Atonement

•2•

The first day under Haz could have gone much worse. I mean, I did avoid him all day though so that's probably why. I go down to the kitchen, and request the chef, Tracy to make me pasta for dinner. Tracy is my favorite person in this house. She's an older woman who went to culinary school in France. She's always chatted with me in her free time, I really like her.
"How you doin honey?" She asks as she cooks my food.
"I'm okay.. well at least I was until he showed up." I mutter.
"Do you really even want to be the boss anyways?" She asks. "Your father never left that office.."
"No, but that doesn't change the fact that they think I'm incompetent because I'm a girl." I groan.
"Show them just how competent girls can be." He advises.
She's right. The only way to show them I'm just as good as they are is to beat them. I can do that, I was raised here after all.
After eating my amazing dinner, I change into some workout clothes and head downstairs to the gym. The guys normally go in the mornings so it's pretty empty when I go. As I step through the doors, I audibly groan when I see who's working out.
Haz stands tall, punching the bag with tapped fists. He comes to a halt when the door shuts loudly behind me, his sweaty face turning to look over.
"Come to join me doll face?" He asks, the nickname making me cringe.
"No." I answer plainly, grabbing the tape off the bench and sitting down, wrapping it around my knuckles.
"You box?" He questions.
Does he really not understand that I don't want to talk to him? How could I make it any more obvious?
"What? Didn't think a girl could throw a punch?" I mutter, dropping the tape to my side and standing to my feet.
"Not really, no." He answers.
Wrong answer dude.
"Let's go." I say.
"Excuse me?" He laughs lightly.
"Try me." I say.
"I'm not fighting you." He shakes his head.
"Cmon, why wimp out if you think girls suck so bad at everything?" I ask.
"Were not fighting." He says firmly. "But if you want to show me.. go ahead."
He gestures to the punching bag and I roll my eyes. He totally just doesn't want me to hurt him.
"Step aside Harrison." I say, shoo'ing him over.
If my dad taught me anything, it's how to throw a punch. He always made sure I knew how to defend myself, and I can. I can even take down Eli, who's double my size.
I throw a few punches, impressive ones. The bag swings back as I hit it as hard as I can. Haz watches with an almost impressed expression on his face. He holds his hand up, signaling for me to stop.
"Here." He says, walking up behind me. He rests his hand on my shoulder, pushing it down slightly, and moving my elbow out a bit. "This will give you more power in your swing, knock someone out cold."
I mentally throw up at his hands being on me, but after fixing my positioning he backs off. I use his corrections to throw a few punches, hitting much harder than I was before. He's not a terrible teacher.
"See." He says with a cocky smirk.
"Yeah whatever." I roll my eyes.
"There's a lot you could learn from me." He states.
"I think I'll pass." I say.
"Can't hate me forever, Aurie." He says, grabbing his water bottle off the floor and walking towards the door.
"Oh I sure can!" I call as he walks out.
I do my workout routine, getting all my frustration out through a good sweat. Tomorrow has to go better..
_____
"Eli is on west side, Jordan is downtown, and Weston is going to Cambridge." I say to the group of men standing around me. "I want all of the debt paid. No more letting things slide. Understood?"
"What's going on in here?" Haz asks, walking into the room.
"Getting set up for the day." I answer.
"That's not your job." He says and I scoff.
"Dismissed." I say to the group, the guys quickly scurrying off out the door. Once it shuts, Harrison focuses all his attention onto me.
"You have a lot of nerve trying to override me." He says.
"I've been around for a very long time, Harrison. You've been here for one day. They respect me, and trust me. They don't even know you." I say.
"It doesn't matter, I'm the boss now." He says.
"Yeah, sure." I laugh.
"Darling, you do not want to cross me." He warns, his eyes zeroing in on me.
"Funny you threaten me, because I know for a fact you wouldn't have gotten this job without swearing to my father to protect me. He's got eyes and ears everywhere. If something were to happen to me at your hands, you'd be dead in a second." I say. "So Harrison, you do not want to cross me."
I step out of the office, shutting the door behind me. I hit into someone, stumbling backwards slightly.
"Oh I'm sorry." I say, seeing the brown eyed boy once more.
"No worries, is Haz in there?" He asks.
"Yes but he's grumpy, might wanna get him a cookie." I tease and he laughs.
"I don't think Harrison has been happy in over a decade, that's just who he is." He comments.
"Well, I should get to work but, see you around I guess." I say.
"Well I'm sleeping right down the hallway so you definitely will." He smiles.
"You're living here?" I ask.
"Yeah." He nods. "Hopefully that means I'll get to know you better."
"It definitely does." I say, walking past him and down the hallway.
I sit in my office, doing my usual paper work that I use to help my dad out with. Filing was never his strong suit, so I took the work load off him. I will always remember my first day here.
I was nine years old. My mother got into a car crash and ended up in the hospital. I had to come here, there was nowhere else for me to go. To distract me, my dad had me organize all the files in alphabetical order. It was so relaxing for me, especially during that stressful time. When my mum died, I was shattered.. my dad brought me to live at the house, and I met all the men who practically helped raise me. They're all ten to twenty years older than me, but they're like my best friends. Especially Eli. He's my very best friend.
This place became my home, the people who live here became my family. I can't imagine my life any other way.