ahead of Kylie, there was a groan. As she dragged her feet forward, another sound of discontent joined the first. By the time she passed the change room doorway, the others were performing a veritable chorus of “awws” and “damns.” When Kylie saw Tony standing on the main stage, she joined in the refrain.

  “People, I told you at the start of the night that we were going to be meeting after the shift,” Tony said. “We agreed that we would talk about the direction of the restaurant. I know you’re all tired, but come on.”

  Rolling her eyes, Kylie took a tentative step toward the front door. If she was lucky, she could pass by without the manager seeing her. She’d go home, smoke a joint, and get in bed. Did Tony not realize how late it was? At this time of night, pretty much anything would have been preferable to some bullshit meeting.

  “Hey, Kylie, where are you going?” Tony called. “I need every single one of you here.”

  Dammit. “Coming, T.”

  Still grumbling silently, Kylie rejoined the group as they cleared aside the tables and pushed the chairs into a semicircle. Once everything was in place, Kylie sat down and drummed her fingers on her thigh. It was always odd to see the main room with the lights on. The atmosphere was entirely different.

  “This should only take half an hour,” Tony said gruffly, seated at the open end of the semicircle. “And you’ll be paid for that time.”

  That placated the staff to some extent. They were quiet as Tony came to the front of the circle.

  Kylie had to admit this was good in a way. Tony had never asked for the staff’s opinions before. He had always done what he wanted without looking for any input from the other people who worked at the restaurant.

  Still, Kylie wanted to get home. She glanced around the group, taking in each of the faces. There was Alyssa, Chloe, Paula… and then the new girl, Starshine.

  Kylie’s heart beat a little harder when her gaze fell on Starshine. She had her elbows on her knees and was leaning in with eager eyes, her sharp features attentive. Her chin rested in her hand. Light brown hair peeked out from under the black bandana she always wore.

  Starshine had been here for a couple months, and Kylie still had a bit of a thing for her. How could she not? Kylie’s breath hitched as she looked up and down Starshine’s svelte body. Realizing that she was openly staring, she turned—but kept looking out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to trail her fingers along that nicely tanned skin of Starshine’s. No, fuck fingers. She wanted to lick it.

  Starshine had a girlfriend, though—one she’d been with since before she’d arrived at Jubblies. Kylie didn’t know any details about the relationship, but she tried to keep her feelings platonic since Starshine was taken.

  With his eyes on the ground, Tony rubbed his hands together. “Compared to a year ago, there have been half as many customers as there should be. We need to step up our game.”

  That was an understatement.

  “If this restaurant’s going to succeed, I need each and every one of you putting in a hundred percent of your effort.”

  Kylie didn’t know about that. She didn’t give a hundred percent effort to just about anything. She probably gave fifty percent at best. There was very little that she cared about. She tended to float through life in a haze of pot smoke and casual sex.

  She cared for her family, she guessed. She was closer with her grandparents than her parents, although they were all in the same house. Her parents worked odd hours and she hardly saw them. Maybe she’d give a hundred percent if her family ever needed anything. As she fiddled with the collar of her leather jacket, she wrinkled her nose at the thought of offering that much effort to anything else.

  “So, we want to hear your thoughts,” Tony said. “There’s no such thing as a bad idea. We’re just throwing stuff out there. What is the restaurant doing right, and what is it doing wrong?”

  “We’ve hired the sexiest bitches in Bridgehaven,” Alyssa said.

  The other girls vocally agreed. They were all good-looking, or they wouldn’t be here in the first place. Still, some of them appealed to each other more than the rest. For example, none of them set Kylie off quite like Starshine.

  “Okay, hot girls and what else?” Tony said. “How are we utilizing the girls? Is it effective?”

  “I think we could definitely do better,” Paula put in. “As much as we all love Jubblies, we’re pretty similar to any other restaurant. Maybe we should spend more time with the customers. When it’s not busy, instead of standing around, we can sit with them and chat with them.”

  “Great, we can think about that,” Tony said. “Let’s keep brainstorming.”

  “What if we tried giving performances?” Alyssa asked.

  The others stared at her. “What, like turn this place into a strip club?” Paula asked.

  “We wouldn’t have to take off our clothes or anything,” Alyssa said. “Just shimmy around a little and look sexy.”

  “Hmm…” Tony rubbed his chin.

  “We could dress up,” Paula said with some excitement. “Do different acts. It could be like burlesque.”

  Kylie looked over at Starshine, wondering what she thought. She hadn’t said a word this whole time. She was listening intently and laughing at all the right times, but she offered none of her own ideas. She tended to not say much in general. She talked, yeah, but only about other people or the restaurant or whatever. It was always a struggle to get her to say more than the basics about herself. Kylie had picked up on that a while ago. She was especially secretive about her girlfriend.

  Starshine didn’t speak, so Kylie did. “That’s not a bad idea.” Although she still wanted to leave, this conversation had somewhat piqued her interest. “It’d be easy. All we’d need is some costumes.”

