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Aurnia was practically squirming on the couch, clearly pleased that she’d won. I would have found it endearing had I not been so pissed.
“Now, now, Aurnia,” I said, fully intending to rain on her fucking parade, “remember what we said you had to do first.”
Diarmuid glanced up as Aurnia’s smile fell. I pulled my hand out of my pocket as I began to list things.
“You’ll need to sweep up the floor every night,” I said, moving a few steps closer to her. “You’ll need to clean the bathrooms, of course. There’s the trash bins to be emptied, the storeroom that needs organising, the kitchen that needs restocking. You’ll need to make teas and coffees for our customers. And for us, of course.”
Aurnia couldn’t flinch away as I squeezed her shoulder, a friendly pat.
Just like I couldn’t say that she robbed me, vandalised my place, and drove me fucking crazy with sinful lust.
“Of course,” she said. “You said if I did all those things that you would teach me to tattoo.”
I tsked her and squeezed her shoulder a little harder. “I think you’re forgetting a little something.”
Aurnia faked trying to remember, her finger tapping on her chin. She was probably used to people eating up whatever she served, but I was a more discerning customer. As Diarmuid watched her, she slowly shook her head.
“No,” she said, smiling sweetly (an act!), “no, I think that’s all we agreed to.”
“You don’t remember anything about not talking during working hours?”
“Nope,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
She hid a wince as I dug my thumb against her collarbone.
“Positive,” she said.
I patted her, hard, on the back and she coughed.
Her eyes were on me as I wandered toward the cash register. I drummed my fingers on it, a bluff to reveal her indiscretion unless she played along. She glared at me before smiling at Diarmuid who had been watching the two of us with rising suspicion. I would have to be more careful.
“Ah, yes,” Aurnia said, with obvious resentment in her voice. “Something is coming back to me about keeping quiet while you guys are working.”
“I believe it was ‘total silence’.”
Her glare and mine battled each other over Diarmuid’s head, which swivelled back and forth.
“But boss,” Aurnia said, her pink lips perfectly pursed, “how am I supposed to ask what menial, demeaning task I’m to do next if I can’t talk?”
I matched her plastic smile and gestured toward the desks. “There’s pen and paper at your service, my dear. You can write?”
Diarmuid stood, his legal pad held at his side. “Is everything really alright here? Because I’m getting the sense that there’s some…tension.”
I laughed and Aurnia laughed.
I held out my arm and she bounded to my side like a little doe. I’d had her in my grasp more than a few times at that point, but I’d never held her close like that, her ribs expanding and constricting against mine, the heat of her body at my side, her head leaning against my chest. My fingers came to rest on her elbow, as sharp as a knife point, as fragile as a bird’s bones. I squeezed her firmly, though gently.
How easily I could break her. I had been so worried about ruining her life that I hadn’t considered how with one wrong violent outburst I could end it.
“We’re buddies,” Aurnia lied.
“Bestest buddies,” I confirmed, signing my one-way ticket to hell.
“I mean,” Aurnia continued, “I couldn’t have landed in a better pair of hands, really. I mean, I really feel like Mr Mac Haol has got a good, firm grasp on me; on who I could be.”
Diarmuid eyed the two of us.
