“Schedule works with school if I can do both Summit House and here,” Jordy explains, but I can tell he’s distracted. His hands wobble with the glasses, and he has to set them down.
I move over to help. “You okay?”
“I just . . .” Jordy gives a helpless little gesture out into the crowd and a sigh, righting his shoulders. His usual adorable charm and enthusiasm are dampened today.
“Did something happen with a customer?”
“No. Nothing like—” He looks up, and the warmth returns to his eyes. “You look good, Theo. Really good.”
My face flames. Last night, after dinner with Matt’s brothers, I couldn’t help myself and stayed at the Hobbit Hole. I am already moved in, and I also got started on the first three items of Quinn’s to-do list to get the renovations back on track. As always, I’m amazed what some hot water and sleep behind a closed door can do for one’s outlook on life.
I still have no idea what to do about Deny at the end of the week, but when I said yes to the Hobbit Hole, I also said yes to Matt, at least in my mind.
“Thanks. But what is happening? You are off your game.”
“It’s . . .” Jordy blows out a big sigh. “I know the guy. With Jack and Perrin and Bish.”
I look out, more around people than over them because I’m too short. Jack and Perrin and Bish are all relaxed around a table, at ease with the guy. He looks Italian and expensive but has a genuine smile on his face. Two other empty seats have drinks placed before them, indicating the seats are taken. I assume one will be Quinn. “He’s handsome—who is he?”
Jordy gives a wistful little glance over to the table. “He’s my godfather. Lucien Moretti.” His cringe is easy to read. “He makes me nervous as fuck, and of course they had to sit in my section.”
I help him finish the drink orders. “Probably here to check on you since you are working. He seems keen on what is best for you. Why does he make you nervous?”
Jordy snorts. “Have you seen him? He’s tall, dark, and perfect. I just . . .don’t know how to act around him sometimes. It’s dumb, really.”
“He does look intimidating. Want me to go? I got a big table in my section if you want a trade.”
Jordy hesitates, then his shoulders slump. “Nah. It would look weird. Maybe the floor will swallow me up.”
After taking care of my tables, I check in to see how Jordy is doing. Quinn has now joined the group, but I can’t see the fifth guy. Not until someone pushes their chair back to leave. I stop dead in my tracks.
“Hey, you okay?” a girl asks me, and I’m glad I wasn’t holding any drinks.
Deny sits at the table. Right next to Lucien and Matt’s brothers.
In a slow-moving moment of horror, his head raises up. Our eyes meet, and he gestures to the door connecting Black Diamond to Quinn’s architecture firm.
I have no real choice but to follow. I protectively grab the edges of my large black serving tray. Surely, nothing much can go down in the hallway during a busy rush.
Deny almost looks respectable, no goons in the shadows of the hallway. I’m so used to seeing him at that seedy bar, but without the sadistic bastard context, he can look upstanding.
“You are hooked up with the Manns, huh, kid?”
“I work here, and Quinn Mann owns the place.”
His hands rub together. “And lives over it, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.” That’s common knowledge. “I don’t have your money, Deny. Not all of it.” There’s no reason to hedge. I can’t deal with inane small talk. I’m also a bit bolstered by meeting Deny in the light of day. Not at my old apartment in Salt Lake, destroying every part of that life except the clothes on my back and the cash in my wallet. Not in the dark of the unnamed bar in Dillon demanding every cent I have to keep myself alive. Not in my sad excuse for an apartment beating the shit out of me.
I am also emboldened by the decision to give Matt my “yes” and stay in Bear Valley. I have to deal with Deny first.
“Money, huh? That little deal with Nico was sweet, but this could be bigger. If you help me.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Deny. But can you at least give me a number? Tell me how much I owe you, what it will take to never see you again?” I’ve asked before and never gotten an answer other than a punch to the stomach. But maybe I could ask Jack for a loan? Or Baylor. Quinn and Matt are out as my boss and my lover. I don’t mind asking for help, not when I would pay back every cent. It’s a business deal, just like the Hobbit Hole.
Of course, that assumes any Mann wants anything to do with me when they find out I lied to Matt and have been squatting on their property.
They might not find my reasons compelling. Just like not helping at Summit House when it’s within my ability or telling Matt I have been the one working for Maxine’s when he so clearly wanted to know. They might not believe Nico could destroy what Matt built.
