Page 9 of Watch Her Bleed
“Oooh. Not Mr. Russo,” Milo laughs.
“It’s just Matt,” he says, ignoring my attitude.
“Well, Matt, I have bills to pay. I don’t have the luxury of an endless bank account. Switching from a job where I get paid every day to weekly means I will have a lapse in pay. It won’t affect my work here, so it is of no consequence what I do outside of this building,” I say. He looks humored by my attitude. Matt leans forward and looks me over like he did last night and it feels like my insides are melting. I hate people staring at me but when he does it, it makes me want to touch him again. Working with him day in and day out is going to be hard if I keep wanting to touch him.
“Understand that come Monday morning, you will no longer be a server at Vita Divina. If I need to adjust your pay frequency to accommodate the transition, I will. You cannot give me your all if you are overworking yourself.”
“I’ll be fine, but thank you for your concern,” I say simply.
“It’s not a request, Aurora,” he says softly.
“Was there a section in the contract I missed?” I ask.
“No,” he says, narrowing his eyes.
“Ah. Okay,” I say “So, I will work through the week after I leave here until close. Once things even…” I stop talking when he picks up his desk phone and dials a number.
“Hi Maria… Yeah, doing well… Listen, so Aurora is starting here on Monday morning. She is planning on working closing shifts until… Oh, I know… Yeah… Here she is…” He holds the phone out for me to take and I narrow my eyes at him before taking the phone.
“Hello,” I say.
“Your last day is Sunday,” Maria says simply.
“Maria,” I sigh.
“No. Absolutely not, Aurora. Robert may have been okay with you running yourself into the ground, but I’m not. I’m taking this as your notice, so I will be taking you off the schedule starting Monday,” she says firmly. “And don’t get pissy with Matt. This is coming from me, not him. I told him this morning that if you got the job then you were to not come back after Sunday.”
“You’re annoying, Maira,” I say and Matt laughs.
“I love you too, Aurora,” she chuckles. “I care too much about you to let you do that to yourself. You’re lucky I didn’t tell Kaia your plan to work two jobs.”
“God, don’t tell Kaia. She’ll scold me,” I say. “Fine. Also, you could have told me.”
“You never would have gone to the interview if I had told you who he is,” she says.
“Yeah. You’re right about that,” I laugh. “Okay. I’ll see you Sunday morning.”
“You’re not working a double,” she says. “I’ll see you at three.”
“Fine. Bye,” I say as I hand the phone back to Matt to hang up.
“Any questions?” Matt asks.
“No,” I say.
“I’ll walk you out then,” he says with a smile.
“I know the way,” I say as I stand up and grab my bag.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” Matt says to his brothers, who look highly amused. I roll my eyes and turn to the door
“See you soon,” Luca says.
“Mhmm,” I say as I open the door and step out of the office. “I can walk myself out.”
“I’m sure you can,” he says as he presses the button for the elevator. I sigh and step in when the doors open, then step to the side, knowing he’s also getting in.
“Why were you so insistent on me working for you?” I ask.
