“Sure, what is it?”
“Will you go down to the bakery and get us some donuts?”
“Donuts? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I just need them. Would you mind picking some up on 54th street? I think there is a little bakery there that has apple fritters. I am dying for an apple fritter, and I can't get away. Would you mind?”
Vincent was taken aback a little bit, just because he wasn't used to being asked to do things that some secretary or somebody else could do. If it would have been anybody but Nathan, he would have told him to piss off.
But it was Nathan and since he was putting so much pressure on the man and he looked like he was swamped with paperwork, Vincent agreed that he would do it.
“What place was it?”
“The one on 54th. Apple fritters. That's all you have to remember.”
Vincent felt like there was more to it than that, but he wasn't in the mood to talk to him, anymore. It was clear that they both needed a little bit of time apart. Maybe Nathan would be in a better mood if he had a little sugar in him. If an apple fritter was going to put him in a better mood, he was certainly going to give it a try.
Chapter 14
Mallory was watching the clock like always. She had come in for an earlier shift, but ended up staying a little bit later when they asked her to. She needed the extra money, because like Laura had very clearly demonstrated, she was not in the best of positions. Several times she had thought of what Laura had said. How easy it would have been to just ask for some money from Vincent. She was right. He was rich.
She wouldn't let that happen, though. Instead, Mallory was convinced that all she had to do was pick up some extra shifts and she would make up the downfall. It wasn't the best plan, but it was the only one that she had at the moment.
That meant that Laura was going to stay with Ethen for a little while after he got back from the Academy. Mallory was hopeful that she would be home before dinner, but there was still a bit of closing to do, as well as dealing with any customers that came in before then. She was ready to get home and her eyes kept going to the clock, silently willing it to move just a little bit faster.
While she was thinking about what she was going to do when she finally got off of her extra-long shift, she saw a familiar face and immediately ducked to the back room where she couldn't be seen. Her voice rose when she called to Amanda, the other girl that was working with her.
“Amanda, you really need to take this customer for me, alright?”
Amanda looked at her a little strange, and it was obviously because of how Mallory was acting. She was practically hiding herself in the back room and it wasn't like her to do something like that. Usually, Mallory was so calm, but at the moment she felt trapped and freaked out.
“Are you okay?”
“Let's just say that that guy out there is my ex-boyfriend and I really don't want to see him.”
Amanda hopped up, looking out the glass and then smiling at Mallory.
“Are you sure you don't want to? Sex with an ex is usually the best. Gets out all kinds of aggression and bad feelings. Will make you feel great. I promise.”
Mallory agreed that she didn't want to see him. She was sure. Mallory rolled her eyes at the girl’s answer. It seemed like all that Amanda thought about was sex. Her comments did not help Mallory one bit, especially when she was trying so desperately to not call attention to herself. If she would have been able, she probably would have strangled Amanda right then and there.
Finally, Amanda was no longer having fun joking about it and she said that she would go out there.
“But if some asshole comes in here that I don't want to see, you're going to have to take care of him.”
“Deal.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and listened to her coworker go on and on about how cute he was when he finally left. She didn't need to be told that, of course. Mallory already knew that Vincent was devastatingly handsome. She had been in love with him for quite some time. It hadn't happened overnight, and apparently, getting over that attraction was going to take a while as well.
***
“Nathan, you have to tell me what the hell is going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I've been getting these damn donuts almost every single day for two weeks now. When did you start eating donuts every day? I mean doesn’t that mess with your training and the results of it? I can’t see how eating fried dough every day is going to help you with staying in shape.”
“I don't know when it started. They're just good and I have had a hankering for them.”
