Chapter 8: It's a Date

“I don’t understand.” I frowned. 

“What?” Archer asked. 

“I thought you hated me.” I looked at him. 

He rolled his eyes, not even giving me a glance as he kept reading the file in his hand. 

“I just don’t like you.” He told me as he flipped a page. He looked up at me. “There’s a difference.” He looked me right in the eyes before going back to reading his file. 

“I think that I am dreaming.” I whispered. 

“Don’t make me change my mind about this!” He said in a monotonous voice. 

“I won’t!” I quickly spoke up. “I’d avoid you till it’s time to leave! I swear.” I got up from my seat and turned around to walk out the door. 

“Actually, I was hoping to go to the pizza place now.” He closed his file and turned to me. “And you’re coming with me.” He ordered. 

“Yes, sir!” I answered, not wanting to upset him. 

Apparently, Archer was just here for some work. This huge mansion-like place wasn’t his headquarters. It was just a new… smaller place for his men. 

They were all just here to get things in motion here. 

And now that the things were good, they were leaving this place. 

And he told me that I would be joining him at the headquarters… 

EEEEP!

This actually meant that this place was just going to have that other guy who worked with me and Lucas, whose name I still didn’t know, as a hacker… 

But on the brighter side, I was finally going to become a part of their… group. 

I still wasn’t ready to believe that the mafia people would actually hire someone like Lucas, the naïve child, to be part of their group. 

“Pizza?! I am in too!” Lucas exclaimed from the door as he rushed inside. “Where are we going?” He asked as he looked from me to Archer. 

“You’re not coming.” Archer told him plainly. 

“Why not?” Lucas frowned. 

“Because they’re going on a date, you dummy!” Thea chuckled as she reminded us of her presence in the room. She was sitting in the corner on the couch. 

“We’re not going on a date!” I quickly told her. 

I couldn’t date this intolerable piece of god-made art! 

I mean, sure, Archer’s handsome. But he’s also very arrogant and bossy! 

And he’s my boss… 

The bossy boss… 

The super bossy boss!

And besides, he’s 23 and I’m still 18. He would never even think of me as someone he can even think of going out with. 

And I’m a proud bitch who won’t even try to date him when I know it’s not going to happen. 

And I don’t like him that way. He might have the looks but he’s not my type.

“If you’re not going on a date, why can’t you take Lucas with you?” Thea smirked as she got up and walked over where we were standing.

“Don’t ask me! I am not the one who said no to him!” I defended myself. 

Thea, Lucas and I turned to Archer to find him looking at me with amusement on his face. 

“I’m waiting for you in the car at the front door.” He said, looking at me. He glanced at Thea and Lucas’ questioning looks before turning back to me. “It’s a date.” He smirked before he left his own office. 

Wait… Did he just… 

What?! 

“What?!” Lucas, Thea and I yelled out together as our minds finally processed what he had said.

“I am not dating him!” I told Thea and Lucas before I ran to the front door. 

As much as I would have loved to take them with me and drill Archer for questions as to why he said what he said, I knew exactly why he did it. 

He knew that I didn’t want to upset him now since he was taking me to the headquarters.

He was annoying me. 

And he was enjoying himself… 

“I hate you!” I told him as I sat in the car with him. 

“The feeling’s mutual.” He told me as he started driving away from the mansion. 

I frowned as I turned to him. 

He had a smug look on his face as he focused on the road ahead. 

“I thought that you said that you just didn’t like me.” I tilted my head to the side. 

Archer glanced at me before focusing back on the road ahead, staying silent. 

So he does hate me! 

That explains why he’s such an ass to me and why he gives me the most soul-crushing and boring work and why he forces me to take gym class now when I managed to avoid it throughout my school years. 

He wants to torture me. But he doesn’t wanna look like the devil in front of others. 

He’s smart… 

But that doesn’t explain why he’s taking me to the headquarters… 

I mean, from what Lucas, Oliver and Thea have told me, that place is supposed to be epic! 

I’ve been told that the headquarters is full of fun-loving mafia people. And the IT department has a lot of people too so I would find like-minded people there. 

I’ve also heard that they have amazing chefs there… 

And a game room, a theatre room and a lot of other interesting rooms… 

And while all that’s of no attraction to me, a rich girl who’s seen all that way too many times, I am actually excited to be a part of this… mafia group. 

The two weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve actually smiled a real smile. Something I haven’t done in years. 

These people are total strangers to me but they are more… friendly than all the friends I’ve had in the past four years.

Well, okay, I’ve done a background check on all of them and I probably know anything and everything about them that was ever recorded digitally… 

But still… 

They’re real people. 

And I want to meet more of them. I wanna meet their friends. I wanna know them better. 

I want to have real friends… 

But why would someone who hates me, give me the chance to see the real magic? Why would he take me to a place I clearly wanna go to? 

Why is he being nice to me?

“I used to think that boys are simple creatures.” I told him. “They’re easy to read, manipulate and control. I’ve done all that with so much ease in the past four years.” I scoffed as I remembered the teens at high school. 

