Dear, Alessia.

Chapter One - Vodka On The Rocks.

9:40PM - Diamonds Club

“Literally, a major asshole” Kate exclaims as she passes me a clean glass to dry off, “I mean, who does that? he made me pay for his meal AND my meal.”

I chuckle while swirling a dry towel around the glass in my hand “did you expect more from someone you found on Tinder? I mean how many terrible Tinder stories have you hea-” I raise an eyebrow before Kate cuts me off.

“He said he was the CEO of some stupid company.”

“And— you believed him?! Please Kate, the more you explain this the more trouble i’m having taking you seriously.”

“This IS serious Alessia! Olive Garden is expensive!!”

“Not for a CEO” I joke, giving Kate a silly wink as I place the cleaned glasses neatly in a row on the shelf.

“Vodka on the rocks” a voice interrupts.

I turn around to see an extremely handsome man standing impatiently wearing a fancy suit and tie on the other side of the bar. His sharp jawline and effortlessly messy hair gave him a cliche bad boy look that would make any girl gawk at him.

“Are you deaf?!” he snarls, his fingers angrily tapping the counter top as I zone back into reality, “i’m in VIP room 3 and the girl working our room hasn’t been back to take our orders for more than 20 minutes”.

“I-I’m sorry” I stutter as I begin to prepare his drink, “i’ll have this made and delivered as soon as possible.”

The man shifts his head slightly to the side as his eyes scanned me slowly from head to toe, “I can see that no one in this club knows how to properly work, customers come first- you can gossip later”.

“Yes sir, I apologize for the inconvenience,” I say reaching for another glass, “your drink is ready, would you like anything else? I’ll be sure to have the girl working your room reminded to accommodate you and your group as soon as possible for future orders.”

“actually, i’d like YOU to work VIP room 3 for tonight.”

Kate gives me a subtle side eye as I stumble to find the right words to give the man a reply.

“I-I’m not sure if that’s possible sir,” I begin, “I was told to work the bar when I was hired; I’m not suitable to work the VIP rooms as a server”.

The man chuckles for a second as his slight smile shifts back into a disgusted frown. “I’d like to speak to your boss” he demands, taking a sip of the drink I placed in front of him “NOW”.

I nod my head, signaling Kate to get Greg from the back.

I can’t afford to get fired right now. I’m at the verge of getting evicted from my run down apartment; I needed this job more than anything.

A million thoughts begin to run through my head as I nervously begin to play with my fingers and bite my lip.

How does this always manage to happen to me. I only started this job 2 months ago. The pay and time schedule here wasn’t the best but since I hadn’t graduated high school; finding a job elsewhere was difficult and beggars couldn’t be choosy.

“Hello Sir, Gregory Jackson here- Owner of the Diamonds Club, how can I assist you today?”

I swallowed a gulp as I looked at Greg with apologetic eyes. Did I really do anything wrong though? This man was really a ticking time bomb.

“Good Evening Gregory” the man greets with a fake smile plastered on his face, “I was wondering if this wonderful individual would serve me and my business partners in VIP room 3- as the girl who was suppose to be serving us hadn’t returned in more than.. well, now it would be about 30 minutes” he says, checking his Rolex watch that hugged his wrist tightly.

Greg nervously smiled “yes, of course! Alessia will be your server for the rest of the night. I apologize for the inconvenience we have caused you and would like to offer a complimentary bottle of our most exquisite champagne.”

“That would be lovely, thank you” the man says. Greg gives me a low nod, giving my right shoulder a light squeeze- “don’t disappoint me Alessia,” he whispers before walking off.

The mans gaze slowly shifts back to me “your lip” his tone becomes serious, “it’s bleeding”.

I quickly grab a napkin and place it gently on my bottom lip before looking up, “it’s barely even bleeding” I say, “how did you—“

He was gone.

I decide a quick bathroom break would help clear my thoughts. It’s not like ‘mr. angry at the world’ could get any more angrier.

“f**k,” I whisper to myself as I stared deeply into the mirror in front of me. The girl staring back at me blankly has suffered and dealt with far more than this.. she was a fighter that the world could never bring down.