  “We should ask our current customers what they want,” Tony said. “Find out what they like and dislike, and what would make them bring more of their friends. They’re our target. Let’s ask them where to find more people like them.”

  Starshine’s face was suddenly eager as she piped up. “So how are we going to do that? Should we give them a survey?”

  “No, I don’t think we need anything that official. If you girls want to ask them some questions, you can do that tomorrow night. Try to figure out more about what they want. You have an excellent resource in the people who walk through that door. They have the exact information that you want, you just need to get it out of them.”

  “I think it’s a great idea.” Starshine scooched her chair closer to the table and leaned in, her light brown eyes sparkling. “You need to be subtle about how you ask. You don’t want to be too obvious if you don’t want them to know what you’re doing. There’s ways to get information out of people without them even knowing they’re giving it to you.”

  Kylie had to grin at Starshine’s enthusiasm. “What do you suggest?” she asked.

  Inexplicably, Starshine’s eyes lit up even more. “The first thing is not to ask any closed questions,” she said. “That means absolutely no yes or no questions. Anything you ask should be open-ended. Get them to say more than one word in response.”

  The girls nodded. “Makes sense,” Tony said.

  “One technique is called funneling questions,” Starshine went on. “That means you start with a broad question, then narrow it down as you go alo
ng. You can get some detailed information if you talk to them more. For example, you could ask, ‘how’s your night going?’ Then, ‘what did you think about the waitresses?’ Then ask what they think about the clothes, and then specifically about the shoes.”

  It made sense to Kylie. She just wondered where Starshine had picked this up. In fact, she recalled Starshine using a similar line of questioning on other occasions. Then again, Starshine was always full of questions. She had to be the most curious person Kylie had ever met.

  “Well, I think that’s enough for tonight,” Tony said. “We have some ideas for things to ask the customers tomorrow. Let’s reconvene after tomorrow night’s shift.” The girls looked unhappy, and he hastily added, “Yes, you’ll get paid for that time as well.”

  The extra income kept them from complaining. They picked up and left, all of them seeming tired. Kylie still had her mind on Starshine as she headed for her red Jeep Wrangler in the parking lot.

  Her little speech on question-asking technique wasn’t the first sign that she was a little off. Something about Starshine was definitely different. Always had been.

  And the minute Starshine and her girlfriend split up, Kylie intended to find out what it was.

  Two

  The main room was about as crowded as usual, which was to say not overly crowded. Starshine circulated, making eye contact with men at different tables as she decided which one to approach. There were the ones who barely looked legal at the corner table, or the two middle-aged men sitting next to them. The way both groups looked at her still shocked her.

  She had come to enjoy this work, even if she had initially been hesitant. Over the past three months, she’d gained all sorts of confidence that she hadn’t had before. She was becoming a new person. Even her body had gotten better since she’d picked up the habit of working out like the other waitresses.

  Her looks had never been a source of pride for her. She was slowly getting used to the customers’ appreciation—not that she could engage in any sort of relationship right now.

  She sat down with a table without asking for permission. The move would have seemed outrageously daring before she came here, and it was still out of her comfort zone. So her heartbeat sped up as she said, “Hi there. How’s your night going?”

  “It’s great! How are you?”

  “I’m wonderful,” she said, draping one arm around each of them. “What can I get you to start off with tonight?”

  They both smiled. “Right now, all we want is some company,” one said. “And after that we’ll get a couple of beers.”

  “Sounds good,” Starshine said. “What’s the occasion tonight?”

  “Guys’ night. We thought we’d come out and have some fun.”

  “What kind of fun were you looking for?” Starshine asked, using the funneling technique she’d learned at school.

  She probably shouldn’t have told the other waitresses about this last night. It might have given too much away about what she was doing here. She just got so excited about getting information out of people.

  “Just normal, sexy fun,” the brown-haired man said. “We came to meet some hot girls and live a little.”

  “So, you’re not looking for anything wild and crazy?”

  The blond-haired man gave her a mischievous grin. “That depends on what you had in mind.”

  Seeing her mistake, Starshine pulled away. She didn’t want these men to think she actually wanted to sleep with them. Her eyes drifted across the room to someone she’d be more interested in sleeping with. Kylie was in a crop top and jeans that hung low on her hips, showing a tantalizing strip of her toned stomach.

  Starshine licked her lips as she watched Kylie. Light glinted off her oiled-up skin. The surface piercings on her collarbones glittered even more. Starshine wondered what would happen if she put one of those piercings in her mouth. She could imagine pressing it between her lips. Flicking it with her tongue…

  Clearing her throat, she pulled away from the table. “It was wonderful to meet you gentlemen. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

  She approached the four younger men next. “How are you doing tonight?” she asked, helping herself to a sip of one’s drink.

  “We’re good,” two said simultaneously.

  “What do you think of the restaurant so far? Is it your first time here?”

