I spun around and grabbed the lastof the food that needed to be taken to the commissary. It was a pain to haulthe food back and forth every single day, but at least I could park the truckhere without worrying about it. Vann was awesome for that.
“I just have these,” I pointed atthe crates of food that needed to be carried to my car.
“This seems unnecessary,” Killiansighed. “Why don’t you just store everything atLilou?”
I squinted at him, waiting for himto get all the conflicts of interest involved in that one question. When hedidn’t figure it out on his own, I gave him my reasons. “Because that’s dumb.”
He shook his head and grabbed acrate. “Where are you renting space from then?”
“The commissary.”
He turned to Wyatt, not giving myanswer a response. “Thanks for helping, man. I owe you.”
There was a weird beat of silencewhere Wyatt and I simultaneously wondered why Killian owed him. Wasn’t it me Wyattdid the favor for?
“It’s no problem, Chef,” Wyattshrugged. “I’ll just head back. Who’s in charge now?”
“Kaya, but take over when you getthere.”
“She’s going to be pissed.”
“Who cares,” Killian shrugged. “Itold her you’d be back. Don’t let her give you any shit and make sure she stayson track. I’m not dealing with her temper tantrums, yeah?”
“Got it.” Wyatt swallowed thicklywhich made me think he was more nervous about standing up to Kaya than hewanted Killian to believe.
“And, Wyatt?”
“Yes, chef?”
“Don’t fuck anything up.”
Wyatt gulped for the second time.“Yes, chef.”
Killian jerked his head toward thedoor, and Wyatt dropped the rag on the counter and backed away. “See youaround, Vera.”
“Thanks again,” I told him quickly.“I really appreciate you showing up when you did.”
His eyes flashed with concern andhis mouth pressed into a frown. He hadn’t asked any questions about Derrek, andI was grateful for that. But looking at him now I could tell he was worriedabout me. I just didn’t have anything to tell him.
I was worried about me too.
He lifted a hand in a lazy wave anddisappeared out the door.
I turned away from Killian andfocused on the closing tasks. “I just need to shut everything down, then I’mready to go.”
He didn’t say anything, so I wentabout double checking everything was off, closing the windows and lockingeverything up. It was a twenty-minute routine that got tedious, but Killiandidn’t complain.
When I was finished, he picked up twocrates of food, one on top of the other, and headed down the steps. I grabbedthe remaining crate and followed him.
He hovered over me while I set minedown again to lock the outside door. “Thanks for staying with me,” I told himin a voice just barely above a whisper.
“Derrek Hanover is yourex-boyfriend? The one that drove you to Europe?”
Well, he didn’t waste any time.
I knew he would have questions. Whatwas worse, I knew he would want answers. My days of dodging the whole truth andnothing but the truth were over.
But, damn, I wasn’t ready for this.
