A loud crash resounded throughout Jace’s entire apartment as his hand came crashing down on his blaring alarm clock that had to rudely remind him it was five o’clock.
In the morning.
He let out a groggy groan and rubbed at his eyes before sleepily realizing he had also knocked over his phone which had, thankfully, stayed intact with its fall to the floor. He blinked his eyes some more before grudgingly pushing himself into a sitting position, his brown hair in an alarming state. His blue eyes were glazed over as he slumped forward.
“Shiiiiit,” Jace muttered around a yawn, wincing as cold air slipped under the blankets to attack him.
He slowly retrieved his phone from the floor and got to his feet. There was a very good reason why he almost never took the opening shift. His nerves kept him tossing and turning for most of the night. Not to mention the translation work that kept him up.
At least he didn’t oversleep—
Panic filled Jace as he rushed to pick up his phone and check the time—5:03 A.M.—cursing as the light blinded him.
“Melissa!” Jace groaned as he stumbled his way to the bathroom and turned on the light, allowing it to wake him up.
He was alarmed at the state of his hair and decided to tackle that last. He washed his face and rinsed out his mouth with water before heading to the kitchen for a nice bowl of cereal.
“Breakfast for champions!” Jace spoke to himself with false enthusiasm, glaring at the bowl sitting in front of him on the table.
It didn’t take him long to eat and brush his teeth afterward. He quickly changed into his work uniform and spent the next fifteen minutes fighting with his hair to make sure he got all the tangles out and it lay normal on his head. He wished he had the excuse of curls but no—it was just his luck that he had fluffy hair that needed to be tamed every morning or else.
Jace was out the door in record time and shivered a little in the chill from the November air. It was starting to become cold enough for winter coats which he absolutely despised. He hated winter and anything to do with cold.
Castlebrooke just had to have a long winter that lasted until mid-April.
After a big yawn escaped him, he started his car and made it to The Dine-In right at five-fifty, pulling into the parking spot next to Jace’s deep blue car. The owner of said car was already outside and waiting by the front door to be let in.
Melissa didn’t allow for more than two workers to have access to the keys each week and was very strict in her rotation of openers. Good luck to any openers who had the audacity to call off while on key duty.
Jace was not a fan of being privy to those conversations so he did his best to warn every new-comer not to make that mistake unless it was an actual emergency or they were able to pass the key over to another worker without delaying the opening process.
It was Jace’s turn for the keys since his schedule was unexpectedly changed and he felt awful at seeing Alexander standing at the front door, waiting for his lazy ass to arrive.
“Alexander!” Jace called out in greeting. “I’m so sorry for making you wait.”
Alexander’s eyes were piercing in the dark morning. “Don’t worry about it, Jace. Here,” he handed over a takeout cup of coffee. “I got your favorite.”
The inside of Jace’s stomach felt all fluttery and he stumbled in his thanks. Alexander let out a beautiful laugh and it caused Jace to fumble with the keys as he tried to unlock the door with one hand.
He felt a warm body press against his side before Alexander swiftly took the keys and unlocked the door for him. “Um. Thank you?”
“Why does that sound like a question?” Alexander teased as he slipped the keys into Jace’s jacket pocket.
“Ugh, it’s too early for this!” Jace dramatically sighed as he flung open the door and marched inside, Alexander right behind him.
Jace flipped on the lights, sighing as he noticed a pile of dirt one of the closers had swept into a neat pile but failed to finish the action. “Shit,” he muttered, taking a sip of the delicious caramel coffee.
“Lazy asses,” Alexander’s voice was filled with annoyance. “Who worked the closing shift last night?”
“Um, I think it was Bret and Anna which would explain the pile left behind.” Jace was not a fan of either of them. Anna was new, but Bret was an asshole and was probably teaching her all kinds of bad habits for the workplace.
“I wish your sister would fire them already.” Alexander sighed, following Jace to the back area to clock in.
Jace hummed his agreement. “She’ll probably keep Anna since she was just hired. But I honestly don’t know why she keeps Bret around. He’s an ass!”
Alexander’s chuckle made Jace’s face heat. “I’ll start readying the kitchen if you want to check the register and get the front open.”
