Chapter 5

Two Weeks Later

 

CARSON

I was glad that I knew practically nothing about him.

Not his name or where he came from, otherwise I would have hunted him down.

Just thinking about him and the way he’d fucked me away from reason in that bathroom stall, was close to driving me crazy.

It had been just two weeks, but each time it crossed my mind, I swelled with arousal, my breath quickening at the reminder of the orgasm that had raked through my body. I wanted to see him again, and sometimes the longing tormented me so that I believed that I would give anything for just another glimpse. My head shot up every time a customer came into the cafe, hoping that he would be the one, back to visit, but I was wrong each time.

That one night was all that I had offered him and all that he had agreed to take.

I didn’t know who to be more angry with—myself for my insistence or him for his nonchalance.

“The fucking bastard.”

“Who’s a bastard?” Ryan asked, and I spun around in surprise to meet the amused gaze of my younger co-worker. He was just twenty-four and intrusive as hell.

“You heard that?” I asked.

“Of course, you just cursed aloud.”

I was stunned and I lifted my eyes to the ceiling. Wow. I was losing my mind.

“No one,” I said, and went around him to escape the counter before he could pester me any further. However just before I escaped, the assistant manager appeared at the exit to the main dining room. I had tried my best to avoid her since the day I was hired as I had been irreversibly tossed onto her shit list not only for the mystery of being called back after being rejected but for the trouble I had caused with a client on the first night.

“Get the board out and write an ad for a barista outside the cafe,” she said and returned back to her office. I stared after her and sighed deeply.

Suddenly my hand was grabbed, and I was being pulled along into the hallway and toward our storage unit.

“Come with me, I’ll help you,” Ryan said, and we headed off to do her bidding.

Any form of talent in the way of making things look appealing was absent from my arsenal of skills, so I came to appreciate Ryan’s presence even more as he crafted the sign for me.

“New barista wanted,” it read.

When we finished hanging it up, the smile was wiped off my face when we walked in to see the assistant manager glaring at me. “You left your station unattended?”

I looked around at the almost empty coffee house. The few customers present had already been attended to.

“Jeremy was present to attend to them, plus we went to hang out the sign as you told me to.”

That threw her off balance for a moment, but she recovered and kept going. “All you give are excuses. You were out there for more than ten minutes. Does it take ten minutes to hang a damn board on already mounted hooks?

“I was there with her,” Ryan said but she ignored him just as I knew she would and stormed off while I turned around and sighed deeply.

“I can’t believe how she keeps picking on you,” Ryan spat but there was little to say since I knew the reason but still needed a goddamn job. The pig that attacked me had tried to get me fired claiming that I seduced him and then got him beat up in an attempt to rob him. So far, for some reason, the branch had refused to let me go.

He was a powerful attorney within the city and threatened them with a lawsuit, but when that suddenly completely shut down without another word from him, everyone was left perplexed. Everyone but Lucy, who refused to let it go, perhaps for the damage that I almost brought to her means of livelihood.

My eyes kept moving up to the clock on the brick wall beside us, the moment until 5 pm before I ended my morning shift seeming as though it would never come. But soon, I was done and out of the cafe as quickly as I could.

I was heading over to the pastel-colored cafe that had haunted me for the last couple of weeks. The coffee prices, I discovered after I had visited there a few times peeping through the window to see if perhaps he had returned, were more affordable than most other coffee shops. I was now familiar with the preppy barista, as we’d bonded over our similar gigs, but then connected even deeper upon the pact I made with her to contact me if she ever saw a tall guy with dark hair and olive-green eyes. It was searching for a needle in a haystack, but something had possessed me to try and I had listened to it.

So far there had been no news, but it was still a great little cafe to work in. That was what I told myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

♡

XANDER

 

I arrived just a few minutes before five pm as always and found a spot just a stone’s throw away from her coffee house. Simon had stopped giving me strange looks and instead also waited now for the glimpse of her that longed for. As the days passed, I could feel my self-control wearing thin.

Soon it was 5:05 pm, and my seat was beginning to get uncomfortable. Why wasn't she yet out? Another five minutes passed by and Simon’s gaze and mine crossed for the briefest of seconds through the rearview mirror. I counted to a hundred after that and when there was still no sign of her, I pushed the door open and stepped out of the car.

I put my dark sunglasses on immediately, hoping that it would in some manner make me unrecognizable. I headed over to the windows of the coffee shop and peered through them as subtly as I could. I could see some staff working but no one with blonde hair pulled up into a messy ponytail.

Perhaps she had gone home earlier today?

