CLAIMED BY THE ARROGANT BILLIONAIRE

ALIYA TORRES

I never liked coffee which was weird since everyone I knew including my mother loved coffee.

I was more of a tea person and if one asked me why I would simply reply with ‘coffee was too strong for me’. Yet here I was, my new job at Jitters serving coffee.

I had applied to be a barista but the chummy owner took one good look at me and decided I was better off a waitress in a tight little pink dress taking everyone’s orders

“Would you mind taking this to table ten?”

My new co-worker, Sasha asked. As usual, I was the one doing most of the serving because I was the new girl and the new girl always got the most work.

I removed one ear pod from my left ear taking a break from Harry Styles’ sweet voice.

My best friend, Raymond Chester, always said I was a little bit cliché because I still listened to Harry Styles but what can I say? The man’s voice was my only sanity.

With a grunt, I fake smiled taking the mug of expresso from her hands.

My eyes flung across table ten and a chubby man was seated there, his face buried in the morning newspaper.

I couldn’t see his face but I could see his enormous belly which acted as support to hold the paper he was reading.

Even from afar, I knew what type of customer he was. He was one of those guys who were probably lactose intolerant and when you took the expresso to him, he would probably spit the drink, claim you tried to poison him and the manager of the place would come running, apologize, and tell him he can order another drink for free.

Or maybe I was overthinking things. I tended to overthink.

The barista, Lilian, gave me a napkin and I placed it under the sizzling hot mug of expresso in my hands.

I had barely taken a step from behind the huge counter when my customer from table ten lowered his newspaper and I took a good look at his face perturbed.

His bushy signature beard peppered his face, his chubby face looked like overripe tomatoes about to pop. He looked paler than I remember but I could remember his face from anywhere.

My anger flared, it was him.

That two-time lying bastard! He was the same man that robbed me of my money!

I was a little stupid at first for handing him money without getting the job first but who was why to know that he was a con artist?

I had heard the news of how talent agencies conned people so when a guy showed up telling me he could fulfill my long-time dream of being a model, I jumped on the idea of giving him money.

He sounded convincing at first telling me how he had signed models like Kaia Jenner, Kendall Vasquez, and Taylor Gerber so, like a fool, I paid him expecting a call for the modeling gig the next day.

Except he never called and I never became a model. When I reported the matter to the police, they promised to follow up on the case but the weasel never got caught except today.

I was going to catch him. He was going to give me back my money.

I had the expresso in my hands and a silly thought came to mind.

The plan was simple,

I would easily make my way to where he sat.

I would pour the hot expresso on his pants.

While he cried from the burns I had inflicted on him, I would call the police.

It was a three-point plan that was bound to work. I was pretty confident that the plan would work and if he tried to escape somehow, I would straddle him to the floor until the police showed up.

My phone was already in the front pocket of my waitress uniform ready to press 911 the minute I poured the drink on him.

I walked towards him, trying to lay low in case he saw me, and decided to run. I was almost there.

I was almost reaching Frank Doherty when out of nowhere, one of the guys from table nine stood up startling me and leading me to loosen the grip on the mug.

I watched as the mug flew from my hands to his chest, the brown liquid ruining his three-piece suit which was no doubt expensive.

I saw him flinch, biting his bottom lip to hide the pain of having the hot liquid penetrate his suit and touch his skin.

“The fuck?” he growled, his icy grey eyes staring down at me.

His six feet of height made him intimidating as he towered above me. At that moment, I wished that the ground would rip and swallow me whole.

“Am so sorry”, I said immediately trying to wipe his suit with a napkin. It was of no use because the stain wouldn’t just disappear. I felt guilty so I continued rubbing the white napkin on his chest until he pushed my hands away from him.

“Are you sure you are sorry? Or is this a little trick just to touch me? I have seen women like you before!” He said with so much malice.

My eyes widened in surprise. His outburst caught everyone’s attention and everyone turned to us, some flashed out their phones to take videos of what was happening. I couldn’t care less.

Just who did he think he was? Sure he was handsome, had a perfect face, a sharp jawline, a five o’clock stubble that looked good on him, lush gel black hair, perfect lips, and a cologne that had my nose hairs tingling but that didn’t mean I would do that intentionally!

Why touch him in the first place when I didn’t even know him?

“I don’t know who you are or who you think I am but I said sorry, didn’t I? And just because you think you look good doesn’t mean that every woman that trips and bumps into you wants to touch you!”I clarified loud and clear.

“Preach sister!” I heard one of the customers say.

“You’ve been staring at me for ten minutes so believe me when I say I’ve seen women like you and believe me when I say this ‘I’m not interested”

“Just who do you think you are, you arrogant prick!”I hissed as he stepped back, a grin crossing on his lips.

“I think I want to see the manager now. I don’t think the owner of this fine establishment knows what sort of employees he hires”

I wanted to insult him right there and then but when Mr. Ramon showed up, I kept my mouth shut.

It was unbelievable how Mr. Ramon apologized to the man as if he were some sort of God.

“Again I apologize Mr. Carter. I promise you, she’ll be dealt with”

The arrogant Mr. Carter left, with his partner and as fast as they did, Mr. Ramon told me I was fired.

To top it all, Frank Doherty had already left before I could call the cops on him!

Damn you, Carter!

I cussed praying that lightning would somehow to strike him wherever he was. Okay, maybe not strike him dead.

ETHAN CARTER

“Is she one of your flings perhaps?”

