We arrived at Maria's and...
It was a cafe.
He'd made us stop at a cafe?
"Get out," he commanded.
It would be nice to receive a 'please' from this man. Just once.
But I got out anyway.
We walked inside and I stood next to him in line.
He was getting stares.
I couldn't tell if it was from how intimidatingly handsome he is, or just the fact he's intimidating in general.
I looked up at him.
He was facing forward with a mean look on his face and his hands in his pockets. He always looked like he wasn't in the mood. Like if this store was sold out of what he wanted, he'd kill the cashier.
"Next," called the girl at the register.
I faced forward and took the step to the counter as did my boss next to me.
"What do you want?" he asked.
I looked at him.
He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at his wallet as he opened it.
"Me?" I questioned.
"Mhm."
"You don't have to get me anything," I told him.
"Answer." he commanded.
Right.
He's demanding and stubborn. I forget.
"A vanilla latte...please." I answered.
"You hear that?" he asked the barista.
She nodded as she looked at him then began typing on the keypad.
She looked scared.
"Mr. De Luca..." I called him.
He looked at me from the corner of his eye.
"Don't be so mean," I whispered.
He just stared at me.
"She's afraid of you. Be nicer," I said gently.
He looked back at her. His eyebrows furrowed like he was trying to understand her and read her mind.
"And a black coffee," he added.
I nudged him gently.
When I looked up at him, I watched him roll his eyes.
"Please." he stated.
"Yes, sir," she replied with a grin.
"See." I whispered.
We were given the total and Mr. De Luca paid before we went to stand at the other end of the counter to wait.
"Do you always wake up this early?" I asked him.
"Mhm."
"Do you not like talking?"
He looked at me.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to be rude. You just never seem to have much to say. Then again maybe I'm just not someone you want to talk to."
"You speak often," he stated.
I stopped talking and just stood there.
"It's not a bad thing," he explained.
I looked at him.
He was facing forward with his hands in his pockets like always.
"Vanilla latte and a black coffee," said the barista.
"Thank you," I grabbed them both and handed Mr. De Luca his.
I followed behind him on the way out.
"Now where do we go?" I asked once we got in the car.
"I have a meeting," he stated. "Home." he told the driver.
"Yes, sir."
The meeting is at his home?
I sat back and just stared out of the window for the entire ride.
"Where's your friend?" Mr. De Luca asked.
"Oh, I forgot to tell her the plan to just bring her with me, and I felt like it was too last minute to tell her in the morning, so I decided I'd bring her tomorrow and tell her later. She's off tomorrow anyway."
"Mm."
"Mr. De Luca." I called.
He looked at me and I looked at him.
"I might regret this later and I know it's only my second day, but I don't feel like I'm being a very good assistant. I've hardly done anything but count money."
He faced forward. "Patient," he replied dryly.
"Patience? Is it coming?"
He didn't respond.
I sat back and just took a deep breath.
I always thought it would be cool to get paid to do nothing, but I actually feel bad. I feel like I'm stealing.
We arrived at the same building that I was originally interviewed in.
Mr. De Luca got out.
So this must be what he refers to as 'home'.
I climbed out as well.
The car drove off.
I followed him towards the elevator and we both waited.
I tossed my empty latte cup in the trash and walked into the elevator with Mr. De Luca once it opened.
He handed me his phone.
"Why do I need this?"
"While I'm inside, answer the calls."
"I don't mean to intrude, sir, but if your wife or partner of any sort hears my voice answering your phone, I'm scared that might start a problem."
"That's not a problem."
Maybe he warned them ahead of time.
"Okay."
I took his phone and the elevator came to a stop.
It wasn't in a large singular room like the last time. This was the sixth floor and it had three doors. The area was dark. I'm torn between believing that they refuse to pay the light bill or that someone is just really sensitive to lights. Which would also explain the clothes.
"Stay," he commanded.
A bit insulting. I'm not a puppy.
