Chapter 1

The phone rings, shaking me from my distracted daze.
"Hello?"
"Matteo would like to see you in his office, Caleb."
"Sounds good Peggy."
I don't try to hide my annoyance from her because I know she gets it.

I pick myself up off my chair and head down the aisle past rows of office cubicles. The window on his office door has the blinds down so there are no inklings as to what is happening within. I enter the office.

Dressed in fine Italian clothes is a fine Italian man; well built with strong arms and a big chest with a slim waist. His colourful striped button-up and black, straight-cut chinos cling to his frame. Unfortunately, these traits come with a personality to match; he acts like this company runs off the top of his tight ass cheeks, when in reality, if this business was run the way he thinks it should, it would have gone under a long time ago.

He's sat behind his elegant hardwood desk.
"Did you bring the paperwork?"
"Peggy didn't tell me to bring anything, sir."
Despite my lack of respect for him, he is impossible to stand up to, he has such a commanding presence.
"It's fine, I'll bring them up here"
I walk around to the other side of his desk to look at his computer screen over his shoulder. The smell of his cologne can be smelled anywhere in the room but was particularly potent where I was positioned.
He proceeds to chastise me for my work ethic, some of which was not entirely untrue, but it was mostly just him being an asshole. He finishes up by saying something about how my formatting was alright like an extremely overstuffed insult sandwich with two sad, thin pieces of bread. As I'm walking out he asked me to pick up a coffee, which is absolutely not my job. Nonetheless, I oblige. And he wonders why I don't get my work done.

I step into the bakery nearby to pick up his coffee and I see a pack of 12 doughnuts on clearance for a great price. It gave me an idea. I paid for both items and left.

I knocked on Matteo's door before entering.
"Here's your coffee, and these doughnuts were on clearance so I picked them up, on me. They won't last until tomorrow though."
He said something under his breath that didn't sound like a thank you as I walked out.