Working VIP was the best thing that could ever happen to me— the people usually weren’t alcoholic drunk pervs and the tips were far more bigger than working the regular bar. So why? Why did I feel so crappy about it. Dealing with arrogant rich men like the guy earlier was one of the cons of working VIP.. not to mention his ‘business partners’ were probably equally— or maybe even far more worse on the arrogant and entitled scale than he was. But I need this job to pay the bills.. and little did I know that this would be the moment my life was turned upside down.

********************

I opened the bathroom door and took a deep breath before heading towards the VIP rooms. The VIP rooms were on the 3rd floor overlooking the entire club.

Diamonds is one of the most biggest hot spot clubs here in Chicago, USA since it’s opening 3 years ago.

While there were some ‘lower class’ people who came and go- most people who come here were either really important or of middle class.

“Aaah, Alessia!” a familiar voice greets as I walk into VIP room 3, “it’s great to finally see you’ll join us. I see all the staff here are still incapable of being on time and doing their job.”

“I went to the bathroom; I was gone what? maybe a whole 10 minutes sir” I roll my eyes.

“Axl,” he mumbles.

“What?”

“My name..” he stops for a second before continuing, “my name is Axl, Axl Sinclair.”

I purse my lips forcing myself to give a ‘customer service’ smile, “right, Mr. Sinclair— is there anything I can serve you and your guests?”

I look around to see 10 other people silently watching the interaction between Axl and I.

“Well,” another man sitting in the far right corner chimes in- breaking the awkward silence in the room; “are you on the menu?”

When I said there were less pervs in the VIP section earlier— I take that back.

“I— Um..” I begin to stutter, before Axl jumps in with a slight growl in his tone, “that’s enough Silas! where are your manners?!”

“Defensive” Silas says as he slowly throws himself back into a lazy sitting position, curiosity gleaming in his eyes at the way Axl reacted.

I scanned the room once more as I start to realize how beautiful everyone in the room was— they were all charming and had such charismatic body language.. even without saying a single word.

The girl sitting beside Axl with her hand casually placed on his right leg had the most beautiful hazel colored eyes I had ever seen; her strawberry blonde hair flowing perfectly down to her hips— of course his girlfriend was gorgeous.. because so was he.

“That bottle of champagne your boss brought in earlier,” Axl says with a smile on his face, his tone now calm and light “we’ll have 2 more bottles of those.”

“Yes of course” I say, jotting it down into my small note pad, “I’ll have that served to you right away Mr. Sinclair.”

“Mr. Sinclair” he huffs, “just call me Axl.”

“Yes, Axl” I repeat before I hurriedly leave the room.

I quickly get to the back room of the bar and grab 2 bottles of the wine he requested when I feel a sudden tap on my right shoulder.

“What the f**k?” I say with a loud gasp, nearly dropping the expensive bottles of wine I held in my arms, “Kate?! are you crazy? you can’t just sneak up on people like that.”

“In my defense” she says, plopping herself up on a cold metal counter, “I did tap your shoulder gently to attempt getting your attention.”

“You should’ve said something” I reply in annoyance.

“Right, but this worked too didn’t it?”

“Sure, if it floats your boat then whatever you say Kate.”

“So, tell me all about it! how’s it going in the VIP? did you forget all about little old me yet” Kate jokingly says, as she twirls her soft brown hair using her pointer finger.

“Well” I begin, “for starters Axl and his business partners are all weird.”

“Axl?” Kate says, hopping off of the counter “such a sexy name to match such a sexy man.”

I scowl, “gross dude, his personality is so.. unattractive.”

Kate shrugs, “suit yourself, that just means there’s more for me.”

Kate winks at me before leaving the room and I quickly make my way back to the VIP room before I upset Axl yet again.

“Here’s your drinks sir” I say as I place the expensive bottles of champagne in buckets of ice and onto their glass table gently, “would this be all or would you like something more to drink? perhaps an appetizer?”

Axl was silent, his eyes bore deeply into mine as I start becoming anxious— playing with the hem of my work uniform.

“Sit down” he says. Axl’s tone is deep and demanding, “I’d like to have a drink together.”