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Yet he defended me.
It was weird.
His office was dark and masculine. A black leather couch against one wall and a massive desk in front of the other. His own personal bar stocked full of what I now knew was the most expensive liquors, and the other wall was just windows. That seemed to be a theme at the Empire.
The green windows.
They were the outer shell of the castle; barely letting the blazing Vegas sun in, yet allowing all those inside the building to see the city just outside.
He shut the door behind us before leaving me and going toward his desk.
“You spilled my expensive liquor,” he said as he unbuttoned the bottom of his jacket and took a seat behind his desk.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered.
“Don’t ever let me catch you wearing flip-flops to work again. If you do, I’ll fire you on the spot, understand?”
I nodded. “I do, but …”
“No buts. Wear them again and you’re fired.”
“Mr. Hale, they are all I have right now, but I promise to get a new pair of shoes as soon as possible,” I blurted out.
It was embarrassing to admit, but if it meant keeping my job, then so be it.
The truth was, the minute I had a second, I would tape my flip-flop back together and continue to wear them until I could get to a store to buy a pair of shoes to work in.
His face tightened with my words, and I expected him to say something rude.
“First of all, don’t call me Mr. Hale. You make me sound like a fucking high school teacher.” His eyes pierced me yet again, making me swallow my nerves. “Do I look like a teacher to you, Eden?” he asked, my name rolling off his lips in a sexual manner I didn’t understand.
I shook my head. “No, sir.”
“And do I act like a teacher, Eden?”
He repeated my name like saying it gave him great pleasure.
Again, I shook my head. “No, sir.”
He shocked me by standing and moving from behind his desk. He stalked toward me like a lion ready to eat me alive, and my knees shook harder the closer he got.
Reaching up, he fingered a loose strand of my hair sweetly, yet his face remained angry and hard.
“However,” he cooed, “sir should suffice. From now on, that’s how you’ll address me. Understood?”
He pulled back just as I felt like I would pass out from lack of oxygen, and when he did, I took a deep breath.
I wanted to rebel.
I wanted to tell him to take his sir and stick it where the sun didn’t shine, but I knew I couldn’t do that.
Instead, I nodded and said, “Yes, sir.”
His lip trembled a bit as if he was going to grin at my words, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved away from me and back to his desk.
Leaning over, he opened a drawer and pulled out a thick billfold. He tugged a bill from the fold, put it back in the drawer, and closed it.
“Take this,” he said, holding the bill out between two fingers. “Go right now and buy yourself a proper pair of shoes. Once you have, get back here and finish your shift.”
