Page 130 of Masters of Pleasure
For the first time, she grabbed her phone, only glancing at the screen long enough to see Rae’s face.
“Hello?”
“Hey hun, are you okay?I just got a call from Nick.He’s worried as hell, and no one knows where you are.”
Emotions surged, clamping Avery’s throat shut again as misery, defeat, and the knowledge he must be so disappointed in her overwhelmed everything else.
She burst into tears.
Nick
It didn’t matter that it was a busy-as-hell Saturday night, Nick kept his phone in his pocket, ringer on, and not one person blamed him.Not that it was a worthwhile effort at first.He’d tried contacting Avery every which way he knew how.He’d even sent Luke to her apartment since he couldn’t step away from running the kitchen, but she hadn’t been home.
Which left him wondering where shehadgone, and he was worried as hell.
The rest of the staff was worried as well.Alice, Darnell, and Sandra kept shooting him glances over the line.Ravi, who had been called in to take over at the fryer station, knew something was up but not what and kept looking for clues from the rest of them.Add in a very grumpy George at Nick’s side, and the entire evening was turning into a shit show.
Why hadn’t she picked up her phone?
Had something happened to her?
He’d kept calling and texting from several phones.He’d even asked Olivia to call her, thinking she might answer for another woman.In hindsight, that might not have been the smartest thing.Olivia was not only Avery’s boss but a very intimidating woman.
Though it had given him the idea to finally call her friends.Thankfully, Olivia had those numbers.Domi hadn’t answered her phone, but Rae had and promised to try to get in touch with Avery and find out what was going on.
Nick had given up on Avery getting back to him, but he was hoping Rae could hunt her down, thenshe’dget back to him.
Since Avery wasn’t.
His feelings on that vacillated.
On one hand, he was furious with Chad and knew Avery would be upset about what Chad said and that their coworkers now knew about their relationship.
She’d run out on her job and wasn’t answering her phone.That wasn’t something that was acceptable under any circumstances, much less on the busiest night of the week.It was also incredibly unlike her.Not answering her phone might be explained by something terrible, and he was torn between hoping she was okay and wanting to spank the hell out of her if she was.Incredibly unprofessional on his part.
Maybe this is why people said not to mix business with pleasure.
“Here, Chef.”Alice slid a plate onto the shelf in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.He needed to focus on work.
Why hadn’t he thought about that when he’d decided to get involved with his sous chef?He’d thought about how great it would be to work together, so he didn’t have to worry about her feeling as though she didn’t get enough time with him, as he had in previous relationships.He hadn’t thought about what it would be like if they had a fight or she did something unprofessional that required a warning on her record if not firing her outright.
Shit, would the others think she was getting special treatment if he didn’t fire her outright now?
“Get your head in the game, Chef,” George murmured, elbowing Nick in the side.
Crap.He’d just been standing there again, thinking instead of doing anything.
Getting two more orders into the hands of the food runners, he nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone buzzed.Yanking it out of his pocket, he saw it was just a text, not a call.At this point, he didn’t care as long as it was about Avery, and she was okay.The pounding of his heart felt like it tripled when he saw the text was from Rae.
We’ve got her.She’s safe.She won’t be coming in to work tonight.
Nick blinked and re-read the text.Once.Twice.By the third time, his temper was up.What kind of shit message was that?
She’s safe?If she was safe, why wasn’t she coming in to work?Why wasn’t she texting him herself?Why was she blowing him off?He wasn’t just her boyfriend and Dom.He was her fucking employer.
He tapped out an angry message to Rae, then stopped.This wasn’t her fault.She’d done exactly what he’d asked—found Avery and let him know she was okay.
It wasn’t her fault Avery wasn’t coming back as she was supposed to.
