No Thanks

It had only been a day since I promised Mia that I would think about her offer. I had not gotten the chance to talk to Celine since then, and I planned to talk to her as we worked in the hotel tonight.

It was almost 6 pm when my shift ended at the cafe. I stood at the counter, wiping spilled coffee off it. There were fewer customers at this time on weekdays. And most of the customers that came around this time sat outside, So I was a little surprised when I heard the doorbell ring, signaling a customer's entry.

I looked up to see the person and was immediately taken aback by him. The moment I set my eyes on him, the energy in the room changed. The same tall and imposing presence and the same cold eyes that betrayed no emotion.

The baseball cap he had on did nothing to hide his handsome, chiseled face. But soon enough, the memories of how he had treated me a few days ago came rushing back. My surprised expression quickly changed to stone-cold indifference.

I turned back to the counter and wiped with more force than I intended to. In a few strides, he was in front of the counter, and I could feel his eyes boring into me, but still, I did not look up.

"We need to talk," he said in a deep and smooth voice. I was too distracted the last time to notice how sexy his voice was. It seemed unfair that one person would have almost everything, more money than most people could ever dream of having in a lifetime, a handsome face, a tall and muscular body, beautiful eyes, and then to top it a voice that could get you off just by saying a few words. Maybe that was why his personality was so unlikeable. Nothing about his attitude was attractive.

"What can I get you, sir?" Maybe he would go away if I pretended to not know him. "Piece of shit..." the words rang in my head as I raised my eyes to meet his. They were cold and filled with what I could only figure out to be anger. If he was so angry, then why was he even here?

He did not answer me, his eyes just roamed my face searching for 'God knows what' I found it creepy, and most of all, I did not have time for any of his shit.

"Excuse me," I snapped my fingers in his face, and he seemed to come back to reality, "this piece of shit has somewhere to be, so you either make your order or move,"

"I came for you," he finally said.

What a joker. I looked behind him, to the wall clock, I had just 5 minutes left to leave this place. "I'm sorry, we don't have any beverages called 'you' Would you like to try out our coffee latte, we improved the formula recently," I said without missing a beat.

His perfect cut-glass jaw ticked, and I could see a hint of annoyance —good. "Can you cut it out, you know exactly what I mean, so quit the show. I need to talk to you." he was almost yelling.

I glared at him, " a smart person would have realized by now that I did not wish to speak to them, so do not blame me if you are not that smart."

Before he uttered another word, I looked over to my colleague at the other end of the long counter. She had been smiling sheepishly since he walked in, and I did not need anyone to tell me that she was already developing a tiny crush. He seemed to have that effect on women, me for example, I almost drooled the first time I saw him in person.

Lucas looked at me with confusion as I called her. "Sally, please, can you come over?" she was on my side of the counter in a second.

"What can I do for you?" she said, batting her eyes at Lucas. If they were not standing so close, I would have rolled my eyes.

Sally and I were not best of friends, her shift started just before mine ended. And I could count on one finger how many times we had had a conversation since I started working at the Cafe. So I could understand the surprise and excitement on her face when I told her she could serve the handsome customer that seemed to be interested in her. I lied.

He had a mixture of anger and frustration on his face as I handed him over to her, like a child. I felt a twinge of guilt for throwing Sally under the bus like that, he looked like he was ready to vent out all the anger he was feeling on her. But as Celine would say, 'you gotta do what you gotta do for you."

As I entered the staff changing room, I tossed the Grey apron on the Silver hanger and changed to my top. If I was lucky enough, Sally would be able to hold him off until I entered the cab. I put the cafe t-shirt into my locker and picked up my purse, then locked it and headed out through the back door for staff.

But as my awful luck would have it, along with the warm July air, I was greeted by a smug grin on his face the moment I stepped out.

"Who did I offend to deserve this," I muttered to myself as I walked to the parking lot. I thought of making a run for it, but my average legs would do nothing compared to his long legs. Also, why did I have to be the one to run away, I didn't do anything wrong.

He leaned on his car, looking as casual as I had ever seen him in his Jean and T-shirt that hugged his body perfectly and flaunted his muscles. My mind flashed to the dream I had of him. It seemed like a distant memory, and I had been too upset to think about that. When it came to Lucas Maxwell, I only had one thought. He was a major asshole.

"Can we talk now, or will you keep being childish?" he asked as I approached the car. He held two cups of coffee in his hand and held one out to me like it was a peace offering. I looked down at the coffee like it was poisoned, then looked back at him.

"One advantage of being me," he continued, "is that you could get anyone to do whatever you wish without stressing."

Still so puffed up. Celine was right, he really was an arrogant prick. I checked the time on my watch, I was already late for the hotel. "What...do ...you... want..." I asked through gritted teeth. How did he even know where I worked? I wondered, but that seemed like a dumb question, given that his sister was here yesterday.

