22
M y cheeks flushed as I entered Savile’s club, expecting to see Ronan as I started my shift. Last night, he invited me into his office, and we had a charming chat where he opened up about his mom being an addict like mine was. But then, I had to backtrack because it was my real mom who was the addict, not Riley’s fake mom, but because I was under the Petra Black alias, then I could go back to having an addict mom again.
I was so confused. Having one alias was easy-ish, but two? The evening was so busy in the kitchen that time flew by. My shift was over, and I rushed to catch the bus.
Hopefully, I’ll see him again tonight, even if it was from a distance. Then there was the oddity that was Scream Mask Freak, who wanted me to go on a date with him tomorrow but became sketchy when committing to a time and a place. Sometimes, I wondered if he enjoyed being a watcher rather than living in the real world and having authentic relationships.
A date with a man in a mask seemed odd to me. If he did have burn scars, I’d rather see his face to measure his expression and smile than sit across a table with a Scream mask. Perhaps his skin was scarred so badly that he couldn’t smile.
The problem was that I struggled to believe him, but I went along with the story because I couldn’t think of another reason someone would want to wear a mask on a date.
After entering the locker room to tie my hair and slip on my uniform, I raced back into the kitchen and filled the dishwasher while the chef and cooks started preparing food.
“We got only ten tables booked tonight,” the chef told me, as the knife he was using chopped onions faster than beating hummingbird wings. “But we always get walk-ins.”
“No problem,” I replied, forcing my enthusiasm because I was still new at the job and wanted to make a good impression. I decided last night that if they liked me enough, I could graduate to a different position, maybe even on the casino floor dealing chips. “Let me know if I can help in any way.”
After filling the commercial dishwasher, adding the detergent, and switching it on, I scrubbed the stainless steel benches and basins. The chef then asked me to garnish the Hors d'oeuvres, and once I had done so, the waitress took the white plates to the diners.
About an hour into my shift, two plates with covers were placed inside a warmer trolley, and the chef instructed me to take them upstairs. Immediately, my shoulders tensed seeing the most handsome man ever again, but maybe this time he’d take the plate, and I could leave again.
I desperately wanted to nip into the bathroom to check my hair and skin in the mirror, but the chef was ushering me quickly out the door. At the end of the hall was an elevator, and I pressed the button, waited for the door to slide open, and pushed the trolley inside the empty shaft.
Once the elevator stopped and the door slid open, my heart hammered nervously in my chest, and I had to take deep breaths to stop myself from turning into a wreck.
“He’s just a man,” I mumbled, pushing the trolley along the hallway toward his door. “The most beautiful man I’d ever seen, but just a man.”
I tapped on Ronan’s door and waited for a reply. I could hear the murmurs of men talking in the office at the end of the hall that the ‘big boss’ was in, whom I hadn’t met. The second plate was for him, so I walked down the hall and noticed a lounge room to the left. I popped my head inside to find it empty but was lured to the large tinted window overlooking the club.
From here, I could see everything: the casino, the bar, and the restaurant. On the other side of a divider wall was a stage where burlesque dancers came out and tantalized the guests on couches and tables while the classy but scantily clad waitresses served them liquor.
I didn’t stay long, although I could watch the activities for hours from his height, but I pulled myself away to knock on the office door. The men stopped dead midspeech, and the door swung open. There was Ronan, the Greek God, standing before me.
“Petra?” A cloud of his cologne peeled off him, and my knees went weak. Ah, finally, I knew what that felt like.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, trying hard to avoid stuttering like a loser, but that’s what this man did to me: turned me into a trembling, stuttering fool. “I’ve got your dinners,” he said.
Oh hell, how would my body react if he tried to kiss me or something? Don’t be stupid, Annika, no, Riley, no, Petra…damn, this was a damn mess, the man would never kiss me. Look where you work. You’re surrounded by the most beautiful women in the city.
“Brilliant,” he replied. “I’ll take mine in here. We’re in a meeting.”
I took out the tray with one covered plate, and when he took it from my grasp, his fingers grazed against my skin, and I had to suppress my natural reaction of pulling away. His touch lingered and burned, and I checked my skin to see if he left a mark.
“What time are you working to?” he asked me in a warm, calm voice.
“Um,” gosh, why can’t I speak to him normally, “nine.”
“Okay, I’ll come down and see you,” he stated, and I just about fell over.
“W-hy?” I asked to clarify if he wanted to see me as a manager checking on his staff or for some other reason.
He shrugged those beautiful shoulders. “To make sure you’re doing okay,” he answered as if I should already know.
“Okay,” my words caught in my throat, unable to show my genuine emotions for fear he’d laugh in my face.
