Caught In The Middle

i dont want anyone else

Sorry Kim” I murmured

“No need, Mr Pressler is refusing to be served by anyone but you” she snapped. It had been clear to me that she wanted him, so him requesting that I serve him instead of her must have felt like a betrayal to her although he owed her nothing and neither did I

“Oh, but am just a runner, am not serving” I said

“Yeah well tell that to him” she said as she walked out clearly to have her lunch.

I nervously walked back into the booth expecting to find him waiting for me impatiently and to my surprise he wasn’t there. My relief at that discovery was unbelievable, I decided to quickly clear their table while he wasn’t there, the other man who was there had long blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail and seemed to be amused by something as I rushed to clear the table before the dreaded king returned.

“Relax, you will break something” he said fighting the urge to laugh

“Oh sorry, I just need to hurry” I said

“You don’t have to be afraid of him, he has a soft spot for you for some reason” he said giving me a knowing smile

“Oh thank you?’ my response was more of a question that a statement which made him laughs hard. But his laughter ceased as soon as Marcus the king walked in. I took my tray and started walking away but was stopped by him clearing his throat.

“Sabina, give the tray to the other lady” how did he know my name, I wondered as I nodded and handed the tray to the other waitress and then taking my position.

Did he just want me to stand here like a statue and do nothing?

I was getting annoyed at this point because walking in heels was better than standing still in heels, it would be better if he gave me a chair, I thought rolling my eyes.

“Please get me water” he said not taking his eyes off me or flinching. I nodded and I ran and got him the water. When I handed it to him he slightly brushed my fingers, sending waves of pleasure and lust through my back that Goosebumps started to form. I paused as I looked deep in his eyes and found myself lost in them once more before snapping out of it and straightening myself.

“Is that all?” I asked as I cleared my throat

“No, but we will discuss that later” he said as he pulled me to sit on his lap, then he ran his fingers on my check and my body reacted in a way I couldn’t control. All my senses were telling me run the opposite direction but my body was stiff, refusing to move an inch.

“This is not what we discussed Marcus, you are to keep your hands off the girls, Sabina go and serve the other booth I will send a replacement” I was woken up from my trance by Uncle Phil barging through the doors, and I wondered what happened to his business trip. When I tried to get up Marcus pulled me back down and I fell of his lap.

“come on man, there was a mix up she wasn’t even supposed to be serving you” he said, I was shocked that my presence here was a mistake, I wonder who was to blame for my demise.

“Just let her go” Uncle Phil pleaded and I could sense the pity in his voice and guilt in his eyes. Marcus let me go and I got up, while Phil pulled me behind me as if to shield me from a monster.

“Ok I see Philip, but I don’t want anyone else” he said in a threatening voice

“Well you can’t have her” Phil said his voice turning deadly and the sweet uncle Arianna had introduced me too disappeared in an instant. And it seemed the conversation they were having was deeper than what was on the surface.

“We will see about that” Marcus said as if uttering a silent promise and turned his gaze at me

“Sabina, your shift is over get Ari and get out of here” uncle Phil said much to my relief and I nodded and as I turned to walk off I felt a hand grab me it happened so fast that when I turned around I crashed on the hard chest I saw uncle Phil restrained by another one of Marcus’s guards. My heart pounded so fast in fear as Marcus rested his hands on my waist and brushed me gently.

I was ashamed at how I found pleasure in his touch because of the way his people were treating Uncle Phil, I prayed this wouldn’t cost me my job, because God knows I really needed it

“My darling, I will be seeing you some other time... but very soon” he said seductively and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek and then let me go. I scrambled out of the booth and made my way to the locker rooms and collected my things. A second later Arianna was in the locker getting her things and I ran out as her followed suit.

