Rolling over I slammed my hand on the alarm clock shutting it up. Could it really be 6:30 already? It had been two weeks since I left Lorenzo Albertini's penthouse. It was my third day back at work after my boss gave me a week's suspension because of the no-call no-show I pulled that horrible day, and I could still see the faint bruises on my wrists.
I have tried my hardest to forget him, to forget what he did to me. But I couldn't get him and what he did for me out of my head. I kept replaying everything that happened that night in my mind. He had something in his eyes when he first looked at me. The first moment that I turned around to face him after he had let himself into the room, it mesmerized me and I wanted to figure out the man. I couldn't get the smell of his cologne out of my head no matter how hard I tried.
Sighing, I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I pulled my hair into a high pony and dressed in my typical yoga pants and tank, throwing a light hoodie over top. I filled my water bottle and got ready to head out on my morning run. Because I never knew when he would appear, I had to stay in shape. I had to be ready in the event he found me. I ran through the park and around a couple of blocks, returning to my apartment, as usual, an hour later.
Walking back into my apartment sweaty from my run, I walk into my bathroom to turn the shower on so that I can wash the sweat and sticky off.
As it turned out, I had to get ready for my day at work. After getting out of the shower, I slipped on one of my pencil skirts and a white button-up blouse as was my uniform requirement. I finished off with my simple black feminine tie and name tag, braiding my hair to the side and putting only mascara and lipgloss on my face. A sigh escaped my lips as I looked in the mirror. I looked fine for a normal day at work. I just wish I could get rid of these damn dark circles under my eyes. This is because of the lack of sleep I've had since the day those guys attacked me. I have been having nightmares and even the ones I got rid of have started coming back. I hate them. I hate not sleeping and being scared all the time.
I head outside my apartment and take a deep breath of fresh air. It was a beautiful sunny day for the month of November. It had actually been warmer for the past few days. I decided to walk to work since it was only three blocks away and I was trying to conserve gas for the colder days. Yes, I was able to get my car keys from the store and park my car at my apartment complex.
Walking into the old building that held my work, I immediately spot my boss at the bar before work sipping on his usual cocktail. He blows a whistle at me as I stroll past him, and I roll my eyes up at the ceiling. Ignoring him, I walk into the back employee lounge, where we are all getting ready for our shifts.
I found another co-worker already there. She's been here for three weeks and has become one of the few people in my life that I could possibly call a friend. "Good morning, Elle!" I say as I settle down on a bench near my locker. I had to put on my work shoes. Robert Caldwell, our jerk of a boss, insists that we all wear enormously tall high-heeled shoes. I swear I was about to break my neck one day. He inspected us personally every day before the restaurant opened, insisting that we had to look aesthetically pleasing, and appealing to the male clientele.
"Oh hello Az, how are you doing today? Did you sleep well?" she asks me, as she sits down on the bench to put her work shoes on.
"No..." I begin but get interrupted by our boss stumbling into the room.
"Good morning ladies." Our boss says as he walks into the room. The restaurant was opening in twenty minutes at 11 am, just in time for the lunch rush. I had a lot to do to get ready for my shift, as I was assigned to operate the bar tonight. I hated working at the bar, often having to deal with drunks. They always hit on me leaving me with a lack of sense of security. I never felt secure working at the bar, so I preferred waiting tables as a waitress. I didn't complain since I knew he was punishing me for that no-call, no-show, but I wish he would just get over it already because this was annoying.
After the doors opened and the restaurant started to get its first customers of the day, I started making a few drinks. Those who sat at the tables ordered several of them. After 1 pm people began pouring into the bar area to get drunk, and I became very busy. After 4 pm I noticed even more customers in my bar as the number doubled. My boss, Mr. Caldwell, asked me to work overtime hours tonight since our most unreliable employee had called in yet again. "Why don't you just fire this guy?" I asked him after I agreed to stay and work part of his shift.
"Because then I would have to hire somebody else. I hate doing interviews and checking out applications!" he replied as if he wasn't already annoying enough. I couldn't believe the owner actually hired this guy to run and manage this restaurant.
After 7 pm I started to get the deserved tips as the guys got drunk and greedy. I hated working in the bars on Saturday nights as this was the day things like this started earlier and earlier. I had trouble keeping up with the never-ending orders, and I ended up asking Robert and Mr. Caldwell for a break. He reluctantly let me go, taking over so that I could go to the restroom for 15 minutes.
After 9 pm, most people start heading home or heading to a nearby club, so that's an advantage to having this as a bar in a restaurant. People usually head to local dance clubs and other well-known bars to hang out and dance as the night wears on. My shift was almost over. I still had slightly under an hour left. My feet really started hurting, and I wanted nothing more than to finish my shift and go home to crawl into bed and slip into dreamland. Tomorrow, I would have the day off so I was planning to head to the local zoo. There, I could spend a few hours and forget the craziness of this world.
