“Not since my lunch break,” she tells me.
“Come on, let’s get you some food,” I say as I guide her out of the storage room. Leo and Noah are sitting at the bar; our remaining customer is long gone, and so is our waitress. They are alone. Music is playing, drinks are in front of them, and two large pizza boxes are set next to them. Noah is eating while Leo is talking about something. I use my hand on Rachel’s back to guide her to them. I help her onto a barstool, and I can tell she is still drained from our time in the storage room. I give her the wine glass I offered her earlier and reach behind the bar for the bottle and another glass. I pour some wine into my glass and then some into hers. I take a paper plate from the stack Leo brought out—probably because the man hates washing any dishes he can avoid—and since those two are not exactly customers, it doesn’t matter if we eat off paper plates. I take twoslices out of the box and sit on the barstool next to Rachel. I set our plates in front of us and take a sip of my wine before I set it next to my plate. She doesn’t speak, clearly still trying to gather her thoughts after her orgasm. I take a slice of pizza from her plate and bring it to her mouth.
“What the hell are you doing?” she screeches.
“Feeding you, obviously,” I say, staring into her eyes with one eyebrow raised.
“You are ridiculous,” she says with annoyance, but she takes a bite from the slice.
“Good girl,” I say with a smile, and she takes another bite. I could get used to this: my woman satisfied next to me, good food, wine, and my best friend laughing with a man of his own.It’s a good life.
Chapter 6
Kai
THREE HOURS LATER,after too many empty beer bottles and a quickie in the storage room, I am sitting behind the counter, looking at the empty space. The shift is officially over; Leo is cleaning tables, and I am watching my new favorite show. Rachel has been home for a while now and is sitting in her living room, drinking wine and reading a book calledTheir Deadly Game—a red cover with a skull displayed on it. Noah is on the other side of the couch with a book of his own, eating pizza and reading happily. I wonder if that’s a normal night for them. It’s Saturday, and they have had a full day, but is this really how they spend their nights? Reading books and drinking wine.
Leo comes up behind me silently, and when he speaks, I almost drop my phone onto the floor.
“Is this you not stalking the girl?”Come on, man, give me a break. We had a hard shift. I just want to entertain myself.
“No. It’s a TV show.” I pretend to act normal, but my normal screams guilty with a neon sign, a billboard, and a megaphone announcing it to the world.
“Sure it is,” Leo smirks. “And there she is, the leading star of the show,” he continues. “What do you know? It’s actually Rachel.”
“And Noah,” I add, as if this would make it better.
“Noah?” Leo’s focus shifts, and he practically snatches the phone from my grip. “Are they together? What’s his deal? Why is he always there?”
“Dude, Noah is gay. He was asking about you this morning,” I say, snatching my phone back.
“Really?” Leo is now invested, and I think I’m in the clear for the little stalking I’m doing.
“Yes, really, and no, I don’t think they live together if that’s your next question.” I can tell it was by the way he looks at me.
“He’s there a lot,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me, but I choose to reply anyway—the more he’s hooked, the more I can get away with this.
“From what I can tell, she lives alone, but he spends a good amount of time there.” Leo’s eyes widen.
“So, he’s there a lot,” he repeats.
“Do you want access to the feed?” I ask with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“No,” he quickly spits out. Then he looks at my phone again. “Yes. I want access to the stupid feed,” he admits in a low tone, guilt already filling his little head. I take his phone and open the security app we also use for our house and bar. I add her feed and hand the phone to him.
“There, now we can both stalk people like the good guys we are,” I joke.
“Fuck you,” Leo spits back at me as he takes a stool and gets comfortable with his phone. I slide the bowl of chips I was eating to his side, and he takes one without looking away from the phone. “You’ve turned me into a criminal,” he says as he puts another chip in his mouth without looking away from his phone.
“Yes, buddy, now eat your chips like a good boy and watch the show,” I joke as I get comfortable in my previous position.
“What happened when they came here earlier?” This man can’t shut up to save his life.
“Nothing.” I grab a handful of chips, playing it cool.I’m not cool.
“You know we have cameras in the storage room, right?” Leo smirks at me like he discovered the secret of the century.
“Please tell me you did not watch me fuck Rachel.” I turn to look at him in disbelief. This is not cool, man.
