Saving Sunni Read Free Page A

of time in her office, but I wasn’t sure what she was doing in there. When she came out, she did all of the talking, not noticing or caring that no one else actually spoke. Even when I tried to answer her, she didn’t really pay any attention.
    “So are you in school?” I asked Debi as we sorted out a batch of fishnet stockings for the display rack.
    She sniffed a little. “Not really.” She sounded bored. “My dad thinks I am, but I’m only taking two classes this semester. I’m trying to decide what to major in.”
    I had a surprising flash of sympathy for her father. “Oh? What are you considering?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe philosophy. Or art. I’ll probably get married and drop out, anyway.”
    “Are you dating anyone?” I suddenly felt like an aunt trying to connect with a teenager. A very old aunt. It was depressing.
    “Yeah,” she said, “but my dad doesn’t like him very much.”
    “That’s probably why you do,” I said, laughing a little, but she just gave me a disgusted look and wandered away, leaving me to finish putting up the stockings by myself.
    I wondered if this was going to turn out to be a good job after all when Geri came breezing up, her purple velvet shawl flying in her wake, and said, “sunni, you look like you need a break. Come into my office.”
    Was I being fired already? I tossed the empty box into the back room and followed Geri. It had to be those two little bitches. I knew they didn’t like me. I must be too old and too normal-looking for them. Or maybe Geri had told them about my lifestyle and they thought I was too weird. I felt a flick of pride at being too strange for teenage Goth chicks. That had to take some doing, especially for someone in her thirties.
    “So,” Geri said, plopping down in her oversized desk chair. She pulled each foot up onto the opposite thigh in a way that made me want to sign up for yoga, and picked up her tea mug. “How are you doing so far?”
    I debated how to answer that. If I told her that the two girls in her “family” were snotty little brats, that might not go over too well. “Fine, I think. I like the store a lot. You have some really cool things here,” I said lamely.
    She nodded and smiled broadly. “It is fun, isn’t it? And don’t you just love the clientele?”
    So far I hadn’t met anyone particularly interesting. In fact, there had probably only been five or six people in the store in the two days I’d been working there. But I nodded and tried to look enthusiastic.
    “sunni, the reason I wanted us to talk was that I’d like you to take on a project for me.”
    I was surprised—a project after two days? I didn’t know if I would be able to handle a special assignment, or how Debi and Tina were going to feel about me getting it instead of them. Then again, they would probably be happy they weren’t going to get stuck with extra work.
    “What kind of project?”
    “Well, I am absolutely hopeless with technology.” She directed a glare over her shoulder at the very expensive-looking computer on the table behind her.
    “Oh, I am too,” I agreed, and then mentally clapped my hand over my mouth. My boss was giving me an opportunity for advancement—or at least it sounded like it—and I was telling her I wasn’t capable. Smart.
    Fortunately she completely ignored me. “I’m also not very involved in the bdsm community right now, which you are. So what I want you to do is to start researching other products we could carry, especially puppy play, floggers, corsets…that kind of thing.” She seemed embarrassed, which surprised me. I had taken her for the kind of person who would chatter away about any topic with no boundaries at all.
    I stared at her for a minute. What I really wanted to say was, “Are you sure?” and point out that the younger people would be better at surfing the net than I was, assuming they didn’t spend all their time browsing porn or playing games or whatever kids do