“You seem distracted,” my manager says, and I glance up at her from the register.
“I have some family problems,” I admit because Susie has also become a favorite person of mine over the past three years I’ve been working for her. The tall white woman with pale skin and blue eyes squeezes my arm to comfort me.
“You know you can always take the day off if you have to,” she says, and I give her one tight nod.
“I need the shift.” Because I need the money.
I don’t tell her that. I don’t tell anyone that, except Graham, and Leonard who somehow pulled it out of me. Susie simply smiles at me and then goes back to walking around the store to check for any stray books in aisles they’re not supposed to be.
The door opens minutes later, my heart stopping and shrinking from fear when I see who stepped into the shop.No.
“Chiara,” he says, and I think about running into the backroom for a moment.
“Hello, how can I help you?” Susie says instead, shifting Tim’s attention away from me. She shoots me a look, but I’m frozen in place.He’s coming to my place of work now?I shudder at the thought, at the entire situation.
“I’m here to see Chiara,” Tim informs Susie, but I take several steps away from the register.
“Chiara, would you like me to escort this man out of the store?” Susie asks, and I give her a small nod. “Sir, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave before I call the police,” my manager says, but Tim gives her a cocky smile in response.
“I haven’t done anything yet,” he says, the amusement remaining on his face.Yet.He hasn’t done anythingyet. I’m going to be sick.
“Chiara, why don’t you take a break in the back?” Susie says in Italian, her mother tongue as well, and I do exactly as I’m told without another moment’s hesitation.
“I will wait for her to return,” I hear Tim say, sending a tornado through my stomach.
He’s at my job. Tim has never sought me out anywhere apart from Mamma’s flat, but he’s here. He found out where I work and came here. I can’t fucking breathe.
“Chiara,staibene?” Susie asks when she appears in the backroom where I’ve curled into a small ball in the corner, trying to slow my panic.
“Si,” I lie because I’m anything but okay right now. Tim has taken his harassment and “pursuit” of me to the next level, and I have no idea what the hell I’m going to do. “Io sto bene, molto bene,” I add because the panic inside of me is forcing me to continue lying to ensure she believes me. Obviously, it does the opposite.
“Talk to me,” she says, switching back to English. Her hands move to my arms, but I flinch at the affection. I was too deep in thought to realize she was getting closer, too distracted to notice she’d try to comfort me like this.
“Everything’s fine. I apologize. Let’s get back to work,” I blurt out and stand up abruptly to walk back outside.
This was nothing. Everything will be fine. And if he doesn’t leave me alone, I won’t give a shit about Mamma’s stubbornness of not wanting to live with me. I will beat Tim to a pulp and drag my mother’s ass to my flat.
CHAPTERNINE
leonard
I’ve been fighting with myself for two days. Two bloody, goddamn days. Quinn looked at me like I was a completely different person when we hung out yesterday. I couldn’t bring myself to think about anything apart from Chiara working at that damnSunriseclub downtown. Not that Quinn knew what was going through my head, she merely noticed I was even quieter than I normally am. Everything’s been changing recently. I’m usually a very focused, business-oriented person. I think logically. I don’t bullshit. I sure as hell don’t think about going to a club to see if the little demon is safe there.
Yet, here I am, dressed in a button-down and dress pants, on my way to the fucking club. I’m so frustrated with myself, a groan escapes me every few minutes. Chiara can handle herself fine without me, she has for the past twenty-four years of her life. Something’s changed recently, something I have no interest in addressing. The unnerving feeling can stay in my stomach, I don’t care. I will not pay it any more attention than is absolutely necessary.
I park my car in one of the lots next to the club, noticing Chiara’s barely functioning Honda in the spot across from mine. I had to drive that car once last year and almost crashed several times because her stick-shift-shit car kept choking and stopping abruptly. The thought sends a shiver down my spine, making me shudder violently. Chiara’s safety has become irrationally important to me for some reason, but there is no way she would ever let me do anything for her. Even something as simple as buying her a new sweater. She’d return it and then shove the money against my chest with an unhappy look on her face. I know her too well to pretend I could ever do anything without her suspecting I have an ulterior motive.
“Chiara is not going to like this,” Jack, my oldest brother, says as we walk to the club. He had the night off since Ellie and Stu went to Stu’s parents.
“Well, I don’t like her working here, so we’re even,” I reply, earning myself a big grin from my brother. “What?” I ask the man who looks a lot like me, just a few years older.
All three of us Tick sons look similar with only a few differences in the shapes of our faces, width of our lips, and sharpness of our jaws. While I have hard features, Jack has much softer ones. Graham is a mix of both of us.
“She’s been working here for a long time. How come it bothers you now?” I don’t tell him I had no idea she was working here before. I don’t want to, but he keeps talking. “Fine, don’t tell me, I can rhyme it together myself. You care about her, and you want to take care of her. It’s nice,” he says, still smiling.
I keep ignoring him, getting stopped on my way in to take a few photos with eager fans. Jack waits until they’ve stepped away before continuing his nosey behaviour.
“You could admit it, you know. It wouldn’t make you any less of the brooding, serious man you are,” he assures me, checking his phone as soon as a message lights up his screen in case Stu or Ellie need something. He loves his little family with all of his heart, and it sends a wave of longing through me. That’s a problem for later. “It’s not a bad thing to care for her. Chiara is a wonderful, beautiful woman, and I know you’ve always been drawn to her. You two just make sense, and—”
