Today I was starting the job Gio offered me. It had been months since my first night here, and according to Nurse Becca, I was good to go. Completely healed. Cast free, bruise free, cut free, and more importantly stich free. Who knew stiches itched? True to her word, Sarah had visited every day. Staying with me until I was sleep. For that I was grateful. Who else was going to help me shower and get dressed? Not Gio!
I turned red at the thought. There was no way I would have let him see me naked! He already had many women around here to satisfy his needs. It made sense that he was nothing short of a player. On the occasions that I would spend time with only Sarah in the living room, I would always see him with a different woman on his arm. I would feign disinterest but I watched from the corners of my eyes as he led the woman to his bedroom. After they would leave, he would join us and watch a movie. At first we didn't talk at all but after a while Gio and I had become somewhat friends. It was weird at first, with him parading different women here every night, but somehow I became comfortable around him. That had to be due to that face that we spent almost every night together watching movies or just talking.
I had learned a lot about him growing up. He didn't have a bad childhood, just a strict important father. We were alike in that way. Growing up my dad did his best to keep an iron grip on my life, but after I learned that the distance from my window and the ground wouldn't kill me, he let up. Gio's dad never let up. He had been groomed to take over the "family business" since he was 13. There were no sports or dances for him. Every moment he spent outside of school, was with his dad learning the ropes. He didn't have any friends at all, because his father was so feared. I was shocked when he told me he considered us friends.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and I bounced out the bed to answer the door. For a split second I hesitated, waiting for the pain to kick in, then remembered I was better. Opening the door I saw Gio smiling brightly.
"Good morning Mia," he greeted.
"'Morning, I was just on my way to the shower to get ready. I have nothing to wear but the small amount of clothes your mother brought me. I hope that those will be fine until I can buy some more with my first paycheck," I explained.
He held up his hands and I could now see that he held a few bags in each hand. Interesting.
"I had the liberty of ordering you some things to wear for your first week. I have a very strict attitude when it comes to work. I expect you to look and act the part of a businesswoman. AS I stated before, I am a very different person at my office then I am here. I have some rules for you to read over and also a confidentiality agreement for you to sign," he said giving me the bags and papers. "On Mondays, we wear black." He said laughing at his own joke. He walked away and left me standing in the doorway rolling my eyes.
"10 minutes and we leave Mia," he yelled from downstairs. "I have a meeting to get too. I'm very time imperative."
10 minutes didn't even give me time to time shower. I had just enough time to brush my teeth, get dressed and unwrap my hair. After realizing I had wasted 2 minutes in thought I grabbed my toiletry bag and ran all the way down the hall to the guest bathroom. I was lucky I did my hair and showered last night.
"Mia, you have a bathroom in your room," He yelled again.
"The mirror is bigger down here. Please be quiet and leave me alone. I don't even know what I'm wearing yet," I yelled back.
"7 minutes," he chuckled. "The 2 yellow bags are what you need."
I officially hated him. It took me 2 minutes to brush my teeth and wash my face. It took me 3 minutes to unwrap my hair and fix the side that always messes up. I had 2 minutes to get dressed and I didn't even get to putting on my makeup. I ran down the hall and hit my toe on the banister.
"Fuck my life!!" I yelled.
I heard Gio chuckle and I made it to the room before I realized my grave mistake. I had left the bags in the bathroom down the hall. I had 1 minute to get the bags and get dressed. I wasn't going to make it. I ran at full speed and grabbed the bags, I had just made it back to the room when Gio yelled time.
"Coming," I yelled.
I threw the other bags in the room, grabbed the diamond necklace my mother had passed down to me, stuffed the papers in my bags and zoomed downstairs. I would get dressed in the car. Desperate times, desperate measures. Gio raised an eyebrow when he saw my appearance but didn't question it as we walked out. I had on pajama shorts and a yellow tank.
"It's a 10 minute drive to the office, is that enough time to get dressed? Or should I go the long way?" he asked.
"It shouldn't be hard to slip on a dress. I'll be fine," I said sliding in the back seat of a black truck.
I had done the whole clothes switching thing in the backseat enough that I was a pro at it. My entire high school career was spent basically switching clothes in the backseat before I got home.
"Ok," he said. I thought I saw a smirk there but I wasn't sure.
