Claiming Olivia by Yolanda Olson

It wasn’t as fancy as the restaurant he had taken me to the night before but it was still pretty.
    There were tables outside and were full of people sitting around laughing and talking as they ate. I walked up to the maître d and told him who I was looking for. He stared at me for a moment, before running his finger down the list of reservations and nodding, beckoning me to follow behind him.
    I glanced around the restaurant as I walked trying to get a glimpse of Alejandro.
    “Miss?”
    I looked at the maître d as he stopped at a table with two people sitting there laughing and enjoying their dinners like everyone else here.
    “Liv!”
    I glanced down and noticed that he had stopped me in front of Alejo’s table. And Alejo wasn’t alone; he was sitting there with a very pretty brunette who gave me a tight smile.
    I looked at her then back to Alejo as I felt myself become angry. I dropped my purse into the chair in front of me and began to drum my fingers along the top of the chair.
    “I got your note,” I said.
    “Good, I was hoping you would come tonight,” he said leaning back in his chair and putting an arm around the back of the brunette’s chair.
    Are you fucking kidding me? I thought angrily.
    “Well, have a nice evening,” I said curtly as I grabbed my purse and walked way.
    “Liv! Wait!” he said behind me.
    My pride was wounded right now and I didn’t want it to be downright broken, so I continued to walk as quickly as I could. I was so angry that I didn’t realize I had bumped into a waiter and caused them to spill their food. I was humiliated too. For some bizarre reason, I thought we might have had something, even if it was minuscule, but apparently I was wrong.
    “Olivia! Stop!” he said as he followed me out of the restaurant.
    “Fuck off!” I yelled without turning back as I took the corner as quickly as I could and looked desperately for an idle cab that I could hop into and disappear as quickly as possible.
    I heard him as he broke into a jog and felt him grip my arm. I tried to pull away but he turned me to face him.
    “I asked you to stop,” he said looking serious.
    “And I told you to fuck off,” I replied ripping my arm out of his grip.
    He stood there looking at me in disbelief for a moment as I walked away angrily and all but jumped on the first cab I saw coming down the straight. I waved my arms crazily over my head and I got it to stop. I jumped in the back and told the driver to get me back to the hotel.
    When we reached the driveway, I threw him a fistful of money and walked the rest of the way. I got to my room and slammed the door shut behind me. I let my purse fall to the floor as I stood there for a moment trying to understand what had just happened.
    Alejo invited me to dinner and when I had shown up he was there with some pretty girl fawning all over him.
    Fuck him, I thought angrily as I put the extra lock on the door and started to undress myself.
    I was laying comfortably on my bed about half an hour later, almost asleep when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, I pushed my sheets off and walked over to the door. Something told me to leave the lock on so when I opened the door the latch caught the door preventing it from opening all the way.
    I expected to see Cassidy on the other side of the door, not Alejandro.
    “Oh God, fuck off already ,” I spat angrily as I closed the door.
    “Olivia, open the door,” he said as he knocked on the door again.
    “Go away, Alejandro,” I said through the door.
    “Not until you open the door,” he said as he knocked again.
    I walked away and turned off all the lights and climbed back into the bed. I had no plans on opening the door, so as far as I was concerned, he could stand out there knocking until his knuckles were raw.
    After almost a full five minutes of incessant knocking it stopped and I let out a sigh of relief. Another three minutes passed before there was a softer knock on the door with Cassidy sounding