He walked into the middle door.
Almost immediately, his phone got a call.
Why couldn't you have been just a minute sooner?
I was uncomfortable with the idea of answering someone's personal phone rather than a business phone.
I answered it anyway.
"Hello." said a woman's voice.
"Hi, I'm sorry, but he's in a meeting right now." I replied.
"What's he sayin'?" I heard a male voice ask.
"Nothin'. He's got one of his whores answerin' the phone lines. I should've called his personal phone."
Whores???
One of???
So this isn't his personal phone?
"Who is this?" the woman asked.
"This is Mr. De Luca's assistant. My name is Lucky."
"Where's de Luca?"
I could've sworn I said he was in a meeting.
"In a meeting, ma'am."
"Don't call me ma'am." she replied.
"I'm sorry..."
"Where's the meeting?"
"Um..."
"What building? What floor? What room? Answer quick, I don't got all day. We ain't supposed to be here." she stated.
I don't know the building...
We stood on the phone in silence as I tried to think of if I maybe saw a sign during the two times I'd come here.
There wasn't even a name when I put its address into my gps. I had no idea what this place was called.
"HURRY THE FUCK UP!" said the man's voice on the other line.
"SHE AIN'T ANSWERIN' THE FUCKIN' QUESTION, DON'T TELL ME TO HURRY UP, ASSHOLE! YOU TELL HER TO HURRY THE FUCK UP, I AIN'T THE REASON WE'RE BEHIND!"
"WE CAN'T KEEP THIS SHIT HERE! IF THEY COME LOOKIN' FOR US AFTER WATCHIN' THOSE CAMERAS, DE LUCA AIN'T FUCKIN' SAVIN' US! TELL HER TO ANSWER THE FUCKIN' QUESTION!"
"I-...I don't..." I began panicking from hearing their rush and worry.
"HELLO?!" the woman yelled.
My eyes were watering. "Yes?"
I heard the phone get snatched from her.
"FUCKIN' PRICK!" she shouted.
"HELLO?!" the man was speaking to me now.
"Hi..." I whined and sniffed.
"Where the fuck is de Luca? Tell him we got shit here that we can't keep here and he needs to come fuckin' get it."
"He's um...He's in a meeting," I replied softly.
"WHERE?!"
"I don't...I don't know...I don't know where we are, he never told me. I'm sorry."
"This fuckin'...She sayin' she don't know," I heard him repeat.
"She don't know? Ain't she with him?"
"Hey, ain't you with him?" he asked me.
"Yes..."
"This stupid bitch," I heard him groan. "HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU THERE AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THE FUCK HE'S AT?!"
My tears fled more as I just wondered why they kept yelling at me. I've never experienced this before and I didn't know what to do.
"Listen to me fuckin' good..." the man began, "if I get arrested for holdin' onto this shit because you don't know where the fuck you're at, I'm gonna find your parents, and I'm gonna..."
I heard the office door open and I looked towards it.
Mr. De Luca stepped out and he turned to look at me.
I hadn't had time beforehand to wipe my face and I just stared at him with eyes drowning in tears and his phone pressed against my ear.
He walked closer to me and gently took his phone out of my hand with his left before pressing it to his own ear.
"Who is this?" he asked.
His right hand reached my face and he started gently wiping my tears with his thumb.
"Where are you?" he questioned.
"I'm on my way." He hung up the phone then placed it into his pocket and looked at me.
"What happened?" he asked.
I looked away as I sniffed and tried to dry my eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? I told you to tell me if anyone bothers you."
"They were..." I tried to control my breathing so I could speak properly. "They were mad at me because I didn't know how to tell them where you were. But I don't know what building this is so I couldn't explain it to them. They started yelling at each other then they yelled at me and called me a bunch of names and then the man started threatening me and-..." tears leaked again as I remembered.
He told me this job wasn't for the weak and yet I'm crying.
"Okay," he stated.
I wiped my face again.
"Let's go."