“Gimme a sec,” he said, walking into the large, smoky office that smelt of cigars and liquor, and I was caught prying by a pair of narrowed eyes.
I only saw him for a split second before Ronan blocked my view, but I assumed he was the ‘big boss’ sitting behind a large oak desk, the man everyone was terrified of. Yet there was great respect and admiration for him. Planting fear into people was an effective way to garner respect, although I still wouldn’t want to be in a room with him alone.
Ronan took the second tray from my trolley, and when he smiled down at me, I almost levitated off the floor.
“See you soon, Pet-ra,” he crooned, then gently closed the door. He said ‘Petra’ was as if he didn’t believe it was my real name, and of course, he was right, but Betty hired me. She could tell my ID was fake, yet she called me back, so the onus was on her and me.
Walking on air, I pushed the trolley to the end of the hall and pressed the elevator button, realizing that I was smiling over a stupid, little interlude that likely meant nothing to him but everything to me. I heard a door open and closed and glanced back to find Ronan walking toward me…oh lord, please stop me from making a dick out of myself.
“Wait,” Ronan ordered as the elevator doors slid open, and my toes curled in my shoes the closer he came. Chocolate hair swept back off that chiseled face, high cheekbones, tall and fit, Adam’s apple bobbing in rhythm to my clit pulsating in my panties.
“Yeah?”
Those blue/green eyes raked over my stunned face while his mouth smiled and my heart sang. “Forgot the cutlery,” he stated, and a gush of air blew from my mouth from holding my breath.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I exclaim, feeling like a nitwit.
“That’s alright,” he said calmly as he retrieved the silver cutlery and fabric napkin I should’ve given them.
He paused to look me over for a few seconds, large hands clutching the napkins and cutlery that I imagined running over my body, enticing ecstasy from my core.
His mouth parted as those hungry eyes seemed to eat me up while voices in my head screamed at me that I was reading into his body language and interest in me. He’s my boss, and he stated he liked to get to know all of his new staff.
I waited eagerly for him to say what seemed to be on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he stepped forward, towering over me as fear thundered through my body. I clung to the serving trolley as his hand found my face, cupping it, and my cheek nestled into the healing warmth radiating from his palm.
“You have a bit of sauce on your cheek,” he informed me as his thumb wiped it off.
“Oh, that’s from the pot of pasta sauce, and some spat out when it started simmering,” I explained so he didn’t assume that I was an unclean person.
He cocked those eyebrows, then licked the sauce off his thumb, and a sigh escaped my lips. “Hm, taste good,” he crooned, stepping away. “See you soon.”
“Bye,” I called back as I pressed the elevator button again, so the doors slid open.
My cheeks burned the entire journey back down to the kitchen, and stepping into the steaming hot kitchen only exasperated the heat in my cheeks. I was too busy in the kitchen to allow myself to think of him again because I had to focus on my job. I felt the kitchen staff scrutinizing me often because I was new, so I refused to let them down.
Sometime during the busy night, Ronan the Beautiful stood at the kitchen entrance and watched me, but he didn’t stay long because he was in the way of us, coming and going.
Nine PM arrived quickly, went to the locker room to change, and discreetly searched the staff area to bump into Ronan accidentally. When he asked me what time I finished, I assumed he would come back then. Perhaps I got that signal wrong.
I had no time to waste because I needed to catch my bus, so I rushed out the staff exit into the dark alleyway, then ran under the streetlights to the stop on the opposite side of the road. Luckily, there were two other people there whom I’d seen on my bus before, so I wasn’t alone.
As the bus pulled up, I noticed a familiar vehicle parked across the road. I might be mistaken, but it was the same vehicle that followed me that night when Shaun dumped me after we had sex, and I ran back to Hallen Hall. It was an old-style sedan that most students wouldn’t be seen dead in, and that was why I remembered it; it seemed like a car a boomer would drive. This vehicle also had two people sitting inside, and I could make their shapes out in the dark.
I discreetly took a pic of it with my phone without a flash, but it came out as a weird blur, so I retook it with the flash and faked a pose to make it look like I was taking a selfie.
The bus rolled up, and I kept my eyes on the sedan, which I thought was dark blue, although it was difficult to tell in the dark. When the bus turned around the bend, I looked back, and the car wasn’t following, so maybe I was wrong about it.
I was relieved when the bus arrived at Gotland, hopped off, and ran again through the dark streets under streetlights. I didn’t stop until I was at the Hallen Hall entrance with my keycard ready. When I arrived at my door, I thought about sleep…and Ronan. I brushed where he touched me with the back of my fist and sighed at how soothing his touch was, yet the damage he could do with hands…so much damage.
I unlocked my door with my keycard, pushed it open, and froze when a man was lying on my bed.