He could at least pretend that he was going to miss her, she thought with a little pout as she walked past him and headed down the hallway so that she could return to work when all she wanted to do was to turn around, head back to that office and kick the shit out of his shin while she read him the riot act. He might be fine with her leaving, but they both knew that he would never find another waitress like her. She was one in a million and he’d realize that sooner or-
Why was everyone staring at her? she couldn’t help but wonder as she stood there watching as several waitresses, busboys, a chef and the bartender along with Patrick were standing there, staring at her like she had two heads. Frowning, she looked down to find everything in order. Her shirt was neatly tucked in, her pants were on right and her shoes-
Oh, shit.
She’d forgotten to put her shoes back on. No big deal. She shrugged it off, because it could have been a lot worse and said, “I threw them at him,” expecting them to nod in understanding.
Patrick shot her a horrified look that she thought was a little over the top. “You threw your panties at him?” he asked, sounding horrified as she stood there, telling herself that he hadn’t just said what she’d thought he had.
She must have misheard him, because there was no way that…that…why were they all looking to her right? she couldn’t help but wonder as she reluctantly followed their gazes even as the tiny hairs on the back on her neck stood up in protest, trying to warn her that she shouldn’t look back or waste another precious second standing there. She needed to run away as fast as her still tingling legs would take her, but she couldn’t seem to move.
“You left these in my office, sweetheart,” Lucifer said, shocking her into silence as he reached around her and gently tucked the matching lavender panties that she hadn’t been able to find in her front pocket as he leaned down and kissed her stunned lips.
As he pulled away, she tried to form a coherent sentence, but the only thing that came out was the sound of choked rage. She was going to kick his ass!
He shifted his attention from her to their audience and narrowed his eyes on the terrified group. “Don’t you have work to do?” he asked in that cold tone that he was so well known for, managing to break through their shock and had them scurrying away as fast as humanly possibly while she stood there, absolutely amazed that the bastard had finally managed to beat her at her own game.
“Son of a bitch,” she said, shaking her head in awe as she found herself turning around and heading for the backstairs where the large bastard had disappeared thirty seconds after he’d fucked her over.
Chapter 38
“Son of a bitch!” he heard the lovely shout accompanied by the sound of what he assumed was his apartment door slamming shut.
“Wow, she sounds mad,” Melanie said from the next room.
“I can’t imagine why,” he drawled as he stole Rebecca’s pillow and shoved it behind his head, deciding that he might as well be comfortable during his last moments alive.
“What did you do?” the ever nosy woman asked with absolutely no shame, making him chuckle.
“Leveled the playing field,” he said, knowing that his partner in crime would understand.
“She’s going to kill you.”
“Probably,” he said, unconcerned over his impending doom.
“You!” Rebecca said, choking out that one word as she stood in her doorway, glaring at him in a way that told him that his balls might very well be in danger this very night.
“Yes, my love?” he said with a smile, simply to piss the woman off to return the favor.
“You,” she repeated, since that was obviously all she could manage at the moment.
“Is something amiss, my love?” he asked, copying that innocent expression that she’d used on him a hundred times over.
“You had no right,” she finally managed to get out.
“And what exactly didn’t I have a right to do, hmm?”
“You know what you did!” she snapped, quickly losing her temper once again and giving him such joy, because it was rather nice to see the tables turned on her for once.
“I don’t!” their audience yelled.
“The bastard just made sure that everyone downstairs knew that we were sleeping together!” Rebecca snapped with a glare to emphasize her words.
“Oh,” came the reply, which apparently wasn’t the reaction that Rebecca had expected.
“What the hell do you mean by ‘oh?’” she demanded, shifting her glare from him to the wall.
“I think they already knew,” Melanie said, making him frown, because there was no way in hell that anyone outside this little trio and his family knew about them. They’d been careful to keep a professional relationship when they were at work. There was no fucking way that anyone had found out about them.
None.
“Well,” Melanie said, suddenly appearing by Rebecca’s side in the doorway, “I believe they found out about a month ago when Patrick asked Jon to help some of the waitresses take out the trash. They spotted the two of you going at it in the truck like the sick perverts that you are,” she explained with a shrug.
“No freaking way!” Rebecca gasped, giving up on glaring at him to shoot her best friend a pleading look. “Please tell me that you’re kidding.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that,” Melanie said, shooting him a curious look while he sat there, digesting everything that she’d just said.
“And when were you going to tell me?” Rebecca demanded, reaching over to flick Melanie’s arm.
“Ow! What the hell? I just found out about it a few days ago!” Melanie snapped as she rubbed her sore arm.
They knew, had known for a little more than a month now, he realized, which meant…
“There goes your reason for quitting,” he said with a satisfied smile, because it looked like she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
*-*-*-*
“Do you think that you could ask Mr. Bradford if I could have next weekend off?” Marcy asked instead of helping her fill the salt and peppershakers like she was supposed to be doing.
“Why can’t you ask him yourself?” she asked, pointedly placing an empty saltshaker in front of the woman, who was too busy standing there doing absolutely nothing.
“Figured that I would have a better chance of getting the time off if you asked,” she said with a shrug as she picked up the saltshaker and absently toyed with it instead of filing it up and pissing Rebecca off, not only because she was once again getting stuck doing all the work, but because this was the ninth time that she had to deal with this bullshit today.
Everyone, and she meant everyone, had found a way to corner her this morning to ask her for a favor like she had some magical power to control their fate now that she was dating Lucifer. They’d hinted around for what they wanted and when that didn’t work, and it didn’t, they tried to give her some bullshit sob story to manipulate her into asking Lucifer for time off, to switch their shifts and, of course, for a raise.
When they weren’t trying to get her to do their dirty work, they were ignoring her, which was just the best time ever. Yup, there really was nothing like being ignored by the people that she’d busted her ass with for the last five years. Whenever they saw her, they would walk away, pretend to suddenly find cleaning tables and counters interesting or acted like she wasn’t there. Dating the boss was the best, she thought dryly as she popped the bottom off another saltshaker and began filling it.
“Will you ask him?” Marcy asked as she continued to toy with the saltshaker.
“No,” she said, not even bothering to explain herself as she placed the saltshaker that she’d been working on back on the table and walked away, leaving Marcy to do the chore herself because she’d had enough for one day.
She’d told Lucifer that this wasn’t going to work out, but the stubborn bastard had insisted that she give it a chance. The only reason that she’d gone along with it was that up until now, the rest of
the staff hadn’t acted differently since they’d found out. Apparently they’d been waiting for the news of their relationship to become public before deciding to pounce on her.
“Are the salt and peppershakers filled?” Adam, the supervisor who she normally avoided working with because he was an asshole, asked as she walked past him, reminding her of the other problem she’d been having today.
She’d been there longer than any of the other staff, which normally granted her the freedom to decide what needed to be done, when it needed to be done as well as working the best section in the dinning room. All those perks were gone now, because Adam, the