Thankfully, he decided to take her with him, whether it was because he was sympathetic to her current predicament or because he realized that she wasn’t capable of letting him go, she didn’t know and didn’t care. When he sat down on the couch, she settled in more comfortably against him and closed her eyes, still wondering why the inconsiderate bastard hadn’t thought of getting a blanket for his office.
Maybe she should steal one of Melanie’s precious blankets? she thought as she laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and-
“Since I’m assuming that my father didn’t clear you to return to work during the two hours that I was gone, can I assume that you’re still supposed to be upstairs pretending to be asleep?” he asked as he dropped his hold on her and settled for resting his hands on her ass.
His obsession with her ass was starting to become a little concerning.
“Patrick needed help,” she mumbled sleepily, wondering what he had against post sex naps.
“He had plenty of help,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“You need to put an extra waitress on Saturday nights,” she mumbled, shifting to get more comfortable.
He sighed heavily as he shifted beneath her, still keeping his hands on her ass, she drowsily noted as she started to fall asleep, but of course she should have realized that he wasn’t quite done yet.
“Since you’re obviously feeling better there’s no point in hiring anyone new.”
“Not for a few weeks at least,” she agreed, hoping that this was going to be the end of their little heart to heart. She needed a few minutes of sleep before she had to get dressed and get back out there, but the way that he suddenly went still beneath her told her that it wasn’t going to be that simple.
“What happens in a few weeks?”
“You know what happens,” she said, not particularly thrilled by the idea of quitting either, but what else was she supposed to do now?
They were serious, or at least, she was serious about him, which meant working for him was no longer an option. She was really going to miss the Fire & Brimstone. She loved working here, loved the staff, the customers and what she did. While most people wouldn’t consider being a waitress a career, she did.
She didn’t care that she would never get rich doing it. The only thing that mattered to her was that she loved her job. She could care less what anyone else thought about it. She loved working in a restaurant and one day if she was lucky enough, she might get the opportunity to run a restaurant of her very own.
“No,” Lucifer said, making her sigh, because she really wasn’t in the mood for this argument again.
“Yes,” she said, hoping that he’d just let it go.
“Not fucking happening,” he said, shaking his head so that his chin gently brushed against the top of her head.
“Can we talk about this later?” she asked, wishing that he’d just let it go.
“No.”
Sighing heavily, because she should have known that he was going to make this difficult, she sent a silent apology to her trembling limbs, and carefully climbed off his lap. “I have to get back to work.”
“You’re not on the schedule tonight,” he pointed out evenly as she started searching for her clothes.
“You’re short-staffed,” she said, grabbing her shirt off the desk only to end up frowning when she realized that her bra wasn’t with it.
“Patrick can cover it,” he said, while she continued searching for her bra.
“He can’t cover my section and run the restaurant,” she pointed out while she stood there, nibbling on her bottom lip as she tried to remember what color bra she’d been wearing.
“He’ll manage,” he said, tucking himself back into his pants as he walked over to the desk. Throwing her a look that told her just how pissed he was, he reached past her and plucked her bra off the computer.
“Look,” she said, taking the bra from him and quickly donning it as she glanced around the room for her panties, “I don’t want to quit, but-”
“Then don’t,” he snapped.
Giving up on finding her panties, because they’d apparently fallen off the face of the earth, she grabbed her pants and pulled them on. “It’s not that easy and you know it,” she said, wondering why he had to make this so difficult when they both knew that she no longer had a choice.
“You’re going to quit because you don’t want people knowing that you’re sleeping with your boss?” he guessed.
“Exactly,” she said, pulling her shirt on, glad he finally understood.
For a minute he didn’t say anything, he just stared at her in that unnerving way of his making her think that he was going to argue with her, but then he surprised her by stepping away from the door. “If that’s what you want, Rebecca, then I’m not going to argue with you.”
Relieved, and more than a little surprised that he’d given in so easily, she murmured, “Thank you,” with a frown and walked to the door.
“You’re welcome,” he said, opening the office door for her, further taking her by surprise, because she really hadn’t expected him to give up without a fight.
She was relieved that he wasn’t going to make this harder than it needed to be, but she was also disappointed that he was letting her go this easily after five years. Where was the loyalty? The adoration?
He could at least pretend that he was going to miss her, she thought with a little pout as she walked past him and headed down the hallway so that she could return to work when all she wanted to do was to turn around, head back to that office and kick the shit out of his shin while she read him the riot act. He might be fine with her leaving, but they both knew that he would never find another waitress like her. She was one in a million and he’d realize that sooner or-
Why was everyone staring at her? she couldn’t help but wonder as she stood there watching as several waitresses, busboys, a chef and the bartender along with Patrick were standing there, staring at her like she had two heads. Frowning, she looked down to find everything in order. Her shirt was neatly tucked in, her pants were on right and her shoes-
Oh, shit.