After he started the truck, I pulled out the dress from the bag and held it up. It was a black sweater dress that looked like it was going to itch all over my body. It was also insanely short and very ugly! It even had a turtle neck and shoulder pads? What the fuck was this? Where was option 2? Maybe it was a shirt and pants in the other bag. I opened the other bag and saw only a box. I opened the box and stared in disbelief at the shoes. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not these... Things. I picked the black 2 inch heel shoe up and instantly thought of my old church shoes. They had a buckle going across the front and a bow on the back. Worst, I didn't see another outfit in here.
"Gio, what were you thinking when you bought this outfit?" I asked.
"I had Tony pick it out. You don't like it?" he asked dumbfounded.
I looked up and saw him watching me in the mirror. He couldn't be serious. This was literally the ugliest dress ever and it probably had been 2 dollars.
"This is not a dress Gio. This is a disaster," I complained.
He just shrugged and watched the road again. I was pissed. There was no way I could actually fit this thing. And I definitely wasn't wearing it in public.
"4 minutes away," he reminded.
I sighed and slipped my clothes off. The dress actually had a built in bra. I was in hell. I slipped my bra off and sat in his backseat naked from the waist up. I found myself almost hoping I would catch him watching me get dressed, but he didn't take his eyes off the road. I don't know what had gotten into me. I didn't see him like that!
The dress was almost impossible to get on. It took me a lot of grunting and hard work but I had finally gotten it on. Tight was an understatement. The dress was as tight as a corset and barely reached mid-thigh. The sides had ugly ass bows all over it and it even came with a belt. This dress was getting burned as soon as I got back to the house. I managed to get both shoes on before the car stopped. The door opened and Gio held out his hand.
"You look nice," he said as I got out.
I just glared at him. The dress was worse when I stood up. I looked like a Christmas hooker.
"I'll do my own shopping from now on," I shook my head.
I could barely walk as I struggled to keep my dress down. It kept riding up my ass and I was highly uncomfortable. We walked into the building and true to his word, Gio's entire demeanor changed. I could feel the sudden chill as I had no idea what I was walking into. It seemed that I had conveniently forgotten that this man had ordered someone's death. He was just a nicer person than the one I escaped from. At least he didn't use his hands like Angel did. Angel used to torture people in front of me and I would pray he would just put them out their misery already. Man I was such a fucked up person. I guess it was too late now to worry about that now.
"We're going up," he told the elevator attendant.
Some women snickered at my dress but otherwise nobody said anything.
We stepped in the elevator and the door dinged behind us. It was just us in the tiny space and I could hear my heart beating hard. I knew he probably could too. I was out of breath from fighting with this dress still. He stepped up to me and tucked my hair behind my ear. I shivered at his touch. His big brown eyes gazed into my own and I felt my heart speed up. At this rate I would die. I could barely breathe when his eyes went to my lips. I was now pressed against the elevator wall with Gio's body against mine. Now I was sure he could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was lusting over a murderer. I was so so so so fucked up.
"Mia, the men you're going to meet, they're important people. They're not here to do anything but business. They're not here to make pleasantries. Do what I say. Speak when I say speak. Respect me. I am your boss, play by my rules," he whispered in my ear.
I nodded my cooperation, because if I opened my mouth, I was sure I would make a really embarrassing sound. I was more than turned on and I wanted him right now!
"Calm down Mia," he growled at me.
He stepped away from me just as the elevator door dinged its stop. The doors slid open and 3 very good looking men looked at us with hard looks. I wanted to press the button and close the doors in their faces. Instead I made myself get off the elevator and smile.
"Nice to meet you young lady. I'm Michel Asloni," the oldest man said shaking my hand. "These are my sons Jacob and Anthony. My heirs."
I shook everyone's hand and was about to introduce myself before Gio cut me off.
"This is my assistant Mia, and she's going to go get us some waters," Gio asked for me.
"Ah yes, Reyes! We have business to discuss," Jacob laughed.
They walked into the office and left me standing there looking totally bewildered. I didn't know where any waters were at. I looked around the huge clearing and spotted a door. I wasn't just going to stand here and look stupid. But what if I walked into a room of dead bodies? I took a breath and shook it off. I opened the door slowly and thanked God I walked into the right room. It was stocked with beers, liquor waters and wines. I grabbed 4 waters and was delighted with myself. I was about to walk right in the room they were in until it occurred to me that that would be impolite. I knocked instead.
"Come in Mia," Gio said.