Those four years really made me have some serious trust issues… 

Well, to be perfectly honest, I have never trusted anyone anyway… Their betrayal was something I was expecting since the start. 

I mean, if my parents couldn’t be there or even care about me, why would anyone else do that? 

“Used to think that? Past tense?” Archer noted. He glanced at me. 

“You’re seriously making me doubt the simplicity of the male brain.” I told him. 

“I take that as a compliment.” He replied smugly, winking at me. 

“You know what that makes me wanna do?” I asked him, ignoring his words which were clearly meant to anger me. 

“What? Kiss me?” He smirked. 

I again ignored his words, trying not to let his annoying attitude affect me in any way.

“It makes me wanna dissect you like a frog and study your brain.” I told him seriously. 

“You’re a crazy girl, Mia.” He told me as he parked the car and turned in his seat to face me. 

“I take that as a compliment, Knight.” I smiled at him before stepping out of the car. 

I frowned when I saw a decent looking pizza place in front of us. 

Just like last time, it was a bit late so the place looked deserted. But unlike last time, this place surprisingly looked… clean… 

“This place doesn’t have any undiscovered bacteria and viruses.” Archer whispered in my ear from behind, making me shiver in surprise. “I think.” He added. 

He placed his arm around my waist as he led me to the shop which was still open. 

“Why is this place still open?” I asked him as we entered the diner. 

“The good thing about pizza is that it can be eaten at any given time. So this shop is open 24-7.” He explained. 

I nodded as I took a seat in the corner booth with Archer sitting right in front of me. 

“Okay, I know that I should have told you this before but I have actually had pizza before.” I said as I looked around the quiet diner. 

The diner was nothing special with a red-brick pattern on the inside and outside. 

Some pictures of different kinds of pizza hung on the wall. It was full of dark wooden furniture and a small counter with a door, probably leading to the kitchen, next to it. 

“I would have been surprised if it was any other case.” Archer told me. 

“Then why did you bring me here?” I frowned. 

“Have you had any pizza in the past few years? I mean while you were being the popular girl with the perfect body?” He asked. 

I bit my lip as I thought about how to answer the question. 

Now that is surprising… 

I think a lot. I overthink a lot too. But I don’t usually think before speaking… 

“I’m supposed to say no.” I answered. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” He narrowed his eyes on me. 

I sighed as I took in the familiar smell of pizza all around me. 

I didn’t know why but I felt like I could tell him the truth. I could tell him one of the reasons behind what I choose to make a habit of. 

“Part of the reason as to why I choose eating green veggies all the time was because salads are easier to make than real food.” I shrugged. “You know what else is easily available to eat?” I asked him. 

“Pizza.” He answered. 

I looked down at the wooden table, not wanting to see the judgement in his eyes.

“You see, I didn’t wanna use my parents money but I wanted everyone to see me as the rich bitch. I did earn a lot but not enough to have fancy clothes and everything while having a fancy chef too.” I confessed. 

“So you ate pizzas all the time?” He asked. 

“Whenever I used to feel down, I ordered pizza.” I responded, finally looking at him. “And ice-cream.” I added with a shrug. 

“What about the calories?” He smirked. 

“That’s what the super-early morning jogging and some yoga was for.” I smirked back. 

“So you actually did exercise?” He asked in shock. 

“I just didn’t do it in front of people.” I shrugged. 

“Why?” He mused. 

“Because the stereotypical high school bitches don’t do that.” I winked at him. 

“But they’re usually good at hacking? And do they all go to clubs and end up joining the mafia?” He raised an eyebrow at me, his eyes full of amusement. 

“That was all undercover work.” I tossed my hair back sassily. 

“You’re something else.” He chuckled. 

“And you are not trying to murder me.” I told him. “Because you don’t hate me, Archer Knight.” I narrowed my eyes on him.

“I already told you that.” He commented. 

“Why are you taking me to the headquarters?” I asked him the question that was burning to come out. 

“Because like you said, I don’t exactly hate you. And I think that your skills would be good for the team.” He answered simply. 

“Why do I have a feeling that you’re hiding something?” I frowned. 

Archer didn’t say anything as he kept looking at my face as if trying to solve a maths equation. 

“Are you ready to order?” A girl dressed in all black asked with a yawn as she looked down at her notepad. 

“Yeah, we’ll get the cheese pizza.” Archer answered. 

“With extra cheese!” I added. I turned back to Archer. “I feel like my boss is making me work a little too much and I need the calories to stay alive.” I glared at him. 

“You and I both, sister.” The girl sighed before she left to get our orders. 

“You do know that just for that comment, I can pile your desk up with extra work for a month, right?” Archer asked me. 

“Yeah, yeah! I still wanted extra cheese. I’ll run a mile tomorrow to burn the calories or something.” I rolled my eyes, waving him off.

“I’m going to hold you to that.” He told me. “And I’m adding extra work on your desk tomorrow for your comment.” He added. 

Great! That was exactly what I needed! 

Note the sarcasm…