She’d forgotten to put her shoes back on. No big deal. She shrugged it off, because it could have been a lot worse and said, “I threw them at him,” expecting them to nod in understanding.
Patrick shot her a horrified look that she thought was a little over the top. “You threw your panties at him?” he asked, sounding horrified as she stood there, telling herself that he hadn’t just said what she’d thought he had.
She must have misheard him, because there was no way that…that…why were they all looking to her right? she couldn’t help but wonder as she reluctantly followed their gazes even as the tiny hairs on the back on her neck stood up in protest, trying to warn her that she shouldn’t look back or waste another precious second standing there. She needed to run away as fast as her still tingling legs would take her, but she couldn’t seem to move.
“You left these in my office, sweetheart,” Lucifer said, shocking her into silence as he reached around her and gently tucked the matching lavender panties that she hadn’t been able to find in her front pocket as he leaned down and kissed her stunned lips.
As he pulled away, she tried to form a coherent sentence, but the only thing that came out was the sound of choked rage. She was going to kick his ass!
He shifted his attention from her to their audience and narrowed his eyes on the terrified group. “Don’t you have work to do?” he asked in that cold tone that he was so well known for, managing to break through their shock and had them scurrying away as fast as humanly possibly while she stood there, absolutely amazed that the bastard had finally managed to beat her at her own game.
“Son of a bitch,” she said, shaking her head in awe as she found herself turning around and heading for the backstairs where the large bastard had disappeared thirty seconds after he’d fucked her over.
Chapter 38
“Son of a bitch!”
he heard the lovely shout accompanied by the sound of what he assumed was his apartment door slamming shut.
“Wow, she sounds mad,” Melanie said from the next room.
“I can’t imagine why,” he drawled as he stole Rebecca’s pillow and shoved it behind his head, deciding that he might as well be comfortable during his last moments alive.
“What did you do?” the ever nosy woman asked with absolutely no shame, making him chuckle.
“Leveled the playing field,” he said, knowing that his partner in crime would understand.
“She’s going to kill you.”
“Probably,” he said, unconcerned over his impending doom.
“You!” Rebecca said, choking out that one word as she stood in her doorway, glaring at him in a way that told him that his balls might very well be in danger this very night.
“Yes, my love?” he said with a smile, simply to piss the woman off to return the favor.
“You,” she repeated, since that was obviously all she could manage at the moment.
“Is something amiss, my love?” he asked, copying that innocent expression that she’d used on him a hundred times over.
“You had no right,” she finally managed to get out.
“And what exactly didn’t I have a right to do, hmm?”
“You know what you did!” she snapped, quickly losing her temper once again and giving him such joy, because it was rather nice to see the tables turned on her for once.
“I don’t!” their audience yelled.
“The bastard just made sure that everyone downstairs knew that we were sleeping together!” Rebecca snapped with a glare to emphasize her words.
“Oh,” came the reply, which apparently wasn’t the reaction that Rebecca had expected.
“What the hell do you mean by ‘oh?’” she demanded, shifting her glare from him to the wall.
“I think they already knew,” Melanie said, making him frown, because there was no way in hell that anyone outside this little trio and his family knew about them. They’d been careful to keep a professional relationship when they were at work. There was no fucking way that anyone had found out about them.
None.
“Well,” Melanie said, suddenly appearing by Rebecca’s side in the doorway, “I believe they found out about a month ago when Patrick asked Jon to help some of the waitresses take out the trash. They spotted the two of you going at it in the truck like the sick perverts that you are,” she explained with a shrug.
“No freaking way!” Rebecca gasped, giving up on glaring at him to shoot her best friend a pleading look. “Please tell me that you’re kidding.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that,” Melanie said, shooting him a curious look while he sat there, digesting everything that she’d just said.
“And when were you going to tell me?” Rebecca demanded, reaching over to flick Melanie’s arm.
“Ow! What the hell? I just found out about it a few days ago!” Melanie snapped as she rubbed her sore arm.
They knew, had known for a little more than a month now, he realized, which meant…
“There goes your reason for quitting,” he said with a satisfied smile, because it looked like she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
*-*-*-*
“Do you think that you could ask Mr. Bradford if I could have next weekend off?” Marcy asked instead of helping her fill the salt and peppershakers like she was supposed to be doing.
“Why can’t you ask him yourself?” she asked, pointedly placing an empty saltshaker in front of the woman, who was too busy standing there doing absolutely nothing.
“Figured that I would have a better chance of getting the time off if you asked,” she said with a shrug as she picked up the saltshaker and absently toyed with it instead of filing it up and pissing Rebecca off, not only because she was once again getting stuck doing all the work, but because this was the ninth time that she had to deal with this bullshit today.
Everyone, and she meant everyone, had found a way to corner her this morning to ask her for a favor like she had some magical power to control their fate now that she was dating Lucifer. They’d hinted around for what they wanted and when that didn’t work, and it didn’t, they tried to give her some bullshit sob story to manipulate her into asking Lucifer for time off, to switch their shifts and, of course, for a raise.