"I came here to offer you the job back," he said, withdrawing his hand after I did not take the coffee he offered. Good, now he knew how that felt.

"Oh, how sweet," I put up a fake smile and took a few steps closer to him, "well, you can take your job and shove it up your ass," I said sweetly.

He looked surprised at my words, and he straightened up, looking away. He was quiet for some time, and I wondered if he had finally gotten the message. His face twisted into a dark expression, a mixture of pain and anger, and for a second, he almost looked vulnerable. But it left as quickly as it came. In a moment, his unreadable expression was back.

"Look," he started, "the day we met was not a good day for me. I was having a really bad day.

"So that makes it okay to vent it all out on someone you barely even know?" I asked.

"I should not have said it the way I said it,"

So he actually thought it was the way he said it? How dumb. "You really think it was about how you said it?"

"What else could it be about?" he shrugged, his cold, emotionless eyes betraying his mock confusion.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Mr. Maxwell, I have somewhere important to be. I will not be accepting your job offer, so please find someone else. Having said that, please excuse me."

His face was still unreadable as I turned to leave. But I had to clear up one more thing before I left. I turned back to face him, "Also, if you follow me or come here again, I would call the cops and tell them the famous Lucas Maxwell is stalking me. I'm sure you would like that very much.

Without giving him a chance to reply, I hailed a cab and left.

I arrived at the hotel almost thirty minutes late, so I did not get the chance to work with Celine. I decided I would talk to her when we finished. Sometime past midnight, I finished with the last room I had to clean and headed down to change and check out. I met Celine in the locker room.

"Hey stranger," I greeted her with a smile as I strolled into the locker room.

"I thought, you'd never show gal," she said as she put on her dress' "what took you so long?"

I walked to my locker and opened it. "The asshole showed up."

"Liar," she said with her eyes wide. "you didn't let him walk over you this time right?"

"Hell no. His sister came to the cafe yesterday, and she asked me to take the job back." I was really going to take the job again if he had not come and made things worse today. "She looked really sincere, and I ended up promising to reconsider my decision."

"So did you?" Celine would flip if she heard that I took the job back.

"Honestly, I wanted to, I hate that the kids have to be sad. But, his presence today ruined everything. Can you believe he said and I quote," I put my hand up and did a quote sign in the air "'I should not have said it the way I said it,'"

"I swear I should have been there. I would like to have a small chat with him." I would have believed she meant a literal chat if she did not have that mischievous grin on her face.

"The last person you had a chat with, you almost broke his nose." I laughed as I folded my uniform into my locker.

We finished changing and headed back to check out.

Later that evening, I walked to the bus stop after saying goodbye to Celine. Thoughts about how to get a new job filled my head. I needed money desperately, and Baron had sent a message that he would be visiting sometime this week. And that was not good news at all.

A few months ago, I had lost my job at the bar where I worked, then I became sick with no health insurance. At the same time, I met Baron. He ran an agency—I found out later that it was illegal— where he gave loans to people who urgently need money. Now, does that not sound like such a great man that helps people when they are in desperate need of cash? Well, wait until you hear about the interest rate.

Every month, I had to pay 3000 dollars to Baron for eight months. I knew he was bad news when I took the money from him, but I had no other choice at the time. I started making the payments two months ago, and it had drained me financially. But I still had four more months to go, with just my two jobs that were barely doing anything to cover my bills.

The next payment was due to be made a few days ago, but since I did not have the money, I ignored Baron's constant calls, only to wake up to a text from him saying he would visit me soon. The last time he said that he sent one of his goons to threaten me, and the visit ended with me on the floor with blood rushing down my face.

Before my experience with Baron, I thought loan sharks who came to your door to threaten you and used force to get their payments only existed in movies, but I had to learn a hard way that they were real.

I got off the bus and strolled down the road that led to my house. The streets were eerily quiet as usual. Sometimes I wondered how I was able to walk these dark and quiet streets fearlessly every single day. Maybe all those long nights in the dark detention room at the foster home did pay off. Then there was the fact that I never went anywhere without a taser or pepper spray. Celine had taught me to have those handy at all times. Also, other than a few weird neighbors and some naughty kids being kids, it was a peaceful neighborhood.

But tonight was different. I had the creepy feeling that someone was following me. I tried to just shrug it off, but it was not going away. I cautiously dug my hand into my purse and brought out the taser. With my hand on the start switch, I looked over my shoulder to find nothing.

"Maybe I'm just being paranoid," I thought and entered into the complex. But as I climbed up the stairs leading to my apartment, I realized I probably wasn't. The light shining in my living room was enough proof. I never leave my lights turned on. With my other hand, I took my phone from the pocket of my black jean.

I could hear faint laughing from inside my apartment. Fear crept up my spine as I recognized the mean sarcastic laugh almost immediately. I touched the scar on the left side of my head, it had almost healed completely, but it was still a vivid reminder of how evil that laugh was.