  “It sure is, and we love it.” The guy ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “We should have come here earlier.”

  “You can always come again. Did you come for some kind of occasion?”

  “Yes, it’s my friend’s birthday.”

  Starshine smiled at the man, who was practically drooling as she looked at her. “Happy birthday.”

  She leaned forward to let him see the jiggle of her cleavage. His jaw dropped slightly open, and his eyes went wide. As Starshine treated him to the sight, she thought about how she never would have seen herself doing this. She definitely hadn’t trained for this kind of work. Every night she came here, she wondered if this was truly happening.

  When she stopped to think about it, this whole thing was just crazy. Her, a Jubblies waitress. And then there was… well, everything about this place! The friendships, the drama, the restaurant’s struggling and the way they were trying to solve it. There was so much information to collect.

  When Starshine stopped, the man blinked as if coming out of a trance. She’d noticed immediately how the customers always looked hypnotized by the other waitresses’ swaying hips or jiggling breasts. It was flattering that it happened with her as well.

  At this point, she pretty much was one of the group. She was a real Jubblies waitress. The others just didn’t know everything about her.

  As she said goodbye and made her way to another group, she looked around at the different girls working the crowd. Alyssa sat with one table and Paula with another.

  She walked further, passing by Kylie’s table. Her eyes rested on her beautiful figure for a millisecond. She made sure not to look for longer than that. Kylie would distract her from her work.

  “What do you like about Jubblies?” Kylie asked abruptly. “And what don’t you like? We’re trying to improve this place.”

  Starshine shook her head, seeing the way the customers stiffened and blinked at her. Kylie had started asking these questions out of nowhere, the exact way Starshine had warned against. She had no subtlety.

  Since Starshine didn’t belong here, she probably shouldn’t influence the results of the survey. It would be best if she just agreed with the others’ feedback. She would keep quiet about anything she found beyond that. Her role here was to observe, not to change anything. She had kept quiet and watched and listened through everything she had seen before, and she was still working on her report about it.

  As she walked by Kylie, she caught the eye of another group. When she reached the table, she put her hands on one man’s shoulders and gave him a quick neck rub. He gazed up at her as she sat down. “I haven’t even met you, and I already like you.”

  There were three other men at the table, and Starshine hoped to win the rest of them over as well. “How is your night going so far? Are you enjoying what you’ve seen?”

  “I sure am,” said the first man. “The girls here are hot.”

  “The hostess is amazing,” said the second man, gesturing at Chloe.

  “No, the one over at that table is the best-looking,” said the third. She pointed at Kylie.

  Starshine licked her lips silently. She would have to agree.

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with you,” the first man said to Starshine. “You look unbelievable. I love brunettes. And then your smile, wow.”

  That made Starshine smile even more. She’d never gotten so many compliments from men before she’d come here. She didn’t have trouble with them, but this had definitely been good for her ego. Guys here were more enthusiastic than anywhere else.

  “And what about you?” she said to the fourth man, tryi
ng not to let the attention go to her head. “What do you think of the girls?”

  “Who, me?” the fourth man said. “I’m actually gay.” He chuckled, and his friends laughed along with him.

  “Yeah, we dragged him along for the night,” the friend said. “Poor thing.”

  The gay guy played along with it, pretending to cry. “All this hotness is wasted here.”

  Starshine laughed along, but her amusement was for a different reason. If they only knew!

  At the end of the night, the waitresses gathered again in the main room. Pushing the tables together was much faster, and they took the same positions they’d taken the night before. Starshine glanced over at Kylie, wondering what she had found out in her “research.”

  Even with every part of her covered, Kylie was disarmingly seductive. Kylie was the kind of girl who probably had a steady stream of men and women throwing themselves at her. Her round face made her look young, but with her don’t-give-a-fuck attitude, Starshine didn’t care. She could have used a little of that attitude, herself.

  As Starshine leaned forward in her chair, Tony greeted the group. “Hello, everyone.” He clasped his hands together. “So, what did you find out? Did you get a lot of customer feedback?”

  “Tons,” Alyssa said. “The boys say they want more of me.”

  The other girls rolled their eyes. Alyssa was always slightly ridiculous. Still, Kylie liked the girl.

  “I got some good information,” Paula said. “It seemed that more people are here for fun rather than for the sex appeal. They want to be entertained.”

  “Yes, a lot of them are here for special occasions,” Chloe put in softly. “Birthdays, bachelor parties, and one was celebrating his new job.”

  “That’s good to know,” Tony said. “Anything else?”

  “The customers liked the idea of different acts,” Kylie said. “I asked them about a few of the options, and that was one of their favorites.”

  Starshine nodded, surprised that Kylie had gotten that far.

  “The ones I asked were surprised we aren’t doing it already,” Chloe said. “It’d be easy to do, too. We’d just have to clear an area and come up with some dance moves. Maybe pick out some different outfits.”