About 15 minutes before the end of my shift a small group of guys dressed in suits walked in and sat down at my bar. At the time, I was busy washing and drying glasses used earlier and putting them away for the next shift. Serving them was my job. I put on a big fake smile as I approached them to take their order. I hoped that they would be aware that my bar closed at 11 pm sharp. I wanted to go home. "What can I get to drink for you tonight?" I asked, keeping a smile plastered on my face.
Three of the four guys looked up at me and smiled. However, the last guy kept his face hidden behind a large tablet so that I could not see his face clearly. "Hey beautiful, what's good here?" one of them asked with a deep smile plastered on his handsome face. I studied them, first noticing that they were all wearing expensive suits, so I wondered if they were all successful businessmen. If so, they were not going to be cocktail types.
"Judging from the looks of you, I am confident enough to safely say that you guys are not the cocktail type of men... The simple choice would be whiskey straight up, or perhaps some Dewars or Johnnie Walker Black." I replied. My confidence was waning as he eyed me up and down like I was eye candy.
He stared at me, with a mischievous smile on his face. "We'll take three whiskeys straight up, the finest brand you've got. One Dewars on the rocks." The blonde one spoke over the others who began talking about something that sounded serious. I nodded and turned around to work on their drinks. I noticed my boss walking over to me, shrugging my shoulders as I finished their order. I was about to put them all on a tray when he grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him.
"Hey, Az, what do you have planned tonight?" he softly questioned me while his hot breath sent shivers down my spine. Sometimes his advances were difficult to avoid.
I roll my eyes, "I'm sorry, Robert, but I'm busy tonight." I push his hands aside, trying to get back to the order I was working on.
He reaches down and grabs my wrist and turns me around so quickly. "Busy doing what?" he growls at my throat. I roll my eyes at him so he can see it, and push him away this time slightly more forcefully. I finished putting the drinks on the tray and walked them to the group. As I got closer to the group, I stopped and stared at the man I hadn't noticed earlier. Lorenzo Albertini sat directly in front of me. I secretly hoped he wouldn't remember me, that he wouldn't remember who I was. I placed his drink in front of him without him even muttering a thank you before he turned to the others and got down to business with them.
"So?" Robert asked without skipping a beat as I walked back towards him.
"What?" I ask, annoyed as hell that he chose to bother me tonight of all nights. He had to be buzzing right now or close to being full-on drunk to be acting this way in front of customers.
He lets out a small chuckle. "Are you busy tonight? If not, how about staying with me tonight?" he asks, grabbing my waist and pulling me closer. I put both of my hands against his chest trying to push him away, trying to keep some space between us. After wiggling to break his hold, he let out a low growl as he pushed me against the wall. I was crushed against the wall by his weight.
"Robert, get off me, right now!" I yelled in anger because he thought this was okay.
I hear him chuckle, "No, I don't think so, I want to kiss you!" he whispers into my ear. Unaware that a tall figure had appeared behind him.
I heard him clear his throat, "Now I suggest you leave the nice lady alone, she has made it very clear that she was busy tonight." he growled out in his deep cold voice. It didn't sound like a request, more like a threat. Robert looked at him and slowly released his hold on me.
"Oh, and who is going to make me?" Yep, he was drunk; I knew what this man was capable of. I noticed the sharpness in his eyes as they grew darker with anger. He clenched his fists and kept his voice low and calm.
He let out a small laugh. "I will if you keep acting dumb-ass!" he growled, raising his eyebrows and puffing out his chest. I wanted to crawl away and hide in the corner while these two talked it out. But I stood there frozen, watching the two men stare each other down.
Lorenzo reaches down and pulls me away from Robert, shoving me behind him as if to protect me. Then he pushes Robert against the wall and punches him square in the face. I felt so sorry. I didn't want anything like this to happen to him. "Now that should teach you a lesson son... when a woman tells you no she means no. That's why you ought to listen to her." He snaps at him. He circles around and faces me. I stood there shaking as I couldn't stop my body from trembling. He raked his eyes up and down my slender body. "Do I always have to save you, Miss? Do you think you can handle getting yourself home tonight?"
"No, I can get myself home."
He smiled at me, "Good, now I have to wrap up with my business meeting, so you can close up and leave for home." He said as he turned back to his group at the meeting, who just happened to see the whole thing. I felt so embarrassed that I didn't speak another word to his group as they all stood up and left. I finished washing, rinsing, drying, and putting away. Robert told me to lock up, he was heading home. He didn't want to be in this place anymore with Lorenzo closely watching him the way he was.