“Sure,” Jace was quick to agree. While his nerves hated working with Alexander, he absolutely loved it. They worked very well together and both of them were similar in their hate for early mornings and love of coffee.
Grumbling to himself, he left Alexander to open the kitchen and went to grab the camera from Melissa’s office. He hated this part of the job. But it was his sister’s business and he couldn’t stand lazy workers. They were getting paid for their work. And it wasn’t like they were earning minimum wage without the ability to make a decent living.
Melissa was very generous with her pay and hours she handed out. She had plenty of business coming in where it wasn’t an issue.
Sighing, Jace made his way to the front of the store and took a picture of the forgotten pile of dirt. After a quick glance around the seating area, his eyes were immediately drawn to a small, suspicious square package that could only be one thing.
“Is that—?”
“Yep.” Jace glowered. “It’s a fucking open condom package.”
Alexander took a step back with raised hands. Nearly all the employees knew not to get on either of the Matthews’ bad side and knew when to get out of the way. And Jace was basically the second owner of the restaurant because he took zero shit from people and knew everything inside and out. His airy attitude often made people think he was a pushover.
Jace snapped a picture of that as well and pulled out his phone, calling the one person he didn’t want to annoy this early in the morning.
“What?” Melissa snapped the moment she answered.
Jace got straight to the point. “Apart from a forgotten pile of dirt, there’s an open condom package on one of the back booth tables. Bret and Anna were the closers for last night.”
Melissa huffed out an annoyed sigh. “Work on opening the restaurant. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay,” Jace replied before ending the call and slipping his phone back in his pocket. He’s annoyed eyes gentled when he met that warm, golden gaze. “Melissa’s on her way. She said to keep opening.”
Alexander nodded. “Should we keep this here?”
“For now,” grumbled Jace. “At least until Melissa gets here.”
Nodding, Alexander went back to the kitchen and Jace started his duties for the front. He was absolutely pissed off. And here he was, worried that his nerves were going to get the best of him around his crush. Hah! Leave it to horny employees to make his nervousness disappear completely.
Melissa showed up about twenty minutes later, unlocking the front door with a scowl on her face.
“Moring,” Jace raised a rather unimpressive hand, his voice filled with annoyance.
Melissa nodded at him but her eyes roamed over the tables until she saw the evidence, and her eyes flashed dangerously. “I swear, if I see footage of two of my employees having sex in my restaurant when I check the CCTV cameras, some shits about to go down.”
Without further adieu, Melissa disappeared to the back and Jace quickly cleaned up the table, taking extra care to wipe everything down and make sure there wasn’t anything suspicious left behind.
It was nearing seven when Jace heard Melissa call him and Alexander to the back office. He was quick to make his way there and wasn’t surprised to see a stormy expression on his sister’s face. She had pulled her black hair into a messy bun and she suddenly looked much older than thirty.
“We have to close the restaurant for the day,” Melissa sighed out once Jace and Alexander sat down in the seats opposite her desk.
“They didn’t—did they?” Alexander was hesitant to ask. While he considered himself a friend to Jace, Melissa was still his boss.
“They fucking did.” Melissa did her best not to spit out the words. “And it wasn’t just on that table. I can’t even begin to imagine where else they decided to have sexual misconduct while at work. I don’t feel comfortable serving to the public until this place has been scrubbed down by professionals. I’ve already called the police and sent out an emergency notification to everyone about the meeting we’ll be having at eight o’clock.”
“What about the workers that can’t make it?” Jace asked with a frown.
“They’ll be informed about the details at the earliest convenience to them. I’ll also be arranging mandatory training for proper work conduct. I don’t give a damn if my employees date, but it will not affect the running of my business.”
“Anything me and Alexander can do to help?”
“Just…” Melissa took a deep breath. “Alex, I assume you opened the kitchen. Please turn off the fryers and close out everything. I’ll be back there later to take inventory. Jace, put up a sign saying we’re closed for business. I’ll update the website. Oh, and when you finish, completely close out the register.”
Jace, despite the frantic chaos that was his mind on most days, only nodded and carried out his sister’s orders.
He couldn’t believe anyone had the nerve to actually have sex in their workplace. And it wasn’t even in a back room! It was right in the open, on full display!
He forced himself to take a deep breath.
It was going to be a long week.
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