“What the hell happened in there, Kim told me my uncle said our shift was over and we still had a few hours left not to mention he was supposed to be in Canada, and I was having so much fun. What the f**k happened Sabina?” she asked as we both threw our bags in the car and we got in, she waited for me to answer her question before she started the car

“Well?” she asked waiting

“It was Marcus, just drive” i sighed

“WOAH...what?’ she asked clearly shocked “what did he do?” now she was just fishing for more information

“The guy was acting like he ate some sort of spell that made him drawn to me. He couldn’t take his eyes off me and insisted that only I served him. Like he literally refused to be served by anyone else but me” I said

“Wow you mean Marcus wants you?” she asked in disbelief

“I didn’t say that, I said...” she cut me off just as I was about to repeat my statement that she had clearly misheard

“It’s obvious, and now it makes sense why Kim was so mad at you. You practically stole the spotlight from her” Arianna said chuckling

“Don’t you get how scary and serious this is? That man is a gangster, a feared one at that. The last thing I want is a man like THAT lusting after me” I said panicking as it sunk in just how scary this was

“Relax, it won’t get to that ill speak to my uncle” she said

“Speaking of your uncle, please try and talk to him I don’t want to lose this job because of that stupid man, I mean I don’t even know him” I said in a pleading tone.

”relax ill speak to him but am sure we will get less shifts from now on” she said and I felt relieved although that meant less money

“That’s a relief, can we go home now before he follows us. I just want to see myself on my bed resting” I said and she nodded in sympathy and we drove off. We were silent the rest of the way until we got outside my home. And Arianna promised to come and check on me the following day. I felt lucky that the restaurant didn’t open on Sundays and that meant I could at least forget everything that happened today.

When I opened the door it was dark inside and I knew my mum wasn’t home yet, she probably didn’t expect me to be here until later. I had brought some food for us but lost my appetite on the way home because of stressing over Marcus.

I placed the take away containers on the kitchen counter and then headed to my room and ran myself a hot bath, I needed to relax my tensed muscles. My mum got home while I was in the bathtub, I could hear her car pull in and i decided it was best for me to go to her before she came into my room.

“Hey mum” I said

“Hello to the working class” she said with a wick and i chuckled

“So how was your first day?’ she asked

“It was tiring and eventful” I said absent minded

“Eventful?’ she asked

“I...I mean it was very busy that’s all” I said quickly

“Oh ok don’t over work yourself remember you are still a senior student and your studies come first” she reminded me

“How could I ever forget you remind me every time” I said rolling my eyes and she laughed

“It is my job. So what did you bring for dinner?’ she asked going through the take away set on the table and my stomach growled in hunger.

“Yummy Chinese...is this you were serving?’ she asked as she took one and some plastic cutlery and started digging in. I nodded and did the same.

My mum went on to tell me about her day and how she was so busy she never had lunch. Her work place always had some drama going on; she called it work place politics and I found it odd that even nurses dealt with ‘workplace politics’. After we were done eating we both called it a night and went to bed. I had a missed call from Arianna so I decided to call her back

“so what’s up?’ I asked as soon as she picked up

“My uncle says our jobs are safe and Marcus was just drunk, but he wants to see us tomorrow” she said and I was flooded by relief and panic both at the same time.

“oh that’s a relief” what time does he want us to go there?’ I asked

“We will be meeting him at my place at 12am, the restaurant is not open remember” she said

“Oh yeah, that’s cool ill make sure am there in time” I said

“You better be, he said he has a meeting afterwards” she said and then hung up.

I threw myself on the bed relieved that my job was safe. I couldn’t allow Marcus to ruin things for me, I loved this new job and I was determined to keep it and impress my boss.

I had to admit though, as dangerous and deadly as he was, he was the most handsome man I had ever laid my eyes on. That was mostly because I had been surrounded by high school boys all of my life. These boys from school had never paid any attention to me the way Marcus did, he saw me as a woman not some high school girl who was once president and now ran the school paper. He didn’t even know that part of me that part of me was immature and the part he knew was very mature.

Was it luck or bad luck that such a dangerous man had shown such an interest in me...?