When they weren’t trying to get her to do their dirty work, they were ignoring her, which was just the best time ever. Yup, there really was nothing like being ignored by the people that she’d busted her ass with for the last five years. Whenever they saw her, they would walk away, pretend to suddenly find cleaning tables and counters interesting or acted like she wasn’t there. Dating the boss was the best, she thought dryly as she popped the bottom off another saltshaker and began filling it.
“Will you ask him?” Marcy asked as she continued to toy with the saltshaker.
“No,” she said, not even bothering to explain herself as she placed the saltshaker that she’d been working on back on the table and walked away, leaving Marcy to do the chore herself because she’d had enough for one day.
She’d told Lucifer that this wasn’t going to work out, but the stubborn bastard had insisted that she give it a chance. The only reason that she’d gone along with it was that up until now, the rest of the staff hadn’t acted differently since they’d found out. Apparently they’d been waiting for the news of their relationship to become public before deciding to pounce on her.
“Are the salt and peppershakers filled?” Adam, the supervisor who she normally avoided working with because he was an asshole, asked as she walked past him, reminding her of the other problem she’d been having today.
She’d been there longer than any of the other staff, which normally granted her the freedom to decide what needed to be done, when it needed to be done as well as working the best section in the dinning room. All those perks were gone now, because Adam, the real asshole of the Fire & Brimstone, had been on her ass all morning, letting her know that he wasn’t happy.
She’d barely punched in when Adam was chewing her out for punching in a minute late. While he was screaming at her in front of the rest of the staff he’d failed to remember that he’d been standing in front of the clock, blocking her from punching in on time. When she’d pointed that out, he’d snapped at her and told her to go pick up the trash in the parking lot. It wasn’t part of her job, but she’d needed to leave before she said something she would regret.
When she came back inside, he’d told her to go scrub the ovens, which also wasn’t her job. She was a waitress, not an hourly wage employee and he seemed to have forgotten that, but she hadn’t. She fully planned on putting in for those hours at the busboy rate, which was ten dollars an hour. At least that’s what she told herself when he made her scrub the windows, clean the sinks at the bar, fill the ketchup bottles, do dishes for an hour, scrub the bar stools, and finally, fill the salt and peppershakers, which was Marcy’s job.
She’d considered telling Lucifer what was going on, but she wasn’t a snitch and she also wasn’t going to run crying to her boyfriend every time someone treated her like crap. Instead, she was going to be that girlfriend that quit and found another job.
“Did you fill the shakers or not?” Adam snapped when she kept walking.
“Nope,” she said, fully intending to go upstairs where she could feel sorry for herself in private, but Adam had other plans in mind, plans that included getting in her face and yelling at the top of his lungs, announcing to one and all that she wasn’t going to get special treatment for fucking the owner and ensuring that her resignation was going to be memorable.
Chapter 39
“Oh, shit!” was his first clue that something wasn’t quite right at the Fire & Brimstone this morning. The sound of several people running past his door and someone screaming, “She’s going to kill him!” told him that he might want to see what was going on.
“Eat it, bitch!” he heard
Rebecca, and why was he not surprised, yell.
That of course was followed by, “Get her off me! Please, someone get her off me!”
Sighing heavily, because this really was the last thing that he needed today, he walked into the dinning room and found his girlfriend trying to shove a saltshaker down his supervisor’s throat while two old women, an old man, three waitresses and Jon were either trying to join in and beat the shit out of Adam.
Okay, so he was pretty sure that Jon was the only one trying to put an end to this since everyone else seemed determined to get their hands on Adam. When the old woman shifted her walker so that she could kick Adam in his side while yelling, “You horrid man!” he decided that it was time to put an end to this.
Sighing, he walked over, grabbed Rebecca and threw her over his shoulder, but of course, she wasn’t done.
“Don’t you ever talk to me like that again, you prick!” she yelled, making everything in him go still, because Rebecca didn’t waste her time or energy in getting mad like this, not when she could get even.
“What did he say to you?” he asked softly.
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Just let me down,” she said, trying to push off him, which also wasn’t something that she normally did.
Nodding, because that’s really all he needed to know. He carefully placed Rebecca down on her feet, turned around and helped Adam to his feet. When Adam opened his mouth, either to bitch him out about Rebecca or thank him for helping him up, he shoved him towards the door.
“What the hell?” Adam asked, stumbling back and before he could right himself, Lucifer was there, giving him another shove and then another until Adam was stumbling back into the parking lot where several of his cousins and brothers were standing around, having a cup of coffee and looking genuinely surprised to see him shoving one of his employees around.
“You get one chance to tell me what you said to her,” Lucifer said, giving Adam another shove.
“She’s fucking insane!” Adam yelled, gesturing angrily towards the building where Rebecca was probably being restrained.
Fire & Brimstone: A Neighbor from Hell Page 19
