I stare at him, hard. My jaw clenches. My pride screams to walk away. But something else… something deeper… won’t let me.
He turns to walk off when I blurt, “Nick.”
He pauses. I close my eyes, already regretting it.
“When do I start?”
He looks over his shoulder, and there’s a glint in his eyes now—something smug and satisfied—but also something else I can’t quite name.
He grins. “How about now?”
6
MELANIE
He was doing it on purpose. I knew it—felt it in my gut. He wanted to break me down, humiliate me. Like trailing behind a waitress for one night would somehow teach me how to survive in this chaos. The urge to walk out of here was burning hot in my chest, but my stepdad’s text from last night still buzzed like a hornet in the back of my brain, stinging every time I thought about it.
You know your mother and I love you very much. She thinks I spoil you, but I do it out of love. I only said I wouldn’t pay for your college out of anger. You didn’t have to leave the way you did. But now that you have, don’t expect us to come running.
Love.
I scoffed under my breath just thinking about that word. That filthy, manipulative word. People throw it around like candy, but it’s a weapon. A leash. A noose dressed in silk. Love blinds you. Weakens you. Makes you believe monsters are just misunderstood. No one wants to see the rot under the surface when they’re in love. That’s why people stay—why they get hurt. Love is for fools. I wasn’t going to be a fool anymore.
Nick flicked his hand at me from across the room, snapping me out of my spiral. I followed him, trying to match his pace. Buthis strides were too long, too determined—like he was walking through fire and couldn’t be bothered to see who he burned on the way. He shoved open a door labeled “EMPLOYEES ONLY,” and I barely stopped myself from crashing into his chest as I stumbled in behind him.
He didn’t even look at me when he said it—just flung the words over his shoulder like knives.
“Tell me, princess, what are you doing here? Hanging out with trash just to piss off daddy?”
I blinked. “What?” The words hit like ice water, dripping slowly, then freezing all at once. Where the hell was this coming from?
“If you do a half-ass job, you’re out. And I won’t lose sleep over it. You can always run home to your privileged life.”
His words hit me like a slap. No—worse. Like being gutted in front of someone who thinks you’re too spoiled to bleed.
“I need this job,” I said through clenched teeth. “More than you think.”
He laughed, bitter and sharp. “You? You need this?” He waved a hand toward the kitchen. “This isn’t some weekend gig at a yoga studio, sweetheart. This is where people hustle to survive. To feed kids. Pay rent. You think walking in here with your designer jeans and pouty lips means something?”
“If you think I’m useless, why hire me?” I snapped.
“I told you,” he said, voice flat. “I’m doing a favor.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Bullshit. How do I know you didn’t just hire me so you could stare at me all day… or torture me?”
A slow, guttural laugh escaped him—dark and full of something dangerous. It slithered into the room like smoke.
“Trust me, princess,” he said, stepping in so close I could feel his heat press against my skin, “if I wanted to torture that ass, I wouldn’t need to hire you to do it.”
My breath caught. His scent—woodsy, rich, masculine—wrapped around me like sin. I hated that it made something flutter low in my belly. Hated that it made my knees weak and my heart stutter.
“I’d bend you over that desk,” he whispered, voice like velvet over broken glass. “Have you screaming my name, begging me to stop while I spanked that pretty ass—then fucked it. That’s how I’d torture you.”
I clenched my thighs, my jaw, my everything—rage and something darkly delicious coiling inside me. I should have been disgusted. But I wasn’t. I was lit on fire.
“You don’t scare me, Nick,” I forced out.
He smiled, slow and wicked. “That’s too bad. Because I should.” His eyes didn’t waver, didn’t blink. Just burned through me. “Now—” he tossed an apron at me, “—put this on, show me what you’ve got, and try not to piss off my customers.”
