Chapter 1

VIOLET

“Here you go,” I told the table as I set their order down.

I didn’t miss the way that the guy’s eyes drank me in, and I found myself once again cursing Greg for choosing these uniforms. I had absolutely no idea why we had to have skintight uniforms that put our assets on display. It was degrading, especially when the customers were constantly undressing us with their eyes.

The woman sitting next to him shot me a death glare because of the idiot’s shameless display. It wasn’t my fault that he couldn’t control his gaze. Sure, blame me for his bullshit.

“Thank you,” he said, flashing me a grin.

There was something in his gaze that unsettled and irritated me, but I had to push that aside. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the luxury of telling customers to fuck off no matter how much I wished to do just that.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy your meals,” I said before turning on my heels and leaving.

I hated this job. The hours, dealing with ridiculous bullshit from customers, and the lack of respect found here were all negatives. I couldn’t just quit no matter how much I wanted to. Money was a necessary part of life. It was a fact that truly sucked.

The pie stash was running low, so I started restocking it. These were actually my own recipes, which made a pretty penny. If the past six months of employment here taught me anything then it was that people enjoyed the good shit. That was precisely why I made them fresh every single day. I couldn’t even remember the last time that they didn’t sell out.

“I received a complaint against you from a customer. She claims that you were purposefully flirting with her boyfriend in front of her,” Greg said from behind me.

Laughter wanted to escape, but I shoved that reaction way down because it would do me no good.

The boldness of that bitch! I had no idea why I was even surprised. Perhaps she should’ve been more worried about why her boyfriend WAS purposefully gawking at me as if imagining what I tasted like.

“That isn’t what happened at all. I was professional. She was pissed off that he was checking me out, but I didn’t encourage him and left immediately once they had their food,” I explained, feeling the need to clear my name.

I turned around to face Greg and was startled by how close he was to me. He had a knack for pushing his female employees’ buttons, believing that he was God’s gift to womankind. I could attest to the fact that he was anything but that.

I took a step backwards, but he reclaimed that step. I tried moving back again but bumped into the counter. I did my best to remain calm, but there was something in his eyes that made me nervous.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve heard complaints about you trying to seduce the customers. I’ve seen the way you parade around in that uniform. Can’t fault you for using your impressive tits and ass to rake up those tips.”

My eyes were blown wide at his words. What a disgusting pig! How could he say shit like that?

I could feel my heart thumping away and was gaining power with each beat. I had never been in this exact situation before, but even I could recognize the precariousness of it.

A dull ache began forming at my temples. The pressure continued to grow with each passing second. The look in his eyes, mixed with the way that his body was caging me in, made me feel really vulnerable. Vulnerability was something that I hated to feel.

I had spent years being a literal and metaphorical punching bag for Ron, my stepfather. It was either me or my sister, and I refused, fucking refused, to allow him to harm her. I was tired of everyone thinking that they could do as they pleased, and I would just have to accept it.

“Move away,” I said through gritted teeth.

A smirk formed on his face in response. Instead of moving backwards, he took another step forward.

The pressure increased until it felt like my head was going to explode. I gritted my teeth in a futile attempt to stop it from worsening.

I thrusted my hand outwards to push him away from me. It felt like something inside of me exploded the moment that my hand touched him. Greg’s body flew backwards, hitting the wall behind him.

My body was shaking just as much as my hands were. What in the hell just happened?

Greg groaned as he climbed to his feet. There was wariness in his eyes when he looked at me. That was wiped away, leaving nothing but fury in its place when he looked around and saw everyone gawking at us. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that he was embarrassed.

“My office, now,” he barked at me.

Jasmine, one of my coworkers, came over to make sure that I was okay. There was unmistakable worry in her eyes when she warned me to be careful with Greg. That warning didn’t help to settle my nerves at all.

I took a steadying breath and knocked on the open door, waiting to be called inside.

Greg was leaning against his desk and observed me for a minute, making me even more uncomfortable. There was a glint in his eyes that I couldn’t identify but knew that I didn’t like.

