AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You ready to rock?” Sara asks, wagging her eyebrows. Today, she’d opted for neon green eyeshadow that makes her eyes glow bright, and her hair is in twin braids over her shoulders.
“Yeah,” I answer, my eyes flicking over to the bar again despite my efforts to keep them away. I feel like I need to say something to him, although I’m not sure what, to make sure we’re at least on speaking terms.
I don’t think he’d give me the cold shoulder all night, but I want to make sure. Getting a feel for where he stands now will help ease some of my anxiety and make being professional in his presence easier to accomplish.
At least I really fucking hope so.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to Sara, my eyes still glued to Alessandro’s form shifting behind the bar. “I just have to ask Mr. Costa something first.”
The name doesn’t land right, making me uncomfortable after calling him by his first name so much, but it’s as professional as I can get.
Before she can reply, I’m stepping toward the bar, feeling like I’m floating across the floor as I weave my way through the tables. Every step seems to spur more questions to life in my mind until there’s a tornado of uncertainty whirling through my brain.
Is he just going to ignore me all night? Pretend I don’t exist?I don’t think I could stomach the thought, even though it’s what I wanted.
Is this what space looks like to him? Avoiding eye contact and pretending like he didn’t see me walk in?
I swallow hard and slip up to the bar, resting my arms on top of it. When the cooler is perfectly stocked and organized, he closes the cooler lid and looks up at me for the first time.
“Good afternoon,” he says politely, his rich voice melting over me like butter and making my knees weak.
Goddammit.
“The same to you,” I say, butterflies erupting in my stomach. My mind instantly turns to a garbled mess, and I stammer over my words. “I just wanted to… I’m sorry about yesterday, I just…”
A sternness appears in his gaze, cutting me off.
“I told you not to apologize,” he says. “It’s fine.”
I shift uncomfortably from foot to foot, nervous energy bubbling over. “So, we’re good?”
He nods. “We’re fine. We’d be better if you could help Sara roll some silverware. We ran out during lunch.” He tilts his head toward the back corner booth where we typically hide for the monotonous side work.
Right. He’s being professional, the way a boss should be.
“Sure,” I say, wishing I could say something else to disrupt the uncomfortable tension building between us, but I draw a blank.
We fucked, we went on a date, and then I got scared and left.
And I still haven’t worked out my feelings.
What am I supposed to say? No simple phrase is going to fix any of this. It’s not going to undo what’s been done.
Shoulders sagging, I wash my hands and head to the corner booth to help Sara with the silverware, hoping that if I do everything perfectly tonight, if I work my ass off, it’ll please him. Maybe, somehow, it’ll make up for me leaving him yesterday?
No, I know it won’t, but maybe it’ll be a good step toward making things right between us.
“You’re quiet today,” Sara observes as she grabs a fork and knife from a wide plastic tub and positions them on the napkin in front of her. “Something on your mind?”
I chuckle. My mind is burdened by tons of heavy thoughts, but nothing I want to talk about, especially since I don’t know Sara that well. We may have worked a few shifts together, but we normally stay so busy, there isn’t time for small talk.
I’ve hardly spoken more than a couple of words to the other two who work the night shift with us. They’re beta guys, and I forget they’re even here with Alessandro present.
“Just personal issues,” I ramble, keeping up the guise of small talk so I don’t seem rude. “Looking for an apartment, hoping I don’t run into my exes–”
“Exes?” she cuts me off, her voice an octave higher than normal.
Shit.I guess that’s what I get for trying to open up to someone. It isn’t typical of betas to have a pack, so I’ve always told Alessandro it was a single ex. It’s less suspicious, and he’s less likely to pry and ask questions if he thinks I was hooking up with some beta guy.
