Page 32 of Stolen Princess

“Huh?” Oh, I said he was my boyfriend when we came in. “He’s good at sex.”

Rhys chokes, and a spray of yellow, foamy beer shoots from his mouth and dribbles down his chin. “Fuck,” he growls and grabs some napkins from a canister on the bar to wipe his mouth.

Masters chuckles as he runs a cloth over the counter. “Best of luck with this one,” he says to Rhys. “You’ve got your hands full with her.”

“I resent that,” I bristle.

“Is it wrong?” he tosses back at me, and I sigh.

“I don’t know. I kind of hope not.” Then again, I don’t exactly know what I am. I tilt my head. “Have you always wanted to run a restaurant?” The idea has merit. I love cooking. Maybe that’s something I could do someday.

Masters drops his elbows to the counter. “Not exactly. This was my granddad’s place, and he started it when he came over from Ireland. Then my dad took it over.”

“Oh!” I glance over at Rhys, but he subtly shakes his head, and I go back to Masters. “Go on. That’s amazing. I’ve never been to Ireland, but I’ve read it’s beautiful. And green.”

“Yes. Very green, though I’ve only been once. I went to university here in Messalina for engineering. Then my dad got sick, and I had to take over the family business.”

I cover my mouth with my fingers. “I’m so sorry. Is he okay?”

“No, he passed about a year ago. So now this is all mine.”

“But it’s fun, right?”

He shrugs.

Hmm.

“I used to run a jewelry store,” the guy down the bar jumps in. “It closed two months ago. I couldn’t keep it open.”

“That’s awful. Good thing Kevin here didn’t know about it. He’s a jewel thief.”

I get a sharp jab to my flank that makes me jump, and I burst into laughter.

“Sorry. Bad joke.” I hold my hand up. “I’m really sorry you lost your business. Did you enjoy it?

He shrugs, same as Masters did. “I wanted to be a dentist.”

I scrunch my nose, and Rhys whispers against my ear. “Someone who cares for teeth.”

I twist to him. “On purpose? They’re teeth.” I go back to the man. “I bet you would have been a great dentist. And a great… wait, what did you say you wanted to be?”

“Engineer,” Masters supplies.

I snap my fingers at him. “Yes. That. I love cooking. And baking. Do you think I’d be good at running a place like this? Maybe that’s my dream. Sort of like being an engineer and a dentist were yours.” I point at both men.

“I think you’d be better at it than this bloke,” a man on the other side of Rhys declares. Masters flips him a middle finger. I assume that’s not a nice gesture, but I don’t ask. I wish I knew more. I hate not knowing everything.

“If that’s your dream, you should do it,” Masters states heartily. “Remember, sometimes dreams last and sometimes they’re fleeting. That’s how life is.”

“But you don’t know what can be until you try, right? You have to chase your dreams, or what’s the point of having them?”

Everyone goes quiet, their owl eyes blinking at me in unison.

“Maybe you’re right,” the wannabe dentist muses. “Maybe I should try again. You should follow your dream too. Become a chef. Open a restaurant.”

I don’t know if that’s my dream. It sounds fun and exciting, though. One dream at a time. I’ll start with the sea and the festival and figure it out from there. And while I am chasing my dreams, and I do believe that’s vital, in my experience, dreams are also scary notions and can become toxic and obsessive. They made me desperate to the point that I blackmailed an admitted violent thief into making it come true. That’s not sane or rational thinking, and I worry that if I allow other things into my mind, they’ll destroy me for good.

Rhys stands, his stool scraping against the floor. “We should get going.”