5
Elijah
The next two hours flew by. It was the kind of easy conversation that really drew you into a person, made you want to know everything about them. I learned about his roommates and their strangely named cats (seriously, Demon and Trouble?), and through his words I surmised he liked animals and kids. Overall, he seemed to be a warm person who truly cared for others--maybe at his own expense sometimes. I purposely avoided heavy topics, but I learned that Felix got this job recently after breaking up with his ex. Meaning that unless he didn’twantanother relationship, he was available.
That gave me a spark of hope. Even though we’d only just met, you didn’t just spend two hours talking with a stranger if you weren’t somewhat interested, right?
Our conversation probably would have continued until River lifted his head and pressed his snout to my leg with a loud huff, indicating he had to go to the bathroom.
“Ah,” I said. “River’s telling me he has to go outside.”
“Oh!” Felix said. “I didn’t even realize how late it’s gotten. I’m sorry for keeping you.”
“What are you apologizing for?” I asked. “I’m the one who asked you to stay and chat. Oh, and by the way, you’d better let me know the rates for Sitting with Customers, because I’m sure two entire hours is a significant amount of pay.”
“No, no,” Felix protested. “I already told you, it’s on the house.”
“Bullshit.” I felt for my inner coat pocket and found my credit card. “Bring me a machine. I still have to pay for this meal, too.”
“Mr. Cortez, please--”
“We just spent two straight hours talking and you’re still trying to call me that?” I said with a smirk.
His voice lowered slightly, like he was embarrassed. “Elijah. I don’t want to go back on my word.”
“You’re not. I’m a stubborn customer demanding to pay.” I held up the card between my fingers. “Got it?”
Felix exhaled and I heard his chair scrape backwards as he stood up. “Fine. I’ll go get the machine . . .”
“Thank you.”
There was no way I was going to let Felix off the hook for that. In a gimmicky place like this where omegas entertained alphas, two hours of one-on-one time was sure to be a nice chunk of money, and there was no way Felix could comfortably afford to pay it out of his own pocket. He was too damn nice for his own good. Maybe he hadn’t intended to spend that much time with me, but he never took the option to leave.
Hewantedto stay.
When Felix returned, his voice wavered. “Um. So, I double checked and the, uh . . .”
“Yes?” I prompted when he trailed off.
Felix sounded like he had just stood up in front of a crowd to give a speech with a public speaking phobia. “Well, the first five minutes are free. And then a full hour of time is, er, eighty dollars. We spent two hours, so that’s one-sixty, plus the food and drink, and tax . . .”
“The latte and cake can’t be more than twenty. With tax and tip, let’s make it two-fifty. Is that about right?”
Felix sputtered. “That’s way more than the total!”
“Don’t worry about it. I spend a lot of your time. Input it so I can tap the card.” I added in a growl, “Anddon’tlower the number just because I can’t see it.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that!” Felix cried. “It’s just . . . that’s a lot of money.”
“Felix.”
“Here.” He placed the machine on the table in front of me. “Two hundred fifty dollars, total.”
I tapped the card, then heard the receipt printing. “Thank you kindly.”
A different voice passing by--I recognized it as Sammy from earlier--said, “No, thankyou!We welcome you back anytime, sir!”
“I guess despite causing a scene earlier my presence is good for business,” I said to Felix with a smirk.