My heart sank at the thought but if I could hurry perhaps she would visit the pastel cafe again today and I could get a glimpse of her then. I felt insane at the thoughts that ran through my head, but I chose not to read more into it than was needed.

That one night was the most explosive I had had thus far in my life, and if the opportunity presented itself I wanted another. That was all there was to it, and I appreciated the ability to stimulate my interest to this extent.

I turned around to leave then but someone stopped me. It was a plump woman whom barely reached my mid-chest. She was dressed, I realized, in the cafe’s all-black casual attire of jeans and a golf tee, and was staring up at me with unbridled interest.

“Are you here for the job?” she asked.

“What job?”

“This,” she replied and pointed at the sign that I hadn't even noticed for a new barista.

“No I am not,” I said and began to turn away, but she wasn’t done.

“Do you want to try for it? Do you already have a job?”

I was taken aback by her question. Did I look young enough to still be working in a coffee shop? I was thirty-five years old.

She could see the confusion in my eyes and laughed my befuddlement away. “This is New York,” she said. “Nothing is ever as it seems, so I’ve learned to do away with assumptions and just ask my goddamn questions.”

“I’d like to try then,” I said to her and my response shocked the both of us.

She, however, seemed particularly delighted. “Well come on in. Do you have any barista experience or even experience with working in coffee shops?”

“I do,” I answered absent-mindedly, as my eyes ran quickly across the counter to see if perhaps Carson was still present. There was no sight of her, so I followed the woman and was told to brew a cup of coffee for her. It had been years since I had been behind the counter in a coffee shop, but it felt as natural to me as though I had never stopped; almost therapeutic. I had truly missed this. The grind of the coffee and the intoxicating smell of the dark roast; and then the drip into a cup.

I was done in no time and she seemed impressed. I however still wasn’t sure what I was doing but when she immediately offered the position to me without any further questions, I was taken aback.

“Is that all?”

She nodded.

“Alright,” I said. “When do I begin?”

“Is right now alright?” she asked.

“Sure.”

She place her hand on her chest in delight and I wondered at her excitement. “I’ll introduce you to our manager,” she said, and I followed her through the hallway that I was already familiar with.

The manager was surprised to see me, but thankfully he kept his cool until she had taken her leave. His tone was a tad nervous as he spoke to me. “What’s going on Mr. Cage?”

“She hired me,” I joked, but the smile on his face looked quite painful. “I’ll be here a very short while, and as I take businesses very seriously I won’t cause any harm to the shop.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cage,” he said.

“I do have one more request. As you know I am quite busy myself, so I can only spare the time for this in the evenings, so I would prefer the later shift.

“Of course, I’ll make sure of that.”

“Can Miss Oliveira be moved also to my shift?”

He took a few moments to consider the request. “I would have to be cautious about it otherwise it might become suspicious. Perhaps I will just swap the entire team of staff from both shifts.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I accepted the hand he extended for a shake and my employment at the Grande Cup begun.

 

 

 

 

♡

CARSON

 

“Where are you?” Ryan asked the moment I took his call, and his strange quiet tone unnerved me. It had been the second time I had received such a call from him on the same day.

The first had been to inform me that our entire crew had been moved over to the night shift which was sudden, but not unwelcome. It ensured that my brain could be put to use in the mornings on my writing instead of getting home after a long shift. The downside to that was the temptation to sleep late more often than I could afford.

“I’m crossing the street,” I said to him, pulling the phone away from my ear to check the time. I was thirty minutes early.

“I can’t see you,” he said.

“I’m not jay-walking it, you rat. I’m at the traffic light further down.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, hurry. We have a new barista.”

“That was fast,” I replied. “What’s the big deal?”

“I think I’m already in love with him.”

I was immediately amused. “Is he hot?”

I could picture him fanning himself with his fingers as he responded. “There are no words…”

“Is he gay?”

“I doubt it but that’s not going to stop me. I’ll pay him if I have to. I just cannot let this one go.”

I burst out in laughter and quickened my steps towards the restaurant.

Upon my arrival, I met Ryan already working and attending to a customer, so I hurried over to the locker room to change and was glad when I found it empty. It was a dim dingy room that no one wanted to spend much time in, so I hurriedly sat on the bench and took off my blouse. I began to search through my bag for a hair tie but found the half-eaten bar of snickers I had thrown in on my way here. I put it in my mouth, the torn wrapper poking at my cheeks and then began to run my fingers through my hair so that I could tie it up.

The door to the locker room opened but I wasn't bothered since Ryan was the only guy on our shift. “Ryan, did you remember to bring the Earnest novel you spoke to me about?”

