Callan dropped me off with a kiss that made my lips swollen and tingly and left me breathless by the end of it.

Walking into the café twenty-five minutes after I was supposed to be here, I was less than surprised to see the place was in no way ready for opening, which would be in five minutes. While we always made sure the café was tidy for the next day, we usually had a few things to take care of before we could let any customers inside.

One second in, and he was already pissing me off. This was one of the many reasons Kevin and I hated working with this guy. He was lazy and never did any actual work. "I'm sure Oliver can manage for a while," my fucking ass he could. Agnes had too much misplaced trust in him.

Oliver lounged on a chair with his head bent down, looking at his phone. I didn't even need to see the screen to know he was playing one of the many games he had on it. His brown highlighted hair flopped onto his face hiding his–most likely–bored expression.

He looked up at the sound of the door closing, and I suppressed a sigh. It was bad enough that I would be working with him; I didn't want to fight on top of that by complaining over his lack of work ethic. It wouldn't change anything, either way. I'd already tried.

His heavily disproportionate lips stretched into a smile. The bottom one was full and kind of lushes to be honest, while his upper lip was so thin I couldn't even see it.

If he didn't have the worst attitude, he might've been pretty, I guess. Maybe. I couldn't really tell; I was biased.

Some people were beautiful not because of their looks, but because of who they were on the inside, and others...well, their shitty personality overshadowed their appearance, and all we could see was the ugliness.

"Finally. It was about time that you got here!" Oliver exclaimed. "I did the half; you can do the rest."

Looking around the room, I guess what he meant by half must've been unlocking the door because from what I could see, everything looked the same as it had been when Kevin and I left yesterday.

Oh, what joy it was to work basically on my own for an entire day, on a Saturday no less. I was lucky as all hell that Agnes usually took care to have both Kevin and me on the same shifts, knowing we were good friends and all. That, I'd always be grateful for, but still, once in a while, either Kevin or I ended up working with Oliver.

Even with how lazy as he was, we felt we couldn't really complain about him, seeing as he was Agnes's nephew. I was sure she knew about his work ethic, but her heart was too big to fire him, and I could respect that to some degree. Family came first.

Fuck, I could only hope Kevin felt like he was at death's door and puking his guts out. Because if he was feeling well and used sickness as an excuse to skip work, I would kill him for forcing me to work with this jackass. Well‚ not kill but he would definitely get a few words from one pissed friend.

I walked by Oliver on my way to the lunchroom to store my stuff and change into my god-awful dress. I'd just gotten it on when Oliver barged in, his eyes going directly to my tits as if he'd suspected and was prepared for me to be naked and exposed. Thank God I was fast at changing clothes.

"What the hell, Oliver! You could've at least knocked!" I yelled, feeling my blood burn with anger, both at him and myself. I'd gotten so used to working with Kevin that I'd forgotten to lock the damn door.

"Lock it next time. How was I supposed to know you were changing?" Oliver asked almost smugly as if the fact that I'd been carrying the dress in my arms hadn't been clue enough of what I was going to do in here.

Ignoring him, I tried to move past him, but he blocked the doorway. His scrawny body towered over me, and I backed off. He wasn't dumb enough to do anything, though, not when customers could arrive at any second.

"Who was that guy who dropped you off?" he demanded, his eyes narrowed as he looked at my lips. I could still feel how swollen they were from the kiss.

"Just a friend," I answered evasively.

"A friend who's kissing you? I thought you said you didn't date?" he accused, referring to the multiple times he'd asked me out, and I'd said no. While I didn't lie about not dating, I would've done it all the same, just to get him to back off.

Oliver had always been... trigger-happy, though the gun was metaphorical. He could blow into a rage for the slightest thing, and I had honestly no idea how he would react if I'd specifically said I wouldn't date him.

Women always had to be smart when handling other men, even in this age and time–especially in this age and time. We rarely knew which guy was the good one and which weren't. Lying was like second nature; it gave us a way to protect ourselves and not anger those who might have a short fuse.

I realized now it had been different with my dominants from the first time I met them. I'd never been scared of them, even though they were clearly the alpha of alpha males and emitted more power than anyone I'd ever met. From the first second, there had been something there–something about them that I'd inexplicably trusted.

"Move, Oliver. Let me go do my job," I said instead of answering him. I did not want to get into the whole "dating" thing with him again.

With a huff, he finally moved but trailed after me when I walked to the storage room to get the cleaning supplies and then followed me back to the tables. I mentally took note of it; it only showed that he hadn't gone into the lunchroom for anything other than me.

Thankfully, having to do most of the work made the shift go by fast. It also made me too busy to interact with a certain someone.

When I went to change back into my outfit, I double-checked that I'd locked the door. No way would I risk him walking in on me again.

Callan had said either one of the three would pick me up, and I hoped it was him, only so Oliver would have fewer questions.

"You never did answer me about the guy who dropped you off," Oliver said as I got back out. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was leaning against the counter.

"Frankly, Oliver, that's not any of your business," I stated calmly.

A twitch in his eye betrayed his mood, and I made the wise decision to leave. I hoped he would at least have the decency to lock up after us–if only because his aunt owned the café.

I breathed out a sigh of relief when I recognized Mateo's silver car parked by the sidewalk. Mateo met me outside and gave me a warm smile as welcomed me into his arms with a warm kiss. He tasted minty and fresh and I was sure I tasted the complete opposite, though he didn't complain as he kissed my heart into a rapid pounding.

"How's your day been, gorgeous?" he asked when he pulled away.

"Good now that I'm with you." I smiled and let him open the car door for me.

"That's great to hear. I feel the same way," Mateo admitted and went around the car to join me inside.

For a second, I'd forgotten about Oliver, and I turned around in my seat to see if he'd seen the kiss I'd shared with a second man. I didn't feel ashamed, just...cautious.

The sight of Oliver staring at me through the window, his face drawn tight in anger, sent a shiver down my spine.