“Regardless of what you believe happened with that customer earlier, this is a serious issue. Our business relies on happy customers, and she’s definitely not happy at all.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “Perhaps we can come up with a compromise.”

My stomach twisted when a smirk tugged at his lips and knew that it wouldn’t be a compromise that I’d willingly take.

“You’re a stunning woman, Violet. Stunning women like you are the best lays there are. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll forget about the complaint entirely and your assault on me. All it’ll cost you is one blowjob. I’ll even be kind enough to give you a bonus on your paycheck.”

My jaw dropped at his audacity. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any worse, I was just proven wrong. What a disgusting fucking pig!

How many times had he propositioned people before? Did Jasmine have some inkling about what was going to go down and was actually the source of her concern?

“I’d never do that. How could you even suggest such a thing?”

His eyes narrowed into slits. Arms crossed over his chest, clearly trying to intimidate me. He had another thing coming if he thought that I would ever cower to him or allow him to instill even an ounce of fear into me. I was stronger than that. At least that was what I told myself.

“It’s either this or you can kiss this job goodbye. I don’t need you, but I know that you need this job. How else are you going to pay your bills?”

A sleazy grin found its way onto his face, thinking that he had me backed into a corner. As if!

I untied my apron and tossed it at his feet, catching him off-guard. He looked completely taken aback by my actions. Had nobody ever denied him before? I found that difficult to believe.

“You’re wrong. I don’t need this job when I can find a dozen more that actually understand the concept of respect. So, this is my formal rejection of your so-called compromise. You can take it and shove it so far up your ass that it gets stuck.”

I ripped the door wide open and left Greg standing there like an idiot. I slipped into the back to grab my things, wanting to be as far away from this place as possible.

A hand painfully grabbed onto my arm and turned my body around. I had never seen Greg look so damn furious before. It was the same look that Ron had in his eyes whenever he decided to use me to release his misplaced anger. The only difference was that I didn’t have to protect my sister here. Therefore, I didn’t have to take whatever Greg dished out. I was in control here.

“It’s cute how you think that you get the last word, you worthless whore,” he spat.

“A WHORE IS PRECISELY WHAT I’M NOT. YOU PROPOSITIONED ME TO MAKE ME GIVE YOU A BLOWJOB OR YOU’D FIRE ME. I QUIT BECAUSE I WOULD RATHER LOSE THIS JOB THAN MY DIGNITY. LET GO OF MY ARM. YOU’RE INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO HARM ME,” I shouted out loudly so that everyone would hear.

If this was a cartoon, he would have steam coming out of his ears right now. Ah, poor little Greggy shouldn’t have crossed me because I would happily watch his business burn down all around him while roasting marshmallows over the open flames of disaster.

His hand was raised in the air, poised to strike me. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been hit before. However, I would fight back even if it ended up with me getting the shit beat out of me.

“Touch her with that hand, and I’ll gladly break your wrist,” a guy spoke up.

We both looked to the side and saw who spoke up on my behalf. Objectively, he was handsome alright. Curly black locks, dark brown eyes, and an olive complexion. It was the look in his eyes that was the focal point though. If looks could kill then Greg would be deceased twice over.

Greg jumped away as if my mere presence burned him. He turned on his heels and stalked back into his office, slamming the door behind him.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and flexed my fingers.

“Thank you,” I told him. His eyes dropped down to where I would no doubt have bruises soon. “I’m Violet.”

I held my hand out to him. He gave me a reassuring smile and shook it.

“Nice to meet you, Violet. I’m Niccolò. Are you going to be okay?”

I nodded my head even though I was not certain if I would be or not. Greg was correct when he said that I needed this job. The money that I got paid helped to keep Ron off of my case enough to leave Daphne and me alone for the most part.

Niccolò’s phone began ringing, so I thanked him once again and took my leave.

Today was not going my way at all…

My own phone began ringing as I walked home. A bad feeling took hold when I saw that it was my sister calling me.