I placed the bar on the bench and rose to retrieve my shirt from the locker. There was no response, but I heard footsteps and the clang of metal as a locker a few paces away, so I peeked out to ask why he wasn't answering me.

My brain froze, as I instead saw a very familiar face.

For the first few seconds he ignored me but then after retrieving a leather notebook from his locker, he slammed the door shut, and spared me a glance.

He exited the room and I was left staring at nothing. I could hear the ferocious pounding of my heart in my ears, and as I gradually came to my senses, I realized that my hand was still suspended in the ponytail I had been in the middle of tying up. It also occurred to me then that my cleavage was bared out for the world to see in a very ugly beige-colored bra.

My legs gave out then, so I helped myself to the bench.

Who the hell had I just seen?

 

 

 

 

♡

CARSON

 

I approached the hallway carefully. Before I could take a proper look at the counter, someone spoke behind me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

It was Lucy and the look she gave me said all I needed to know. I smiled at her and instantly left the hallway to escape any unpleasantries so early in my shift.

I had worked here for almost a month, but only just noticed for the first time today that tiles of the cafe’s floor had gold streaks in it. I walked as briskly as possible, my gaze to the ground, and headed over to the cash register to sign in.

Grateful for the first time that the counter was as long as it was, I quickly scurried over to the other end and began to keep myself busy arranging cups that didn't need arranging and checking on supplies that didn’t need replacement. I didn't even have the courage to sneak a glimpse of him because every time I psyched myself up to move my head, the fear that our gazes would meet once again overwhelmed me.

“Hey,” Ryan said to me and I jumped. I hadn't even realized when he had walked up to me.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course, why wouldn't I be?”

He craned his neck away from me. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Keep your voice down please.”

This cracked him up. “What?” he asked with a grin.

I placed my arm on his and he looked from it to my nervous eyes. “What’s going on?” He looked past me then and upon seeing the cause of my fluster, his eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. “You bitch!” he cursed.

That surprised me. “What did I do?”

He leaned towards my ears and threatened me. “Don't you dare put your eyes on him. I already called dibs on the phone earlier.”

I shut my eyes as a headache began to spread across my head at the complication and utter confusion that his presence was bringing to my life. Why was he even here? I hadn't pegged him as one who needed a job in a coffee shop to make ends meet. It was almost as though this were all some kind of dream I was engulfed in.

When Ryan, however, turned catty and slapped my hand off his arm, I confirmed that this was indeed my reality. I was now working together with the man who had screwed my brains out just a few weeks earlier.

 

 

 

♡

XANDER

 

She hadn't been able to work up the courage to look at me.

I, on the other hand, watched her in my spare moments from grinding coffee, and when I couldn't do so outright, my peripheral vision followed her movements. It was almost as though I could feel every move she took and her voice filtering over to me as she spoke to her co-workers brought memories of her groans to mind.

More memories flashed through my head. The feel of her lush breast in my palm, the wetness of her mound as I had groped it, and the sinking of her teeth between my shoulder blades to stifle her screams. My cock instantly began to swell in response, and I let it have its moment. I could barely contain my breathing at being in such proximity to her and yet unable to even look into her eyes.

I turned then at my completion of the drip coffee and after placing it on a tray headed over to them to hand it over. “This is for table 16,” I said, and she didn't turn around.

Her co-worker instantly raised his gaze to mine, but then his eyes ran down my body and widened in response to my involuntary hard on. He too seemed to lose his ability to speak.

“Carson,” I eventually called her name, and she turned around. She still couldn't meet my eyes.

“Sure,” she said and with her gaze on the cup reached out to take it from me. I turned the handle toward hers and she gazed at my fingers as though they were made of scales. The moment my hand left the handle she reached out for it, but I ensured a slight brush and what happened next I did not expect.

The cup left her hands at that slight bit of contact and down it went, splashing piping hot coffee all over the floor. A few heads turned at the sound of the crash while I jumped backward, grabbing her hand reflexively to pull her out of the way. I placed myself between her and the spill just in time and a few seconds later found her stunned olive-green eyes boring into mine.

I felt my heart skip a few beats.

“The hell! Carson,” Her co-worker cursed but I wasn’t even sure she heard him.

“Are you alright?” I asked her, and it took her a few more moments to respond. She wrenched her arm from my grasp, and I didn't miss the anger that flashed through her eyes.

“What are you doing here?” she accused.

“Working,” I answered simply.

“I need to talk to you,” she glared and turned to walk away.

