Page 126 of Masters of Pleasure
“It gets easier.”Luke squeezed his shoulder.“Especially when you have someone to talk about it with.”
“Right now?”
“Might as well.Shane won’t judge.Right, Shane?”
“La, la, la, can’t hear you,” Shane replied, not looking up from where he was taking glasses out of the bar’s dishwasher and drying them with a cloth.
What could it hurt?
ChapterTwenty-One
Avery
Walking into the kitchen,Avery finished buttoning up her chef coat as she looked around.Everything looked as if it had been cleaned up since lunch, and the chefs were doing their dinner prep.Not that she’d expected anything less.
“Hey, babygirl.”Alice was on sauté and gave Avery a little wave as she glanced up from chopping garnishes.It didn’t matter that Avery was technically one of her bosses.Alice had called her babygirl from day one.Avery had never been inclined to ask her to stop because she knew it was a measure of affection from the older woman.“How ya doing?”
“Good, thanks, you?”
“I’m here.”
Avery snickered.That was the answer Alice always gave.For her, it meant ‘I’m doing okay.’If she was having a bad day, she didn’t hesitate to say so, but a good day meant she didn’t complain.Winking at her as if she knew what Avery was thinking, Alice bent back over her garnishes.
“How about you, Darnell?”she asked their grill chef for the evening.He grinned and winked at her.
“Doing good.”
Turning to the left, she sighed inwardly when she saw Chad at the fry station.He might not be her favorite, but she tried to treat him like everyone else, anyway.
“How are you doing, Chad?”
“Like you care.”He snorted, wiping his hands on his apron, barely glancing at her.
Fine.Avery pressed her lips together.She should probably call him out for being so disrespectful, but it was the beginning of the shift, and she didn’t feel like dealing with his temper tantrum throughout it.Some battles were more easily won by ignoring the person.Don’t feed the troll and all that.
The pantry was empty.Sandra was probably getting something from the walk-in, so Avery turned away from that side of the kitchen rather than responding.Tying her apron around her waist, she glanced at the clock and frowned.Normally, Nick would be out here by now.
“Where’s Nick?”she asked, directing the question toward Alice and Darnell.
“Out at the bar.His brother came by to see him,” Alice told her, glancing up again.Something in her expression made Avery a little uneasy, not anything unfriendly, but it wasknowing.Amused.
Stop it.You’re imagining things.There’s no reason to be paranoid.
Unfortunately, before that thought even finished, Chad snorted.Her head whipped around to face him, and the derision in his expression, the transparent animosity, made her step back.
“Shouldn’t you know where your boyfriend is?”he mocked.
“I… he’s not…” Avery stammered, but the words weren’t coming.Say something!Deny it!At least tell him it’s none of his business!It was as if her throat had closed up, and she could barely breathe, much less speak, as panic rose inside her like a tidal wave.
“Don’t bother denying it.We all know you two are going upstairs to do freaky shit.”He snorted again.“At least that explains how you ended up as sous chef.”
His words hit like a punch to the gut, knocking the air out of her.Not only did he know about her and Nick, he knew they were going to Marquis.Knew they were doing kinky stuff.She could only imagine what he thought they were doing and what he thought of her.
Not just him.
Everyone.
They all knew now.
