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“I don’t recall asking what you like. You’re my employee. I am your boss.”
“Yes, you’ve made that clear already.” She scoffed, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. “Are you a robot? Jeez, it’s like you only have one mode.”
I wanted to kill her.
And fuck her.
Fuck, I hated her.
“Speak to me like this again, and you will see a side to me you won’t like, Miss Vianello.”
Maybe I was a bastard.
I could have been nicer and called her Ava, but I enjoyed annoying her as much as she pissed me off. Just looking at her infuriated me.
I steered Ava toward a dozen blackjack, craps, and roulette tables where the regulars played. They looked like they had been up all night, chain-smoking and drinking. You could always tell when someone was losing big. And since it was also part of my job to approve the markers, I knew many of these degenerates.
“This is the pit,” I told Ava. “We have a dozen pit areas at the Portofino.”
She glanced up at me. “That’s a lot, right?”
I nodded. “The number of pits depends on the size of the casino. The Portofino is the largest casino in Atlantic City. It’s my job to coordinate with each pit boss in charge of the game managers, dealers, and clerks.”
“I hate the tension between us,” Ava said softly. “I’m trying hard to make you like me.”
“And that’s precisely why I don’t.” Avoiding eye contact with her, I nodded at the pit boss. “Your neediness makes you look stupid and pathetic. Before you came to work for us, I wasn’t under the impression you were either of those things. You have disappointed me.”
I stopped in front of the computer at the desk, scanned my card, and entered my credentials. Ava stood beside me and watched with curiosity. She let me flip through the screens and check the logs for a few minutes before speaking again.
“We got off on the wrong foot. How can I fix this?”
She was a Grade A people-pleaser and reminded me of Nico.
I fucking hated it.
The bastard brother was always so desperate for our love and attention. He didn’t even hesitate when our father asked him to marry Vittoria. Anything to make the old man happy.
Ava was the same way.
She went out of her way to gain my attention. But she was trying the wrong shit on me. I wasn’t someone she could coerce with sex.
“Stop throwing yourself at me,” I suggested as my fingers flew across the keyboard. “You could start there.”
She stood still for a moment, and I wasn’t sure if she was breathing. I didn’t need her having another asthma attack on me. Few people were smoking, but the scent wafted in the air.
“I’m not a whore,” she whispered. “I know that’s what you think. But, even I don’t know why I have been acting the way I have lately. It’s like something inside me snapped the day of my graduation.”
I stopped typing. “Why are you letting my brothers pass you around like a toy?”
I wasn’t sure why I asked because I didn’t care about the answer. But from the second I saw her with Angelo and Nico at dinner, then the twins in the hot tub, I wanted to know how she felt.
How she tasted.
And that wasn’t good.
Why did they keep breaking my rules to fuck her? I warned my brothers not to put a hand on her. Yet, they couldn’t seem to stay away. They were addicted to her, and I wanted to know why.
Call it curiosity.
