CARLY
Rome just took us to one of the famous restaurants in town. Without a reservation. I knew he was a billionaire and could have anything at the snap of his fingers.
I didn’t want this to get into my head. But he could have just bought me a chicken sandwich at the food stall, and I could eat it. Not in the finest restaurant as if we were on a date in the middle of the day.
I stood there in front of the restaurant blinking in surprise. If this were those old days, this would be appropriate with a six-course menu, but today, it was not the case.
“I’m not sure I can dine here. Why don’t you go, and I’ll call a cab back to the office.” I stiffened as he placed a hand on my lower back.
“You will have lunch with me, or you’re fired,” he whispered with a hiss.
When he threatened my work like that, it left me no choice but to comply.
Once we entered, the staff took our coats off. “Mr. Langston, welcome back. Miss, welcome.”
Now I got it. He was a regular.
We climbed upstairs, probably for VIPs. Rome assisted me to sitting.
“Thank you. A greasy burger is fine by me. But do you eat greasy burgers, sir?”
I couldn’t help but glance at those bulging biceps through his suit. He looked rough, rugged, and handsome despite wearing a well-tailored dark gray suit. To be honest, Rome was yummy, even in his growing stubble.
“I eat in diners, Storm. I eat in a lunchbox. I ate MRE.”
“I don’t mean it like that.”
“I take you here not to impress you.” Of course not. Why would he? I forced myself not to roll my eyes. “My mother owned this restaurant,” he dismissed.
I blinked away the pang in my chest, and we fell into silence until the staff came with the menu.
“The usual for me. For her too.” He didn’t even give me a chance to choose my meal, which was uncalled for. But I was just his assistant, and I was still at work, assisting my boss with his daily plan. And who would pass a free meal?
When the waitstaff left, silence fell again.
I kept my hand folded on my lap until he cursed under his breath. I followed where his gaze pinned at. He then rose from his chair, and so did I.
“Mom.” Mom? Well, this was going to be more awkward than it already was.
“Honey.” A beautiful woman around her fifties beamed at him, and he kissed her on the cheek.
“What are you doing here?” Before his mother could reply, Rome smiled, laughed, and shook his head in amusement. He actually smiled and laughed and would have a great laugh and smile if he was not brooding all the time. In fact, he had a great set of pearly white teeth.
Rome looked at a young black man in his early twenties.
“Hey, bro.” He hugged him, clapping the young man on his shoulder.
They were brothers.
“I’m surprised to see you here, bro.”
“Me too. What are you two doing here?”
“What are you doing here, Rome?” his brother rephrased, letting out a laugh.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to this young lady?” his mom asked, and I wished I had escaped before they noticed me. Places like this were what I was supposed to avoid at all costs, but my boss gave me no choice.
So far, I have had luck, but I may run out of it one day.
He sighed as if he was bored.
I got it. Why would he waste his time introducing his employee to his family? “Mom, this is my new assistant. Carly Storm.”
“Are you sure?” His mom’s gaze bounced between her son and me, eyes filled with humor. “She’s not your date?”
I chuckled. “I’m his new assistant, Mrs. Langston. Your son is telling the truth.” I held my hand out. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, ma’am.” I was trained in etiquette since I learned how to walk, and meeting people of different social statuses was easy as pie. But of course, you couldn’t avoid messing it up once and a while.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Storm. So you replaced Florian.”
“Yes, ma’am. I can’t ever replace Florian, but I will do my best to be your son’s assistant.”
“I’m Rune.” The brother extended his hand.
I shook it and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, Rune.”
“I’m turning twenty-one in a few months. You’re single, right?”
I smiled. “Oh, yeah? Advance happy birthday, Rune.”
“Bro, she’s out of your league. And give her hand back.” Rome’s expression changed.
“Fine.” Rune shrugged.
“I don’t wanna interrupt your lunch. We should be going. Honey, come and visit me sometime.” Mrs. Langston kissed her son on the cheek again.
I wished I could unsee the sadness and longing in her blue eyes.
“See you at home, bro.”
“Let me send you to your car,” he suggested.
“Drop it. Have lunch with the pretty lady, honey.”
“Bye, Mom.”
We sat back at our table. Rome couldn’t meet my eyes anymore.
“I don’t mean to intrude. When was the last time you visited your mother?”
“Don’t go there.”
“My apology, Mr. Langston.”
The meal was good. The ambiance was pleasant, and the wine was at its finest, but my mood soured. Watching Rome in so much pain reminded me of my brother as he watched me walk away from them.
Rome was in deep agony, and it had nothing to do with his father’s death. There was something more.
***
Before I closed the door of his office, I looked at him. “You don’t know me. We don’t know each other. I’m just one of your thousands of employees. I signed an NDA. If you wanna talk about-what do you call it? BS? I’m here. You know it wouldn’t hurt to talk about shit to a stranger. It is better than not talking at all.
His glare alone could make holes into my skull. “Get the fuck out.”
“You’re the boss.”
I focused my whole afternoon on work. I transferred his calls, set his schedules and meetings, and did as he asked without questions. I behaved like a good little assistant to a scary tarantula behind the wall.
After I was done typing my resignation later, just in case, I knocked softly on his door before pushing it open. He was working on his laptop.
“Mr. Langston, if you don’t need anything, I’m off for today.”
“Go.” Just one word, and he didn’t even lift his gaze from the freaking computer.
“Night, Mr. Langston.”
***
“What’s with the long face? And you don’t eat chips.” Heera eyed me suspiciously as she joined me on the couch.
I grabbed a handful from the bag and shoved it into my mouth. I got why people were addicted to crisps, and I was caught up with the epic fantasy show on tv.
“Why do people enjoy watching a gruesome and cruel show like this? I mean, the fact that it involved incest, even if this is just fiction, what’s the moral lesson there? What’s with the obsession with this trope anyway?”
“Maybe people want a change from vampires with abs and crazy hot witches or erotic movies about hot mafias. I mean, come on, is there a hot mafia? Corleones are not even attractive. They killed people to grow their criminal empire.” She moved close to me. “But I’m not here to talk about what you are watching. What’s wrong?”
I didn’t even know who she was talking about. I put the bag of crisps on the coffee table and dabbed the crumbs off my PJs. “I wanted to give my boss a black eye. One moment he was kind and friendly, then suddenly, he was being a neurotic sociopath. I even wrote my resignation.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Oh, I’m considering it.”
“People deal with their problems differently. Some talks it out or uses a punching bag, some drinks it out, use sex with BDSM, others may choose to keep it to themselves.”
“But that doesn’t give them the right to treat people terribly because they pay us to do their shits.”
Heera barked out, laughing. “Did you just say shits? Oh, my God. You did not learn that from me. I swear. I’m a good person.”
“I don’t wanna die young from a heart attack. I still want to see and hug my brother. If I work longer for that douchebag, I might end up in a morgue at thirty.”
“Calm your horses. I think I know what you should do.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I raised a brow at her. “What evil idea you have in mind, Heera?”