Page 14 of Hot Hearts
“Hi.” I give an awkward as hell wave. The walk of shame joke is no longer a joke. I fight not to reach up and fix my hair, which I’m guessing is a mess. I didn’t pay it any attention when I quickly got dressed.
The expression on the girl with black hair quickly changes from surprise to a glare. “Who are you? All the offices are closed up there,” she remarks.
“I wasn’t at any of the offices.” I step off the elevator because it starts to beep.
“Bullshit, who are you?” The other two girls don't say anything while the other steps closer to me.
“I’m Slater. I was at Brooks’ place.” Her eyes roam up and down me. Okay, wow. I didn’t need her to tell me I look like shit too.
“You’re a liar.”
“If I were a liar, I would have denied my walk of shame.” All three of them gasp. Shit, why did I say that? Dark Hair gets it together quickly.
“You’re full of shit. No one is allowed up there.”
“I’m not no one.” This time I step toward her. “I’m his fiancée.” I can’t stop the words from coming out. Damn it and my mouth. I’m sure word is going to get around now.
“No.” She shakes her head rapidly. “It’s impossible. I know it.” She spins around, almost hitting me in the face with her ponytail before marching off and down the hallway.
“Are she and Brooks a thing?” I can’t help the jealousy that begins to creep its way in. He told me he’d never slept with anyone, but I’m not sure I’m buying that. It’s easier for me to think straight when he’s not near.
“I’m not in this,” one of the other girls says, turning to follow after the rude one.
“You really with Brooks?” the last girl asks, giving me a soft smile.
“I don’t know what Brooks and I are,” I tell her honestly.
“But you were up there.” She nods up. “At his place?”
“Yeah.”
Her smile grows bigger, showing off dimples. “Good. I’m Quinn, by the way.”
“Slater.” I glance down the hallway. I need to get out of here. Dark Hair might be snitching on me. “I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting you,” I tell her, heading for the side door we came in, pulling my phone out in the process. I need a ride.
“I’ll be seeing you around, Slater,” Quinn calls after me.
My ride doesn’t take long to show. I wait until I’m back home and in my place before I text Brooks, letting him know I arrived safely. I can see he read the message, but he doesn't respond. I toss my phone down, telling myself that he’s busy and that I don’t care.
I guess I am a liar after all.
Chapter Ten
BROOKS
“What do you mean they delivered our beef to La Boeuf?” I stare dumbfounded at my sous chef, Jess.
She wears an equally pissed expression. “The butcher has a new boy working logistics, and for some reason they entered your order into La Boeuf, who had also ordered the same meat, so it’s not like we can even go there and get the overage from them. It just doesn’t exist. And the butcher said that the only extra stuff he has left are choice cuts, not prime.”
I spit out a curse so vile half the kitchen flinches. We cannot serve choice cuts at The Plate. Our customers would flay us alive in their reviews and deservedly so. “We’ll have to do lamb then. Get on the phone with some suppliers and see what you can find. If I have to drive to another state, so be it. Anything within—” I check the time. Only six hours until the first service. “Onehundred miles.” This puts a wrench in my day. I’d planned to spend it with Slater, but I’m needed here.
“I need someone from the front of the house to run upstairs for me.”
A few minutes later, I spin around to see Gabby, one of our front of the house staff, waiting to speak to me.
I start to order her to go up to my apartment then realize no one here knows what’s happening in my life. The Plate is not a large place. My staff of about fifteen provides two services a night to forty people in total. Because we are small, we are a family. We yell, we curse, we cry here, and so they should know before anyone else that our family has grown by one. I send Gabby out to get the rest of the staff.
Once everyone is assembled in the kitchen, I announce, “I’m getting married.”
