The offer

CHAPTER THREE 

Marie's POV 

It was bad enough that I was walking around serving tables with tears threatening to drop off my eyes, and with Brandon constantly cussing me out. 

I didn't want any more troubles for the day. 

But Ryan fucking Cole did not stop looking in my direction once he saw me. 

Brandon came to me as I stood behind the counter preparing the order of a customer.

“Listen, girl,” he said in that ugly voice of his, “There's something more important you're going to have to do now.”

“I'm preparing an order, Bran. Unless you want some woman screaming down this place, then there's nothing more important than this order I'm preparing.”

Brandon was looking at me, his mouth open.

“Where did you buy the guts to talk to me that way?”

“I'm just saying…”

“Don't get into a fight with Brandon now, Marie,” Nancy said from behind. I didn't realize she was back on duty. 

Right after fucking my boyfriend, she was telling me what to do.

“Fuck you! You cheap ass whoring bitch!” I screamed at her. Good thing the customers couldn't hear us once we were behind the counter.

Because right then, I turned around, going off straight to her. I was blind with rage, but Brandon was done being too stunned to move. 

He grabbed my hand with his fat one and pulled me back. 

“Marie! What's this madness? Are you totally mad now?”

“Bran…she was literally…”

“For that show of animosity, you've just lost two hundred dollars of your payment.”

“What?!”

“You know you can't be acting mad around here without paying for it. We have some high class men in this bar now and you want to fuck up our chances of impressing them?”

Of course, the high class men he was talking about was Ryan Cole and the other man he went almost everywhere with. 

I'd seen Ryan Cole too many times on TV and seen him in magazines to not know who he was.

Billionaire. Privileged man who was a force in the financial world. 

“So you're taking my money, Bran? You don't even know what she did or why I've been mad all afternoon.”

“Knowing why you're mad is not part of my job as your manager, Marie. If you're going to make me stop calling you an incompetent bitch, you're going to have to work extra hard to prove yourself.”

“You don't even pay me well enough to comfortably handle my bills. I do my best and yet—”

“They're calling for you, Marie,” Brandon interrupted quickly. 

He was wearing that plastic smile he usually wore when he wanted to impress clients like the ones who were now looking towards the counter. Ryan Cole and his friend. 

“Ryan Cole wants you to serve his table. You're going to go there and get their orders and you're going to attend to them with the right attitude.”

Why were they calling for me? 

Oh god. How bad could this one day get?

“I'm trying to get this order out,” I tried to argue. 

“Nancy will get it. You just hurry along.”

Tears had started to form in my eyes again. 

I had just lost two hundred fucking dollars of my pay and I couldn't even afford my rent.

I walked to the table in a daze. I needed to find a safe spot and cry my eyes out. 

The day kept getting worse by the hour and I couldn't wait for my shift to be over. 

“Good afternoon, Gentlemen,” I greeted in my hoarse voice once I reached the table. 

I would not lie. Ryan Cole was probably the first man on the list of Glendale's most eligible bachelors. 

He was tall and lean. So well toned that one could see the contours of his back and his arms and even his thighs through his suit. 

And that suit probably cost more than everything Brandon ever owned. 

More like, everything I'd ever touched. 

He had a slight frown on his face and his friend had a bright smile on his face. 

“Good afternoon, Miss,” the friend greeted. “My name is Pete, what's your name?” He asked. 

Okay, that was not usual. Customers didn't ask for names here and we didn't wear uniforms that carried our names on them, why was he asking?

And why was Ryan Cole frowning?

If he left me a bad comment or review, I would probably be losing my job. 

“My name is Marie,” I said, facing Ryan Cole now and forcing a smile. 

“He's going to get the order,” he said stiffly, as if ordering me to get my attention back to Pete. 

“What's the most expensive wine you have?” Pete asked. 

“Lundois, eighteen thousand dollars.”

“He didn't ask for the cheapest,” Ryan cut in. 

I blinked. 

Eighteen fucking thousand dollars sounded like ‘cheap’ to him?

“I didn't mention the cheapest sir,” I said calmly. 

“Let's have Lundois,” Pete said. 

I walked off to go and get the order. My legs were trembling slightly because I knew the brooding Ryan Cole had his eyes on me. 

Once I got back to the counter, Brandon was standing there with an eager smile. 

“What do they want?”

“Lundois,” I replied dryly. 

“The last time we sold a Lundois was three months ago! Hurry, get it to them.”

I rolled my eyes before preparing the order. 

I headed back to the table. 

I placed the order and the glasses on the table, and as I bowed slightly and made to leave, but Ryan Cole's hand shot out and grabbed one of mine. 

What the fuck?

Why did my body suddenly respond to the touch, my nipples perking immediately?

“Sir….” I started to protest, warning bells going off in my head. 

“Little one, I'll pay you more than that fat fellow could ever pay you. Be my fiancee for one week.”