CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DALLAS

I stared at him in absolute shock. Mason Castillo was sitting right in front of me. I knew he was coming today but it had completely skipped my mind after the art gallery saga. God knows I wasn't ready to see him again.

He stared at me with the same expression at first but his face slowly melted into an evil grin.

“Hello there, Carlos.” He said.

“It's Dallas.” I bit out. He had always mistook my name no matter how much I correct him. I doubt if the man has a single brain cell in his body. I glared at him hard. I so badly wanted to wipe off that smug expression on his face. But I wasn't going to do anything to him here. He was Oliver's guest at the moment.

Oliver seem to have noticed the tension brewing between us.

“Do you two know each other?” He asked, his eyes darting between us.

“Not really.” Mason said and smirked.

“Just a few unfortunate encounters here and there.”

A few unfortunate encounters was the understatement of the century. Mason Castillo was a regular at a club I used to waitress at when I just returned to New York. He was a public dick that would host group orgies at the club every now and then. He would hit on me but I never paid him any attention. I was focused on my work. He tried to force himself on me on few occasions but I always let him off with a warning . I didn't have any other job then so I didn't want to lose my only paying job.

Our last encounter before I got fired was very unpleasant. I had caught him trying to force himself on a female staff. I couldn't watch that happen to another girl. I ended up giving him a black eye and breaking a few bones in his body. I heard he ended up in the ER unit after that. Apparently, he had multiple fractures. That was two years ago.

Ever since then I have never came across him. Until now. In the most unfitting place to run into someone you almost killed. I sucked in a deep breath.

I can handle this. I can handle him.

“Such a delight to see you, Mr Castillo.” I bit out.

“You're still so smoking hot.” He muttered.

I ignored him and proceeded to do what I was there for. I was helping the caterers serve the dishes.

Since Oliver forbade me from going home even going as far as threatening to cut down my paycheck, I had no option than to stay. I did mess up his perfectly arranged office and his ties as retaliation. Who arranges ties according to how bright their colors are?. Definitely Oliver Kang's behavior.

After I was done with that and had nothing else to do, I went to the kitchen and found out the caterers were shot of staffs. I figured I'd help them out.

But Mason's statement seems to have bothered Oliver.

“Excuse you?” he said, his voice had an obvious edge.

Mason didn't seem to get the memo.

“Are all of your staffs this hot?” Oliver didn't reply to it.

“Ahh! I see what you did there. No need to settle down and be tied to one woman. Rotating domestic workers is the way to go.” Mason said and smirked.

Oliver's gaze settled on him and hardened.

“Are you here to talk business or talk dirty about my workers? You'd better control yourself, kid, because I would not have you sit in my house and talk about my workers like that.”

The man sitting beside Mason nudged him slightly. He seem to be Mason's father, Alberto. I've never seen him physically before but I've heard enough news about him to know he isn't always up to any good.

“Why don't we all dig in?” Alberto said, patting his pot bellied stomach.

“My goodness, all these food. You really do spoil us, Mr Kang.” He added, picking up his cutleries.

Oliver's mouth twitched in disgust as Alberto chewed loudly. Mason on the other hand, wouldn't stop stripping me naked with his eyes. I was convinced that he had forgotten what our last encounter was. Or maybe he thought I couldn't do anything to him in Oliver's presence.

Whichever it was, I was grateful he didn't bring it up. Or ask that I be locked up in jail. That didn't really scare me because I was sure Oliver wouldn't allow it.

I inched closer to Oliver to serve his meal, heat crept on my cheek as I remembered what happened few hours ago. I shook my head.

Do not think about it, Dallas. Control yourself.

Oliver gently tugged on the edge of my dress. I moved closer to him and bent down a little so I could hear him clearly.

“Why are you serving food? I told you not to leave, not serve food.” he whispered in a harsh tone.

“I had nothing else to do. It was supposed to be my day off but I'm stuck here because my mean boss decided not to let me go.” I replied him in the same tone. We glared at each other.

“There were a lot of things you could do. You could read a book, take a nap, or meditate.”

“Boring. Boring. So boring.” I rolled my eyes.

“Besides the caterers needed an extra hand. Apparently, you scared off some of their employees.”

“I caught them making out in the kitchen. Of course I had them fired. Do you know how many bacterias could get transferred into the food because of their dirty act?. I need to get the kitchen fumigated.” He said and cringed his nose.

I bit my lower lip hard to refrain a laugh. I have never seen anyone with this much aversion towards romance.

“You fired them because you caught them making out?” My voice was breaking, a slight crack and I will burst into a full blown laughter.

“There is a fine, uncrossable line between work and pleasure.”

“And yet I'm still here?” I clicked my tongue.

I leaned closer to him, not minding that there were two people sitting right across him on the table.

“Finally agreed that I got you hard?” I cocked an eyebrow.

Oliver swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. I so badly wanted to trace their movement with my tongue.

“This is unacceptable. I'm in a work meeting.”

“You started the conversation.” I smirked.

I drew back a bit, creating some distance between us, but not enough that Mason and his father could hear our conversation.

“Also Mr Kang, if you want to fumigate the whole house, I suggest you start with the art gallery. I heard there is a lot of germs floating around. There is a cigar holder in there, it is covered with germs.”

Oliver's face was so red that I wished I could capture the moment with a camera. His eyes widened that I feared for a while that they would pop out of their sockets. Good.

I stood upright and flashed him a smile. My head finally turned to Mason and he was eyeing me with a smirk dancing on his lips. Alberto was so focused on his food that he didn't spare any of us a glance.

“Enjoy your meal.”

I picked up the empty tray and walked away feeling triumphant.

Dallas - 1

Oliver - 0

I wanted to pay him back for the gallery scene. I was a little mad at him that he didn't rush into the art gallery and fuck me like I had wanted when he saw me fucking myself. He just stayed there and watched like I had no effect on him.

I walked into the kitchen and set the tray on the kitchen counter. I took notes of the dirty dishes and thought to do them. I was about to start when I heard footsteps entering the kitchen. I assumed it was one of the caterers on the other maid so I didn't turn back.

“Hello bitch, it's payback time.” a masculine voice said behind me.