“Hey guys. You want your usual?” I ask them both with a smile.
“Just our coffees for now, thanks, babe,” Wolf tells me. I give him a nod and a smile then head into the back to grab their drinks. Riley stands at the counter, her mouth wide open. “Close your mouth, Riles, you’ll catch flies.”
She laughs and follows me into the back. “I can’t believe they are all sitting together. I was fully expecting a war.”
I stop what I’m doing and turn to face her. “A war? Could you be any more dramatic?” I tell her as I finish making the coffees.
“I wonder why they are here?” she muses aloud.
I shake my head and roll my eyes, letting out a laugh. “Girl, you’re so nosy. Maybe they know each other and just wanted to catch up.”
She turns to walk out into the front, laughing at me, and she calls back, “And you’re so naive. Rival clubs don’t just meet for a coffee and a catch up.”
As I walk back to the table, the men who were deep in conversation stop talking the minute I appear. “One black, one latte. Let me know if you need anything else,” I tell them, smiling as I head back to a curious Riley.
More than an hour later, Wolf and Acid are still sitting in the booth with the other two guys. Riley and our chef, Mike, left a little while ago. I said I would cover Riley’s later shift so she could go out with some guy, so I’m stuck here until closing.
Checking my watch, I frown when I realise our second chef, Ian, is thirty minutes late. He’s never on time, but he always seems to get away with it.
Knowing I can’t work the kitchen, I grab the‘kitchen closed’sign and make my way over to the door.
As I stick the sign to the door, I hear the rumble of bikes approaching. Looking up, I see several of them approaching from both sides of the road, heading right for our carpark.
Nerves begin to bubble up in my stomach as I remember what Riley said about rival clubs and expecting a war.
I sneak a quick glance to my right. The men in the booth don’t seem to notice, or maybe they don’t care that there are a load of bikes coming this way.
I finish taping up the sign and hurry back behind the counter, I don’t want to be too close if something does happen with these guys.
I turn my back to the door and busy myself with cleaning out one of our coffee machines when I hear the door go and multiple pairs of heavy boots enter the cafe. I consider turning around, but I don’t, instead I keep my head low and keep myself busy.
A minute later, someone clears their throat.
“Hey, sweets,” Wolf calls out, and I turn around, giving him a smile as I make my way over to him.
“Hey, everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, can we get two glasses of water and another six black coffees?” he asks as he glances at the coffee machine I was just cleaning.
“Yeah, I’ll bring them over, give me five,” I tell him and quickly busy myself with the drinks.
As I place the glasses and cups onto the tray, I cast a quick glance over to the table where the men are sat. They’ve taken over another booth and have pulled a couple of chairs over from one of the smaller tables in the centre of the room.
I recognise two of the newcomers as Wolf's friends, but the other two newcomers I’ve never seen before. The logo on their leather vests matches the two men who were here first. One guy is sat slouched in one of the chairs he pulled over from the other table, his tattooed arms folded over his chest, and his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He yawns and rubs his hands over his face and then over his short dark hair before focussing back to the men around the table.
The other guy has spun the chair so he’s straddling it, his arms also heavily tattooed, his biceps bulging in his white T-shirt as they rest on the back of the chair. I swallow, suddenly nervous remembering Riley’s words about wars.
I swallow again, grabbing the tray of drinks and make my way over to them. I need to get a grip, there's no atmosphere and these guys all seem pretty relaxed with one another.
I place the drinks on the table, making sure I smile but don’t make too much eye contact.
A number of “thanks” are muttered from a few of them, but as I go to walk away, I catch the eyes of the guy straddling the chair. His steel-grey eyes are intense as he looks me up and down. I swallow, giving him a smile before turning and walking away, feeling his eyes burning into my back.
Chapter Four
I turn over in bed and stretch out my aching body.
Waking without an alarm is heaven. I’ve worked every day and evening for the last six days straight, mostly so I didn’t have to be home every day with my aunt and uncle.