Jai humored his eyes gazing at someone behind me.

I came here to at least get some work done away from my mother who wouldn’t stop pestering me back at the office. The thing about mothers was that they were the most obstinate human beings to walk the planet.

Take my mother for example, who had nagged me day in, and day out when I was going to propose to my girlfriend, Crystal Perez.

How it concerned her, I had no idea but she had obsessed over the issue so much that I couldn’t even go home in fear that she would be there waiting to torture me with the same question.

Crystal and I were together for a year now and I felt like rushing into things would only lead to regrets.

Perhaps, I was Ethan Carter, the youngest self-made billionaire of the Mecha chain of hotels not forgetting Mecha builders, people depended on me. Families depended on me to survive and I wasn’t ready to start my own family yet.

My eyes bolted to Jai. Jai Hayes was my best friend, my bodyguard, my driver, and my trainer. He had been working for me for at least four years.

He didn’t treat me any differently just because I was his boss or this billionaire everyone aspires to be.

Currently, we were at Jitters, having a daily dose of the usual cinnamon dulce sugar free cappuccino.

My eyes followed his gaze. There was a redhead behind the counter clad in a pink dress gazing at me quite intently as if I had accosted her.

She was pretty, I could deny that but I didn’t know her nor had I ever seen in her my life.

“I have no idea who she is”, I dismissed sipping the hot liquid in my cup as I worked on the last item on my computer.

“You sure? She sure as hell looks like she knows you”, Jai continued and I had to tear my eyes from the laptop to stare at the girl again.

She was staring at me and suddenly my anger flared.

It reminded me of the incident last week where one of my female employees pretended to have hurt her ankle and when I did go to help, the damn woman kissed me and someone caught that and posted it on the web.

Crystal had been so mad that it took one week to convince her that women swooned all over me all the time but my heart was hers and that kiss meant nothing.

I suspected the same from the waitress and I was in no mood for such nonsense at the moment.

“I don’t know her and I certainly wouldn’t look at another woman when I have a girlfriend”, I reminded him.

“If you say so”, Jai grunted only for him to place his fingers at the edge of my laptop screen and close it.

“You know when you said you wanted to hang out? This is not what I imagined, Ethan”

“We are hanging out aren’t we?” I asked amused, crossing my arms on my chest.

“You’ve gotta change, man and I’m telling you this as your friend. Loosen up. God, how does Crystal put up with your ass if all you do is work?”

“First of all, unlike you, Crystal understands why I have to work and second of all, I am loosened up alright”

Jai chuckled, a smile forming on his lips while he sipped his coffee.

“If you were loosened up, we wouldn’t be at a freaking coffee shop right now”

I was about to say something when my phone buzzed on the table.

“Sir am afraid he refused to sell us the land”, one of my company representatives spoke over the phone.

“What? Did you show him the contract?”

“Yes sir. He says the property is worth more than ten million”

“Bullshit” I scoffed,” am doing him a favor by buying it from him”

His piece of land wasn’t even worth the ten million I was generously offering him.

“I tried, Sir. Believe me, I tried”

“Is he there? Has he left?” I asked impatiently.

“He is still in the building, Sir. What do you want me to do?”

“Keep him in the building. Am on my way”, I said irritatedly.

I hung up the phone turning to Jai.

“We have to go”

“Yeah, I know. Am seated right here and I can hear everything”, he said sarcastically.

I packed my things includingg my laptop into the attaché case.

I stood up not knowing that the next step would lead to my chest throbbing with pain.

The hot liquid poured on my chest and I bit the insides of my cheek feeling it penetrate through my skin.

“The fuck?” I barked raising my eyes to see the redhead from earlier who was staring at me.

Ofcourse it had to be her. Trying to get my attention with the old ‘I’m sorry I poured coffee on you’ story.

She said sorry her emerald eyes meeting mine. She had the purest green eyes I had ever seen. For a minute I thought I would get lost in them but I came to my senses the minute she started rubbing her hands on my chest.

“Am so sorry”,she said meekly and I heard Jai laugh behind me. He was really enjoying this, wasn’t he?

“Are you sure you are sorry? Or is is this a little trick just to touch me? I have seen women like you before”, I hissed getting her hands off me.

Her eyes stirred with surprise before they completely became overrode with anger.

“I don’t know who you are or who you think I am but I said sorry, didn’t I? And just because you think you look good doesn’t mean that every woman that trips and bumps into you wants to touch you!”she shouted getting everyone’s attention.

I found it amusing. I felt like clarifying that ‘yes, every woman that trips and bumps into me always wants something from me’. Be it a kiss, be it attention.

“You’ve been staring at me for ten minutes so believe me when I say I’ve seen women like you and believe me when I say this ‘I’m not interested’”

“Just who do you think you are, you arrogant prick”

Arrogant?

“I think I want to see the manager now. I don’t think the owner of this fine establishment knows what sort of employees he hires”, I said with indignation noting a short chubby man running towards me.

He apologized, said he would take care of her and I left.

“That went well. I like her”,Jai said while he revved the engine to life.

I rolled my eyes.

“I’d be careful if I were you, she seemed crazy. It’s always good to steer away from the crazy ones”, I murmured.

I felt like kicking myself for wasting precious time on a woman who didn’t deserve it.

She called me arrogant? Didn’t she know who she was talking to?

I wasn’t arrogant. I had never been arrogant and I sure as hell wished I wouldn’t cross paths with her again.