MR. H. Read online

  Mr. H

  By

  Samantha Hart

  Copyright © Samantha Hart 2018

  Chapter One.

  To say I was thrilled when I landed a job interview at new up and coming restaurant ‘Collared’ would’ve been the understatement of the year, there wasn’t one word that quite captivated just how happy I was to get the chance to potentially work at one of the most talked about restaurants to open recently in the area, and to sweeten the deal, it was also only a few short blocks away from where I lived, in Lower Manhattan.

  I needed this job, well, any job really, I had bills stacking up which desperately needed paying, and an overpriced apartment’s rent that I needed to cover. My best friend and ex-roommate Jade had moved out the month earlier, leaving me struggling to pay all the amenities on my own – not that I wanted to let her know that, I didn’t want Jade feeling guilty over my incompetence.

  Keeping this apartment was the only viable option for me, it’s not like I could go running back to my parents, they lived back home across the country in San Diego, along with my two older brothers. It didn’t help that in the almost four years that I had lived here in New York, I’d been a major hermit and only made a handful of friends, and all of those friends were already shacked up living together, there was no way I could burden my clueless self on them. I had no other choice, I needed to attend every potential job interview I could weasel my way into, and that started today, with three set up for this morning through lunchtime.

  Not wanting to sit through my first interview of the day with a gurgling hungry stomach I force-fed myself a slice of boysenberry jam smeared, almost mouldy, stale toast, chased down by a scorching hot black coffee – turned out I’d forgotten to buy bread – and milk, again. I hadn’t realised how much I relied on Jade, until she wasn’t here doing all the things anymore. I was a complete unorganised mess on my own.

  Eager to impress any potential new bosses, I went through my closet in search of the perfect power outfit, throwing any ‘maybe’s’ on my bed,

  “Too revealing… too librarian… too perfect!” I said, laying my eyes on my favourite high waisted leather skirt. Yes, I do realise it was only a waitressing position, but I needed to dress up a little, if only to boost my own confidence. I squeezed my butt into the figure hugging skirt, which came down just over my knees, and underneath that I had on the tiniest black G-string, nobody wants visible panty lines through their skin tight leather skirt do they? I matched the G with a lacy black bralette, covered with a white blouse, tucked in and unbuttoned just enough to reveal the smallest hint of bra when I moved a little too enthusiastically.

  Today’s outfit felt like it could use straightened hair, so out came the GHD’s to tame my frizzy shoulder length locks, which were currently a temporary shade of soft pastel pink, like candyfloss. I made a little extra effort with my makeup, enhancing my deep grey eyes with some dark smoky shadow and I loaded my lashes up with thick black mascara before adding a final touch of deep purple lippy to my pout, completing the rock chic look I had envisioned.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I said, chucking on a pair of black pumps before pushing myself out the door.

  As I walked along the street, I could feel the nerves rising inside me, the closer I got, the more I felt like I could potentially lose my breakfast on the sidewalk – if you could even call that piece of cardboard I ate ‘breakfast’. The thick, muggy, summer New York air wasn’t helping my cause either, making it seemingly difficult to get any air into my lungs.

  It was only a job interview, but that was more than enough pressure in my books, my anxiety loved a chance to rear its ugly head wherever and whenever possible. Need to make a phone call? Hello anxiety. Need to buy tampons? Hello anxiety. Just need to walk passed a group of people? Hello again anxiety, you piece of shit.

  Inhale, exhale, I thought to myself, momentarily pausing at the restaurant doors to talk myself through the motions of breathing as if suddenly I’d forgotten how.

  Finally taking the step to walk inside, I was met immediately at the door by the manager, Katie, she seemed pleasant enough and not too much older than me, which instantly made me feel a smidge more comfortable. The man I had spoken with over the phone to arrange my interview sounded much more firm, I was expecting to be meeting him – but I was super glad I wasn’t.

  “Hi there.” She said kindly, reaching out to shake my hand, “You must be Hannah, I’m Katie, I’ll be doing your interview today.”

  Katie was a natural red head and stunning in her own understated way, wearing just enough makeup to let her freckles shine through and make her big brown eyes pop. She wasn’t very tall, but still a good few inches taller than my miniscule five foot two, and she exuded the type of confidence I could only dream of. When she spoke, her words commanded all of your attention. I wished I could be that captivating.

  We got along like we’d known each other for years, seeming to talk about everything except the job I was here applying for, and I wasn’t seeing that as a very good sign at all, in fact I was already resigning myself to the fact I wasn’t getting this job. Assuming she had already made up her mind about me, I humoured myself by sticking out the interview. I was enjoying her company anyway, maybe I wouldn’t get a job out of this, but I could make a new friend. God knows I needed them – apparently characters from books didn’t count as friends, who knew?

  But to my complete and utter shock, at the end of our meeting Katie offered me a full time position. I could barely believe what my ears were hearing when she said I could even start that night if I wanted – which of course I did.

  Handing me a couple of monogrammed aprons Katie told me she could see great potential in my friendly nature and she could tell I would fit in perfectly with the rest of the crew. After talking me through the employment contracts and their employee dress code policy, she asked me to come in early this afternoon for a couple of hours of quick training before my very first shift began.

