CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Brandon arrived and went behind the bar so Heather and I could help Lily and Anne, the other two servers from the diner. After the third hour of full tables with more people still streaming in, I asked Heather if it was always like this and she nodded with a rueful grin on her face. "Why do you think I get so pissed at Brandon for banging my friends? They quit after he breaks up with them. I can't keep losing anymore girls."

"Watch out!" Lily called as she hurried towards us and collapsed a bin full of dishes on the counter. "Whoa. I almost dropped that. Manny would have my hide."

Heather snorted, "Yeah, right. My dad? He can't even bring himself to squash a ladybug. Your job's safe if you break a few dishes." When the door opened and a bunch of guys walked in, she groaned but started towards them.

Lily grinned as she turned to watch her beside me. "She's right, you know."

"About?"

"About her dad. He's a softie, that's why so much of the other stuff falls on Heather and Brandon's shoulders. They do the firing and hiring. If anyone would fire me, it'd be Heather."

When the guys folded around a table in the back corner, Heather stood with pad in hand. All of them stopped and scanned her up and down. She shifted her weight to one side so her hip stuck out and lifted her chin up. They looked up with cocky smirks already starting, but those fell away as soon as they caught whatever expression she wore. A few cleared their throats before snatching up the menus she plopped on the table.

I chuckled. She had stopped their flirting in its tracks. Heather was not someone I wanted to mess with.

"So what's your deal?"

"Huh?" I looked over. I had expected Lily to leave the dishes and hurry away again, but she had been watching me as I watched Heather. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Heather likes you, a lot. If another girl had shown up two hours late on her second day, she would've been sent away at the door."

"Oh." I shifted around and reached for the bin of dishes. I could wash them, anything to get away from this line of questioning. I liked Lily and Anne from the night before. Both were on the heavy side with friendly smiles, but I grew uneasy at the keenness in her eyes now. It hadn't been there the night before. "It's nothing. My mom went to the hospital today. I was late because of that—"

"Oh my gosh!" Her hand clamped on my arm.

Startled, I let go of the bin, and it landed with a thump back on the counter. "No, it's okay. I mean, it was a shock, but my mom will be fine. I think it was—"

"Logan Kade just walked in here," she hissed. Her hand tightened on my arm. I gritted my teeth against the pain from her hold but processed her words. Sure enough. Logan waltzed through the front door as if he owned the place. His eyes were narrowed, but the same cocksure smirk was there as he scanned the room. When he saw me, he paused in question, but I shook my head so he nodded and turned to the bar. He lifted a hand in the air. "Yo."

"Kade!" Brandon boomed from the bar. "Get your ass over here, man!"

The two bumped fists together when Logan claimed a stool at the bar. The two acted like long-lost best friends. It wasn't long before they were having shots. After an hour, the enjoyment of each other's presence wasn't fading. I was mystified. Logan never sought me out. He seemed content to swap stories with Brandon, who I was reminded had played football with Logan and Mason a year ago. That startled me as well. Heather's brother owned and ran the bar, but he had only graduated high school a year ago. That was a lot of responsibility, but he seemed to handle it fine, like Heather did with running the diner.

Just then, she slapped a hand on the counter beside me. "I need a smoke break. You game?"

"Game?"

She jerked her head through the back door. "Come with? You're up for a break soon, aren't you? Lily and Anne can handle our tables for awhile."

"Tables? You mean my two and your ten?"

She flashed a grin as she reached for her purse under the counter. "Come on. This'll be interesting."

"What will?"

But I didn't have to wait long. The second we went through the door, Logan popped out behind us and shut both doors so no one could see or hear us. He claimed a chair on the other side of Heather since I was next to the door.

She lit her cigarette, took a drag, and leaned back to watch us.

"You don't want to talk to me in there?" Logan leaned forward on his elbows. He'd been happy inside, he was intense now.

I ignored that question. "Mason told you?"

"You yelled it across the room."

"Oh." I flushed as I remembered. With Mason shirtless, I hadn't noticed anyone else. But he wasn't there to question me about my job. "What's going on?"

He expelled a breath and glanced at Heather.

She blew out a long puff of white smoke before she lifted the cigarette again. "I ain't going anywhere, pretty boy. This is my place. This is my break. She's my friend now. You got something to say, share it here or keep it till later, but I ain't going anywhere."

He frowned and then shot her a dark look. "Whatever."

She rolled her eyes and took another long drag from her cigarette.

"Logan."

His eyes jerked back to mine. "Right. So." His eyebrows furrowed together.

"So?"

He chewed his lip for a second before bursting out, "Why didn't you say anything about what your mom was going to do? You told Mason, he told Nate, but no one told me. What's up with that?"

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