THREE YEARS LATER
"Catalina."
"Catalina, wake up." A few moments of silence ticked by before footsteps drew closer.
A sigh breaks the quiet, and mumbles follow soon afterward.
"Catalina, wake the fuck up!" Seconds later, a pillow collided with my back, and my eyes snapped open in surprise. I'm met with Dorian already in her work outfit, glaring down at me from my bedside. Her arms crossed over her chest as she peered down at me, her tight black curls framing her face.
"Dorian, what the fu—"
But she doesn't allow me the chance to finish before she cuts in. "I've been trying to wake you up for the past twenty minutes. Our shift starts in forty minutes." She glanced down at the leather watch on her left wrist, "Thirty-nine minutes now."
Shit.
I groaned, my cheek still pressed against my cotton pillow. The warmth of my bed feels so good. Yet I know better, and I tossed the sheets to the side, but it didn't make my departure any more bearable.
"Get up. Carlos will fire us, and you know he has a short fuse."
"I hate him so much." I chuckled dryly as I walked to my closet to get my work uniform. "He's such a creep."
"You're not the only one who hates his guts," Dorian said with a sly grin as she leaned against the door to my closet. She shook her head, letting a few moments of silence pass before she continued. "You know, one time, I even walked in on him jacking off in his office." Her tone was light.
That stopped me in my tracks.
"Shut the fuck up."
"Yea." She shrugged, confirming her words before her lips pulled into a tight grin. "His face went pale the moment his eyes landed on me like he had seen the devil himself. He closed his laptop so quickly too. Honestly, that's how I got that 1,000 euros bonus on my December paycheck." She smirked, her freshly painted blue nails tapped against the doorway to my closet in thought. "He begged me not to tell, and that's why he's a little nicer to me whenever foot traffic gets heavy in the cafe too." Her left hand rested on her hip, her opposite hand tracing light lines over the doorframe.
"Holy shit. That must've been so traumatizing." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Mhm. Don't make me think of it." She shook her head, cringing at the repulsive memory. "I feel bad for any woman who gets in bed with him because they'll be in for a disappointment," she concluded.
"He thinks the world of himself, while those who struggle he thinks lowly of. His attitude is shitty when he's not even half of the person he's delusional enough to think he is." I shook my head, grimacing at the memory of him.
He had beady eyes, mousy hair, and a bulging belly. Not to mention an almost constant scowl on his face that made it hard to believe he was only thirty. Even when it came to looks, it was hard to believe Carlos was his mother's son. The two were nothing alike.
"I don't think anyone wants to touch him." I reasoned with a soft smile. A small part of me felt awful for badmouthing Carlos because I believed everyone is deserving of love, but he was horrible.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I playfully punched Dorian's shoulder. "We could've laughed about it over the holiday break." I glanced at the alarm clock on my nightstand.
7:25 am. The digital clock screen flared in red lights. Our shift started in 35 minutes.
I waved her off. "Go get something to eat and wait in the car. I'll be down in a couple of minutes."
YOU ARE READING
PENTHOUSE 521
Romance[18+ ONGOING & SLOW UPDATES] "Be careful with the games you play," he added. His voice slashed the silence underlined by a lower, ominous tone. A warning. Did I even hear him correctly? What were all these new sides Niccolò had shown me tonight? I t...