  “Now, please don’t take this the wrong way Hannah,” Katie said, “But, please make sure you’re a little more covered up tonight ok?”

  As I looked down, and the realisation set in, I could’ve died of embarrassment on the spot. I hadn’t been paying my peekaboo blouse situation the amount of attention it required, causing a decent portion of my barely bra-covered breast to become exposed.

  “Oh my god Katie, I am so sorry, I didn’t realise –”

  “No need to apologise, there are absolutely no complaints here.” She winked as she spoke, “See you soon Hannah, I’m so glad you’re joining our team.”

  I smiled politely, hastily buttoning my blouse while slowly backing myself out the doors and on to the sidewalk.

  Fishing around in my handbag I eventually found my phone, I needed to talk to Jade, I needed to tell someone I’d gotten the job, I couldn’t believe it, it had only taken one interview and one boob slip to land myself a new job. Maybe my luck was finally beginning to turn around.

  “Jade, Jade, I got the fucking job!!” I said, followed by an overexcited squeal down the phone.

  “What? Your first interview?” Jade asked, “Woohoo! When are we celebrating?”

  Of course, celebrating only meant one thing to Jade, getting completely obliterated on poor quality tequila. Um, no thank you, tequila did not agree with me, never had, never would, but I knew her intentions were pure. Jade had been there to support me at every step of every way since we’d met three years ago when I started working at the café she was working at, a café that was owned by my then boyfriend’s Aunt. We’d bonded over our career aspirations, Jade with her dancing, and me with my writing. At least one of us was succeeding, even if it wasn’t me – I was happy for her.

  Jade was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever
met, both inside and out. Her ridiculously shiny, long, black hair, green eyes and the cutest bridge of freckles across her nose made for an extraordinary combination. Jade always seemed fairly tall in comparison to me and she had the most amazing dancer’s body – and so she should, I’d barely seen her eat more than chicken or fish with salad in the entire time we had lived together, and on those minimal days that Jade wasn’t dancing, she was working out in some form or another. I admired her dedication, but not only that, I admired her overall demeanour, she was, quite frankly the nicest person I think I’d ever come across, she always put everyone else first, a problem of yours was a problem of hers – an attribute but also her downfall, I’d seen her miss more than one audition by helping other people.

  To say I was happy watching her leave our apartment would’ve been a lie, but seeing her so happy and in love with Ben made it very bittersweet. She deserved how great Ben was to her, a construction worker by day, and a romantic by night, he was the perfect person to look after Jade for once. I still remember her coming home after her first date with Ben, all twinkle eyed and announcing;

  “You know, I never believed love at first sight was a real thing, but now, I may be a convert. I think I fucking love him Hannah.”

  After hanging up from bleating on to Jade about my brand new job, I headed back to my very quiet, half empty apartment, my apartment that now smelt like a marijuana factory, every time I accidentally left a window open it would just come wafting on in. These days the funky tang of weed was just as prevalent as cigarette smoke once was, at least in my complex anyway. This was yet another thing Jade used to do, that I was failing miserably at, such a small task, but she always made sure to close the windows. I sucked at this living alone business. But this really was the first time I’d properly been alone, and I was realising rapidly that I wasn’t cut out for it.

  Rummaging through my closet, I was getting more and more frustrated, it turned out I didn’t own as many black bottoms and white tops as I thought I did. Not work worthy anyway. I desperately needed to find more appropriate options to wear for tonight’s shift, Hmmm, I thought to myself, what would be respectable?

  I was used to working in an old outdated café, not some swanky new restaurant, a restaurant that looked gorgeously designed when I had a brief look around earlier, moody, dim, romantic sconce lighting, with dark walls and dark timber floorboards, dark coloured décor with glimmering accents of gold. There were both traditional dining tables available – made from black wrought iron and deep mahogany woods, and secluded romantic booth tables lining the exterior walls. My favourite area however, was the rather impressive bar located near the entrance and it looked to be home to some of the best liquor money could buy.

  It was upmarket and contemporary but not exactly formal fine dining, so I settled on a pair of tidy black skinny jeans tucked in to ankle boots with a decent chunky heel for some added height, A simple white fitted tee was all I could find, I just had to hope the small amount of cleavage it produced would be acceptable.

  Piling all of my hair into a bun on top of my head, I touched up my makeup and changed my bright purple lippy to a seductive pure red.

  “There, that’ll do, I’m more covered up, but nothing nun-like.” I never knew who I was talking to – but I had unfortunately developed the habit of letting my inner voice out.

  I was hoping this new job would be the start of a new chapter in my life, I really needed it, I had been stuck in a monotonous cycle of getting nowhere with my writing, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t find the perfect subject matter for my novel, constantly getting thousands of words in, before deleting them all and starting over, again and again. I was in a rut, a massive one, I knew I wanted to write romance, I knew I was meant to write romance, but I was struggling to find content that felt authentic.

  Not only was I in a writing rut, but a sexual rut too, which I suppose didn’t help with writing romance. It had been a very long time since I had even dated anyone, let alone had sex. I hadn’t had any action at all in nearly a year, not since I broke up with my ex-asshole Jason.