“I have to make another cup first,” was my response as I headed back to the drip machine. I could feel her glare on me before she bent down to clean the mess up. I worried at how she would pick up the glass, and only then did I feel light burns on the exposed part of my lower legs. I ignored the pain and was grateful to her co-worker when he pushed her hands away and sent her to retrieve a broom.

I returned my attention to the new cup I was brewing and looked forward to our ‘talk.’

 

 

 

♡

CARSON

 

I took him back to the locker room, and the moment I confirmed that no one else was around, I turned around to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“You’ve already asked me that,” he said and leaned his frame against the metal locker. He folded his arms across his chest and upon the bulge of muscle against the dark short sleeves we were all required to wear, I felt my mouth water. His name badge read, Xander. But I refused to call him by it. I hadn’t asked because I hadn’t wanted to know.

I wanted to kiss him again and it made me furious.

“Did you…” I began but didn’t want to completely embarrass myself.

“Did I what?” The cool, deep tone of his voice gave me goosebumps or maybe it was the concern at the back of my mind of being caught at this moment by someone else.

“Are you here because of me?”

“Why would I be here because of you?” he asked, and the seriousness of his tone encouraged me to keep going. There was no trace of amusement.

“You knew that I work here.”

“And?”

I didn’t know what to say. I was aggravated but logically I had no reason to be, but it didn’t change the way I felt. So I turned around and started to leave but he caught my arm and stilled me. I refused to turn around.

“You don’t want me to be here?” he asked.

It took me a few moments to respond, my voice barely a whisper. “Why are you asking me that?” My mouth almost refused to form the next words. “Will you leave if I said yes?”

The mere touch of his hand around my arm was scalding, so I turned around and twisted my hand out of his grasp. I didn't allow him to answer my question.

“I didn’t imagine that you would need a job like this.”

“It’s New York,” he said. “Nothing is ever as it seems.”

“So you’re just a show-off?”

For the first time since I had met him, I caught him off guard. Not even my request to introduce himself to my parents as my boyfriend seemed to have fazed him. He blinked, as the corners of his lips tilted in a confused smile. “What does that mean?”

“The way you dress,” I said to him. “You don't seem like you would need to be working in a coffee shop.”

“I dress simply,” he said.

“I know that but it’s not the cheap kind of simply. For instance look at the watch on your wrist.”

He didn't even bother looking down at it. “It has a simple leather strap.”

“That watch costs almost four thousand dollars. My friend was thinking of buying this for her ex-boyfriend just a few months ago.”

“There are dupes everywhere,” he said, and I met his gaze.

“Perhaps,” I shifted my weight unto the other leg. “I don't think it would be appropriate for us to work together. If you really need this job, then I will understand. I’ll quit without any hard feelings.”

“Why would it be inappropriate for us to work together?”

“We were never meant to see each other again…”

“Why not?”

His boldness surprised me. Why was I the only one turning pink? I straightened my shoulders and replied defiantly. “You know why.”

“I truly don't,” he said.

“I only gave you one night...”

“And what if that one wasn’t enough? What if I want more?”

I wasn’t conscious of my next response. “I can only afford one.”

“Why?”

“What if I fall in love with you?” I came to my senses then. “I mean, w-what if you fall in love with me too?”

“That won’t happen,” he said with conviction and I felt the stab of offense in my gut. Anything I said from there on would be petty, so I chose to shut my mouth until I could see past the offense.

He went on. “You’re stunningly beautiful,” he said, “but what I want is very clear in my head and heart. Fucking you has been my most explosive experience yet and I didn’t expect it. Therefore I’m willing to do whatever I can to earn more of those nights with you… and if it starts to get too dangerous for either of us, we walk away.”

I scoffed in response. “That easily?”

“Yes, that easily.”

“Do you even know what love is?”

“Do you?” he sent the question back to me. I didn’t know what to say. However, those two words seemed to hold more meaning than I could begin to comprehend. Perhaps he had been hurt before or had some bad experiences with love.

I didn’t want to care, so I shook my head to clear it and rounded up the conversation. “l still think it will be difficult for us to work together.”

“You didn’t respond to my offer,” he said.

“What offer?” I retorted, and he didn't bother responding. He knew that I knew exactly what he was talking about. I lowered my gaze from his. “We have to get back to work.”

He took a step closer to me, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “You don’t want it?”

It felt as though he had touched my skin with his hands. My blood began to simmer. “I can’t afford it,” I said to him.

He was silent for a few moments, and then I lifted my gaze to see him nod his head. “Okay,” he said, stepped to the side, and left me staring dumbfounded at nothing for the second time in the same hour in the locker room.