Page 18 of Chief's Addiction

“What can I get you?” I asked, not making eye contact.

“Hello to you too, Cora.” The sound of his deep gravelly voice was like a dagger to the heart all over again.

“You’re holding up a table during lunch rush. Order or leave.” My jaw tightened. Okay, maybe I couldn’t handled it. All the same, I needed him gone.

He leaned forward, crossing his arms loosely on the table in front of him. “I’ll take a coffee. Black. And a few minutes of your time.”

“We’ve got plenty of coffee, but I’m fresh out of time.”

A hint of a smile played at his lips, and it pissed me off even more.

I’d forgotten how his face transformed when he smiled, how his eyes crinkled at the corners and how the one side of his mouth lifted higher than the other.

“I’ll wait,” he said with infuriating confidence.

I turned on my heel and headed for the coffee pot, trying to ignore the prickling along the back of my neck.

“He can wait until hell freezes over,” I muttered, filling a mug to overflowing with black coffee.

“Shit.” Quickly grabbing a towel, I cleaned up the mess.

Snap out of it! We’re not interested in anything he has to say.

Jacksonville wasn’t exactly a small town, and in the five years since I’d last seen him, not once had our paths crossed. Now suddenly he was in my diner, acting like nothing happened?

Hell-to-the-no!

Returning with his coffee, I placed it on the table harder than necessary, sending some of it sloshing over the rim.

“Sorry.” I smiled, saccharine sweet.

Lies. All lies. I wasn’t the least bit sorry. I hoped he fucking choked on it.

His dark brown eyes lifted from the mess on the table and locked on mine. “Your brother asked me to check on you.”

At the mention of my brother I froze. That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. “Braxton? Why would he?—”

“There’s been some... stuff going on. Club shit, nothing for you to worry about, but he wanted me to make sure you were okay.”

Crossing my arms, I studied his face. He wasn’t telling me everything. “What kind of stuff?”

“The kind that doesn’t concern you.”

“If it doesn’t concern me, then why are you here?”

Chief took a slow sip of his coffee, his eyes never leaving mine. “I told you. You’re brother wanted me to check in on you.”

Before I could respond, Earl shouted through the window. “Cora! Orders are piling up!”

“I have to work,” I said, already backing away. “Thanks for the warning. Consider me checked on.”

Without another look in his direction I threw myself back into the lunch rush, filling drinks, delivering food, and clearing tables. All the while, Chief remained in the back booth, his eyes following my every move.

After forty-five excruciating minutes, he still hadn’t left. He’d ordered a burger when Bethany passed by his table, and was nursing a second cup of coffee, seemingly content to wait me out.

Burt had finally left, but not before making one more attempt to secure a dinner date.

That would happen when hell froze over.

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