  On one warm summer’s evening, Jason’s birthday actually, I went over to his apartment in an attempt to surprise him. We had been together for two years at this point so I knew exactly where he kept the spare key.

  He should have still been at work at that time of the day so I thought I had ample time to get in and set up my sexy surprise.

  I snuck in the door – and as I walked in I thought I could hear voices. Put it down to stupidity but I just assumed it was his flatmate and his girlfriend so I ignored the noise and kept going to Jason’s room.

  I quietly cracked open his bedroom door so no one in the house would hear me, but what I saw when I peered in was not the empty bed I expected. There he was, Jason, my boyfriend, my love, on his bed with this blonde haired goddess, she was absolutely magnificent – she had the most beautiful tanned skin, huge perky tits, perfectly toned body.

  I stood there in shock, but I couldn’t look away.

  Neither of them had heard or seen me walk in. The blonde beauty was on her hand and knees facing the headboard, and Jason was behind her, grabbing and slapping her perfectly round ass as he pounded himself into her so hard she was nearly smashing her head against the headboard, I could hear her moans were increasing in intensity every time he slammed into her.

  Why has he never fucked me like this? I thought, but I still couldn’t bring myself to look away and I was so ashamed at the way my own body was reacting to watching my man fuck another woman… Every thrust had my own sex tingling, begging for action of its own…I couldn’t speak, I just stood there, like a creepy statue, watching, silently taking it all in, when suddenly they changed positions. Jason aggressively grabbed her hips and flipped her over on to her back.

  As he began moving around towards her head I knew he was about to slip his cock in her opened awaiting mouth – but that’s when they both saw me standing there, watching their incredibly hot fuck session.

  “HANNAH!!” Jason yelled as he jumped up off the bed, attempting to cover himself like I hadn’t just seen his dick heading for her hungry mouth.

  I stormed out of his apartment without uttering a single word, running the whole way home with mascara stained tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but I think the tears were more due to the confusion that I’d enjoyed what I saw, than my imploded relationship.

  Jason was an intelligent man, and a handsome one at that, he wasn’t overly tall, but built more on the stocky side. His light brown hair was swept across his head and always styled to perfection. It were his baby blue eyes that captivated me from the beginning, and when they were mixed with his gorgeous smile induced dimples, it was a combination that melted me, but obviously it melted many other women too.

  I thought I loved him, but the shock of finding him with someone else immediately put everything into perspective. It was then, that I knew, the love I thought we shared wasn’t what I had been led to believe, and if I could just shut it off like that, it wasn’t love. Not for me anyway.

  Jason tried contacting me several times after that incident, but I decided it was going to be better to cut all ties. Unfortunately for me – the café that I worked at was owned by his Aunt, which made things more difficult than the clean break I was hoping for.

  I never spoke a word to Jason but I saw him come in to the café a few times during my shifts, I also heard from mutual friends that he was desperately trying to keep tabs on me. I knew I had to get out of that job to finally be free of him but it was a stable income that I wasn’t ready to risk – yet.

  However after eleven months of being pestered by Jason’s Aunt to ‘give him another chance’ I knew it was never going to stop, and it was time for me to go. I’d saved up just enough to cover a few weeks rent before I found a new job. But even with that safety net it still felt like going bungee-jumping without being certain the bungee-cord would hold you.

 
; The broken trust over being cheated on, mixed with the confusion over why I enjoyed watching, had kept me away from the dating scene ever since, especially with the added bonus of an ex snooping around my personal business – lucky me. But now I had finally moved on from the café, and thought the Jason saga was behind me, I was beginning to feel ready to put myself back out there in the hopes that one day I would maybe find ‘the one’. Whoever that was.

  As a hopeless romantic, I wanted to be swept off my feet and treated like a princess in a fairy-tale. Since leaving Jason I realised I was never completely happy in our relationship, and now that my rose coloured glasses had been completely removed – I could see he wasn’t ‘the one’ for me after all, there was never any magical spark or intense passionate lust for one another. And that’s what I wanted.

  It was now nearing 2:30pm, Katie had asked me to come in by 3pm so I locked up my apartment and hurried my way to Collared, nervous for my first shift, but not quite as I’m-going-to-hurl anxious as earlier.

  One of the upsides of my anxiety though, meant I was early everywhere, every time. I couldn’t deal with the feeling of being late, or letting people down.

  The restaurant was only two to three blocks away, a small walk, but one that yields a whole array of aromas, the scent of freshly baked bread from a bakery, blasts of exhaust smoke from a multitude of vehicles, plumes of toxic stench from a dry cleaner, and a whiff of overdone cologne in a crowd of people. The whiffs and stinks of Manhattan was still something I was trying to come to terms with. San Diego had its own smells, but not nearly as all-encompassing as here.

  Arriving at the restaurant, Katie greeted me with a “Wow, very prompt.” As she showed me around out back, and where I could put my bag. My own wee cubby hole with my name already on it. How cute. Everything was very well organised here.

  On the way back through to the dining room we stopped in at the kitchen where Katie introduced me to the chefs, there were two of them and they were both women, Linda and Beth.