Page 7 of Chef
“No, baby, I think for this to work it has to be Chef. You have history, you know each other. It’s more believable,” Blanche’s disembodied voice says. Filling the room with logic. Good fucking logic if you ask me.
“It’ll never work. You can’t convince people we’re in love if the bride hates the groom.” She gives me a tight smile. Smart ass.
“There’s a thin line between love and hate, Sagey Girl,” Tav says on a chuckle.
“Oh, and you know what?” I can tell Mira’s excitable staccato from anywhere and I know whatever she says is going to be a doozy. “This could be perfect! Second chance enemies to lovers with a grovel? You could make his life a living hell, Sage. All while luring in a bad guy to the place where your mom massacred a whole weird cult. Ugh, this stuff really does write itself." Mira's voice drifts off near the end of her sentence and we all know she’s gone off to brainstorm a new book.
“Hate to break it to ya, Sage, but they’re right. The best way for you to draw this Nathaniel guy in is to pretend to marry someoneelse. I know it’s not fucking ideal, marrying you to someone else to dodge a marriage you were sold into, but this way we can keep everyone safe and do this shit on our terms. You’re not alone, Sage.”
“You never were,” I add quietly, trying to catch a glimpse of her deep, dark eyes.
She swallows and I know it’s a bitter fucking pill. I know I was her first love; shit, she’s mine, and it was my own bullshit that put a wedge between us. None of this is her fault, and yet here she is, keeping her head up and trying to make the best of the shit sandwich she’s been handed.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Only so we can get rid of Nathaniel. It has nothing to do with Chef and my history. This is purely for the DRMC and to set me free.”
Dex looks round the table, nodding. “You sure?”
Sage huffs, “I don’t have any other option, do I? You’re the Prez. Organize it and we’ll get it done.”
“You’ve made the right choice, Sagey Girl,” Vex says, reaching over and gripping Sage’s hand.
“Wasn’t much of a choice.” She sniffs then lifts her head, smiling tightly. “Mom?”
“Yeah, baby?” Blanche replies, sounding almost hesitant.
“Better organize a wedding. Damian can cook.” Sage shoots a cheeky grin at Damian who lays his large hand over his chest.
“I am truly honored, cher. You’ll have the finest wedding the BBQ Shack has ever seen.”
Sage laughs that tinkling sound that I thought I’d never hear again. “Right. Let’s do this.”
Her gaze meets mine and this time I don’t see pity or hurt. I see anger and a little bit of fear. Winning her back is going to take a lot fucking more than I thought, but it’ll be worth it. She is worth it.
Sage
I sit in Church long after all the men have left. All the adrenaline of driving here and begging for an audience with Dex has left my body and now all I’m left with is…shock. Like seriously, what the fuck just happened? All I wanted was a place to lay my head until I could lure Nathaniel here. Next thing I know I have a giant Cajun talking about what hors d'oeuvres TumTum is going to be making at my wedding to Chef. That giant douche canoe. Ugh. I should be over the anger. The hurt. I even thought I was until the stupid idiot was shot and then all these feelings of unrequited love came rushing back. The thought of there being a world without Chef in it somehow got all up in my feels and now I’m all confused over a man who threw me away. Well, fuck him. I’m here for a reason and that isn’t to play house with him. I will be as polite as I need to be to live in peace until I kill that pasty piece of dog turd who is still up on the screen behind me. Then I’ll hot foot my ass back to Rose Grove. Easy. Oh, and probably get a divorce from my fake marriage.
Taking a breath I slap my hands down on the table and get to my feet as if I’m 60 years old. I feel it after driving here and going through that Church session. Moving, I push my chair in before I leave, then tidy up all the other chairs on my way out, making sure they’re all pushed in nicely before I head out to the common room.
“Sage? Are you OK?” Loyal asks, concern written all over her face. “Justice told me who Richard McDonald really is. I can’t believe it. Well, no, actually Icanbelieve it, but not really. He always was an absolute dickhole.”
Her words take me aback and I can’t help the snort that flies out of me. “Loyal,” I gasp, clutching my non-existent pearls, “a good Keep woman doesn't talk like that!”
She throws her head back and laughs before pointing at Joe who makes a dramatic bow. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
I like these women. I met them when we were all holed up at Switch’s family ranch. I even met Nell, who Sniper seems to have eyes for, but I’m not sure about her. She’s off. Broken in a way I’m not sure can be fixed. Although if anyone can do it, I’m sure it’s Sniper.
“So, to answer your question, I’m doing OK. Not thrilled that I have to marry Chef just to lure Nathaniel in, but, well, I just want this over with.”
“And in the meantime, we get to have fun,” Joe grins, the cute gap between her teeth on display.
“Not too much fun,” Justice grumbles from beside her. She smiles up at him and a blind man could see the love hearts in her eyes.
In fact, a blind man could see the hearts in Justice’s eyes for her. I stifle a snort when I notice that somehow both Justice and Joe are even blinder than a blind man because neither of them has a clue what the other feels. None at all. Darting my gaze to Loyal my snort accidentally slips out when she rolls her eyes at me, before she leans in.
“They’re so in love and yet neither of them know the other feels the same way. So we all sit here watching them moon over each other.”
“It’s almost painful, them two blind as hell,” Damian says as he looms over us.
