Xander

4.

Harper's P.O.V

Beep... beep... beep... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...
    Ugh...
I sighed groggily as I reached to turn my phone alarm off.
    I fucking hate the open shift.
Usually, you wouldn't catch me dead waking up at eight in the morning for work, but opening was the only shift that Miranda had available for today. It took everything in me, but after a few minutes, I finally got myself out of bed.
    At least it's only a six hour shift.
After getting ready, I threw on my jacket and my no-slip shoes. Then, once again braced myself for the cold December air that I knew was going to hit me right when I opened the front door.
After opening the door, I was definitely hit with the cold air that I was dreading, but the feeling totally canceled out once I saw my car. Looking at my car made the memories from last night flood back.
    Just try not to think about it too much.
As I walked towards my car, I tried to calm myself down as much as I could. It was a terrifying experience, there's no doubt about that, but I didn't want it to take over my whole life. I mean, who really wants to spend day after day looking over their shoulder and worrying?
    I took a deep breath as I opened the car door.
Not me.
After a silent drive, I finally arrived to work.
I swear having no heat makes the car ride feel ten times longer.
Pulling into the parking lot, I saw that Miranda's car was already there.
Time to shine.
While wrapping my arms around myself and speed walking to the back door, I desperately tried to block the cold.
It genuinely felt like heaven once I walked through the back door and felt the warm air grace my skin.
After stepping inside, I went to go punch in my numbers for the day.
8:57AM.
"Hey Harper, how's it going?" Miranda said from behind me.
    "It's going," I replied, "I'm just a little tired."
"Yeah, I get that, it's been the same for me too." She replied.
    The truth is, I'm beyond tired. I've been working so much and it's really taking a toll on me, but I can't stop, not when there's bills to pay.
    Miranda and I worked for the next hour completing the opening tasks so we would be ready to open the doors right at 10:00 AM. After everything was done, I turned on the open sign, and it didn't take long at all for customers to start coming in.
"Hello, what can I get for you today?" I said to the first customers that had come inside and sat themselves down at a booth.

Xander's P.O.V

"So she hit your car, and then just left?!" Axel exclaimed.
Axel and I were on our way to the diner, that shitty ass so called restaurant where that heffer had hit my car.
"She tried to give me her insurance at first, but she fled right after I gave her the option to repay me in another way." I said, proceeding to tell the story as I drove.
Axel slowly started to smile, which then caused me to slightly smirk as well. Axel knows me very well, which means he knows that I like to stay active.
"I gave her an alternate option that didn't involve her paying me any money, but she made the choice to disrespect me. If you think about it, I actually was doing her a favor. There's no way she would've been able to pay for the damages to fix this kind of car. It would've been in her best interest to have pleasured me instead." I stated, rolling my eyes a bit.
    "Definitely, someone like her would be lucky to even lay their eyes on a car like this." Axel said, running his hand across the leather seat.
    I was so absorbed in the conversation that I almost drove by it, but I managed to step on the breaks as soon as I saw the restaurants sign.
    Frankie's Diner.
"It's this one." I stated.
    After pulling into the driveway, I noticed that there weren't that many cars in the parking lot, but out of the few cars that were there I saw a familiar Toyota Camry.
Looks like we're going to have some fun today Harper.
After parking, Axel and I got out of the car.
"Damn, you weren't lying when you said this place was a dump." Axel remarked.

Harper's P.O.V

After a few hours of working, it had died down a bit so I decided to sweep around the tables. While doing this, the bell to the door rang and I instantly looked towards it.
Piper.
My coworker, Piper had walked in. Although we didn't really talk much, I was relieved that it was her coming in. I'm going to admit I was a little on edge, but who wouldn't be after going through what I did the night before? After all, whoever that guy was knows where I work, so he could come back at any time.
"Hey Harper." She said as soon as she saw me.
"Hi Piper." I said, continuing to sweep.
I didn't really care too much for Piper, she was a good worker, but I always saw her as kind of ditzy. Inside work, me and her manage to get along for the most part, but I don't think we would ever be friends outside of work.
After I finished sweeping, there were still no new customers that had come in to serve.
I guess I can get started on some dishes.
I always liked to keep myself busy while it was slow. I never saw a point in standing around and waiting for customers to come in, that just makes the day drag on, and I hated that.
I took the broom and dustpan and headed towards the kitchen. Once I walked through the doors, I put both of them back where we keep the cleaning supplies, then started to run the sink water.
Not too long after I started doing the dishes, I heard the bell on the door ring again.
I don't think anyone else was scheduled to come in today, that must be a customer.
    I proceeded to wash the dishes thinking that Piper was going to wait the table, but just mere moments later, Piper burst through the door.
    "Oh my God, Harper! Did you see who just came in?!" She exclaimed.
I turned off the water and faced her.
    "Who?" I asked.
"He's a really rich and powerful guy, everyone just calls him Mr. Arumar." She said.
    I thought for a second.
"The name doesn't sound familiar." I said, giving a look of confusion.
    "Seriously you don't know who he is? I always thought everyone knew him because of his status, there are even rumors that parts of the government work for him too." She explained.
"What's someone like him doing here?" I chuckled.
"I don't know, but I do know that the tip is going to be great!" She said. Then, Piper excitedly skipped out of the kitchen and back to the front.
After hearing the news that Piper had told me, I couldn't help but become curious.
In the kitchen, there was a small window that the staff could see out of, but the customers couldn't see into. I decided to take a look out into lobby, but right when I did, I felt instant regret.
There standing right in front of the register was the man from last night whose car I had hit.
No... there's no way that he's the same guy Piper was talking about.
    My heart started to thump hard in my chest, so much that it started to feel painful. My legs turned to jelly, it felt like I could barely move, let alone walk. My whole body started to shake, just like it did the night before. I couldn't bring myself to do anything, so I just stood and watched.

Xander's P.O.V

"How can I help you?" A girl said with a wide smile as she approached me with menus in her hand.
    I looked at her name tag.
Piper.
    "I'm not here to eat, I'm looking for someone." I replied.
As soon as I said that her smile faded a little.
    "Oh, are you sure? It would be such an honor—"
"Harper, where is she?" I asked, cutting her off.
    "She's in the back washing dishes." Piper said, pointing to the kitchen door.
Without asking anymore questions, I instantly walked towards the door with Axel following close behind me.
    It's about time you learned who you fucked with, Harper.