Page 16 of Hidden Truths

“Nope. I’m gonna sit in Arabella’s section. Please move,” he answers without looking at Josie.

She huffs and stomps her foot, but moves out of his way. Brock steps up close to me and sits down at the table I just finished wiping down. He smiles up at me without looking at the menu. However, the smile falls from his face when he notices the change in my hair.

“What the fuck happened?” he questions, his voice hard and cold as I push a piece of hair that won’t stay in the hair tie behind my ear.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s been taken care of now,” I answer him, not looking in his direction as I pull out my order pad and get to work. “What can I get you to eat and drink?”

“I want a large soda and a small pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and olives on it, please,” he tells me, still looking at my hair as I finally look at him. “And an order of the cheesy garlic bread. A double order actually. That shit is so damn good.”

I smile at my friend as he returns the smile.

“I’ll bring your drink right over. It shouldn’t take long for your order to be prepared. If you need anything else just let me know,” I tell him, turning and heading to get his soda while turning in his order to Sal so he can get busy cooking it.

“You gonna take a break, Arabella?” Sal asks me as I fill Brock’s soda and set it on the counter.

“No. I’m okay,” I tell him just as my stomach growls in hunger.

Sal gives us free food when we’re at work. He’s also sent me home with food more than a few times. His excuse is the orders were messed up and he had to remake them before they even left the kitchen. I know it’s not the truth, but don’t argue with him. Sal is very adamant about certain things and you won’t ever win an argument with him. I’ve learned that the hard way. So, now I just accept what he hands over to me and thank him for the food.

“You’re not okay. I’ve got a few slices and some mozzarella sticks back here waitin’ for ya. Go sit with your friend and eat. I’ll bring out his order when it’s ready,” Sal orders me, his voice not leaving me any room to argue as he hands over a plate of food to me.

With a small smile on my face, I thank him before grabbing everything and heading to Brock’s table. He motions for me to join him and I sit down after handing his drink over. With my food in front of me, I start to eat the delicious food. I’ll never turn down anything from Sal. The pizza is the best I’ve ever tasted along with everything else. He doesn’t mess around with anything in the kitchen. Most things are homemade and he prepares everything on a daily basis. The man works his ass off and it shows by everyone continuing to come back to Slice of Heaven on a regular basis.

“Still not gonna tell me what happened?” Brock asks as I eat and look at him as he takes a sip of his soda.

“Nope. It’s not important. It’s done and over with. The person who did it isn’t gonna win because I think my hair looks better now than before it was cut,” I answer him, taking a bite of a mozzarella stick and pulling the cheese as far as it will go before snapping apart.

“Let me see,” he says, a quiet order as he looks at me.

Setting the other half of my mozzarella stick down on my plate, I wipe my hands off on a napkin and pull the hair tie from my hair. It falls down around my face and shoulders. Self-consciously, I run my fingers through the strands as Brock studies me.

“It’s definitely shorter than what it was before. But, I like it. Whoever fixed it for you knows what they were doin’,” he finally says, looking at me as a blush covers my face and neck from his compliment.

“How was practice today?” I ask, needing the attention off of me and onto something else.

“It was brutal. We’ve got a game comin’ up and coach isn’t holdin’ back. Though, I have to say seein’ Fallon get sacked was a high point of the day. His head isn’t in the game and coach chewed him a new ass,” Brock says, delight filling his face as Sal stops at the end of the table and sets his food down in front of him.

“Take your time Arabella. You haven’t taken a break since you walked through that door,” Sal says before turning and walking back into the kitchen.

“Your boss seems cool,” Brock comments as he digs into his food.

“He’s the best,” I say quietly as we both dig into our food and stop talking as we focus on eating only.

***

My shift has gone by exceptionally fast tonight. Even working until close, time has seemed to fly by me. I’ve waited on one table after another while making sure no one gets left out on either side. Josie has been too busy flirting with every guy who comes in to pay attention to her own tables so I’ve taken them over along with mine. When I sat down with Brock, that’s the only time I’ve been off my feet for a second since getting my hair fixed by Silvia earlier. Sal has been giving Josie his evil glare and I know tonight is more than likely her last night here. I’ve tried to warn her and so has everyone else. Sal doesn’t play games like this and he’ll make sure she doesn’t stay here to leave the rest of us to pick up her slack.

I’ve got about two hours left in my shift when the door opens again. I look up and my heart stops beating as I take in Fallon, Dante, Braxtyn, Dash, and Kash making their way inside. They see Josie at a table full of guys and immediately head in the opposite direction from her. There’s a large booth open in the back corner of my section and I watch as they head that way and take a seat. Brock looks at me to make sure I’m okay before putting his full attention on the guys as they talk quietly amongst themselves. Taking a deep breath, I hold my head high and make my way over to them.

“Welcome to Slice of Heaven. How can I help you tonight?” I ask, keeping my voice as pleasant as possible while pasting the fake smile I’m used to showing on my face.

No one ever gets my real smile with the exception of four people. Vinnie, Mrs. Andrews, Brock, and Sal. Those are the only people in this town I can be myself with. I’m still not a hundred percent sure with Brock, but he still gets my real smile.

“Bella,” Fallon says, leaning back against the booth as I keep my eyes on a spot on the table so I’m not looking at any of the guys. “Can you look at me, please?”

“I’m good looking where I am,” I answer softly so Sal doesn’t hear me.

“We just wanna talk, Bella. Please, why won’t you give us a few minutes of your time?” he questions me, his voice almost pleading which is something Fallon won’t ever do.

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