Restaurant Wars

by Shawn Lane

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2016 Shawn Lane

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-677-1

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Kerry Genova

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  RESTAURANT WARS

  Romance on the GO TM

  Shawn Lane

  Copyright © 2016

  Chapter One

  Thomas MaCaffrey hated Noah Petrie. He really did.

  Yeah, it was true that Noah had the world’s most perfect body. All muscles, six-pack abs, tall, dark, and swoony. That chiseled jaw, those steely gray eyes. God, it was disgusting.

  Thomas was pretty sure Noah was straight. And even if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Thomas did not want Noah to bend him over the nearest table in the restaurant. He did not.

  Thomas’s restaurant. His. Noah shouldn’t be there.

  Well, technically, Thomas did not own the restaurant. Actually, technicalities aside, not even close. A restaurant corporation owned it. It was a chain. With restaurants in big cities similar to this one. New York, San Francisco, Chicago. Others too. This one happened to be in BH. Beverly Hills.

  The point was that Thomas might only be a waiter there, but he’d been there two years already, putting himself through college, so he could eventually go on to bigger and better things. What those bigger and better things were, Thomas didn’t know. Yet. He was currently pursuing a degree of an undetermined nature. Undeclared. He would declare it eventually. He’d narrowed it down to three choices. Four. Or maybe five. He’d figure it out. General stuff had to come first anyway.

  Thomas realized he was getting distracted … again. And it certainly wasn’t Noah that was distracting him. Sure those muscles bulged a bit when Noah passed by carrying way too many plates than was safe.

  Thomas had been here much longer. He was experienced. Courteous. One might say an expert on the menu. Even the ever changing specials rolled off his tongue as though it was a second language Thomas spoke. He didn’t think it was bragging to say that many returning patrons asked specifically to be seated in his section. He was popular there. Everyone agreed.

  And then … Noah Petrie had appeared.

  Thomas’s nemesis. Not just at his coveted place of employment, also known as the restaurant, but also prior to the current ruination of Thomas’s life.

  He was more muscular and obviously older than the last time Thomas had been unfortunate enough to encounter him. But Thomas recognized him before the manager had stated the hated name.

  Noah had been a year older in high school than Thomas. They’d grown up on the same suburban street, a few houses down from each other. He’d practically spent his entire childhood and teenage years around Noah Petrie. Not that they were friends. Far from it. They’d never played together as children. Even if they’d been in a class or two during high school, they’d never sat side by side. The only acknowledgments Noah had ever made of Thomas’s existence had been negative ones.

  Once when Thomas was like ten, a ball he’d been playing with landed in the Petrie’s front yard. Since Thomas didn’t see anyone around, he’d gone to get his ball. He’d just about made it out of the yard when Noah appeared.

  “Get your skinny, scrawny ass out of here. We just planted that grass, you know.”

  Thomas had almost run back to his own house with the laughter from Noah ringing in his ears.

  And that had been the way it always was with them. Noah was antagonistic if he was anything around Thomas. In high school, Noah didn’t outright bully Thomas, per se, but he took any opportunity there was to laugh at Thomas’s expense. Noah’s friends would mock him or put nasty notes and pictures in Thomas’s locker. Once one of them tripped Thomas. Noah didn’t do anything to stop it and in fact joined in the laughing.

  One particularly rainy day Thomas had been making his way home from school, drenched to the bone, and Noah and his friends had driven by him, laughing and honking, and acting like they weren’t going to the same street Thomas was.

  Little stuff like that had lined up to make Thomas more and more resentful of Noah, who was, of course, the high school quarterback. He’d had the perfect cheerleader girlfriend, the perfect set of friends, the perfect family, and the perfect life.

  Thomas was coping with being gay, having a tiny crush on a big asshole, having an acne problem that was wrecking his skin, being too skinny, having parents in the middle of an ugly divorce, including dueling accusations of infidelity, and money problems. He had friends in school, but they were all gigantic nerds like him.

  All that had changed, though. He no longer lived that life. He had his own apartment, was going to school, had a great job, clear skin, and a pretty decent body. He had friends. He had sex. Everything was great.

  Until fucking Noah Petrie came into Thomas’s restaurant for a job.

  Noah was now the most popular waiter. Everyone requested his area. All the women ogled him like he was a piece of meat and Noah ate it all up with a shit-eating grin. Flirting with him, charming them. Even the men liked him. Noah talked sports and cars and all that manly stuff with them. They didn’t care when he couldn’t recite the menu from memory. They laughed good-naturedly with him when he forgot the specials and had to be reminded of them. It was appalling.

  “Thomas.”

  He didn’t get what the appeal was for this guy.

  “Thomas.”

  Noah wasn’t going to college to get a degree or anything.

  “MaCaffrey!”

  Thomas blinked and came out of his trance of staring at Noah as he waited on a table. He looked sheepishly at his friend and fellow waiter, Michael Jones. “Sorry, what?”

  Michael, a good-looking African-American man with a wife and two adorable kids, shook his head. “You gotta stop obsessing over Petrie.”

  “I-I’m not.”

  “Sure, you aren’t. Ever since he started working here, you can’t stop staring. Everyone’s noticing. I think you should know that.”

  Thomas scowled. “Well, I don’t like him.”

  Michael smirked. “Really? Because what it looks like is that you want to eat him up like today’s special.”

  He could feel himself blush. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not my type.”

  “If you say so. Table four is waiting for you to take their order.”

  “Shit. Forgot. Thanks, Michael.”

  Thomas hustled over to table four and gave them his best smile. “Sorry for the wait. What can I get for you?”

  ****

  Working until close on a Friday night was always a lot of work. Fridays and Saturdays were their busiest days unless there was a holiday. But it was also the best night for tips. Management had been considering pooling all the tips together and dividing them among the staff, but they had not yet implemented that change.

  Thomas came upon Noah counting his tips outside the kitchen as he was getting ready to clock out.

  “Are you a millionaire yet?”

  Noah looked up. “Oh. Hello.”

  “Hello.”

  “Timothy, right?”

  Thomas’s muscle jerked in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “Thomas.”

  Noah smiled. “Just kidding. I know your name.”

  “Since I’m wearing a name tag, you’d be pretty stupi
d not to.”

  Noah snorted. “I knew it anyway. I don’t need to see your tag.”

  “Right. See you.”

  “Hey, wait.”

  Thomas had been in the process of turning around to head for the front entrance and out to the parking lot. He turned back around reluctantly. “What?”

  “Are you this hostile to everyone or am I the lucky one?”

  “Guess you’re lucky. Was there something you wanted?”

  “Want to get some coffee?”

  “Coffee places are closed at one in the morning.”

  Noah seemed unfazed by this. “Twenty-four-hour diners aren’t. There’s one a couple of blocks away. Come on, my treat.”

  Thomas really wanted to say no. Noah was a stupid jerk. But on the other hand, he also wanted to know what the hell Noah wanted. His curiosity got the better of him.

  “All right. I’ll meet you there.”

  “I could drive you and then drop you back here when we’re done.”

  “No, I’d rather have my car with me. Easier to leave when I want to.”

  Noah laughed at that. “I’m gonna get a complex, Thomas. You can’t wait to get away?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll see you there.”

  Chapter Two

  Noah was already waiting for Thomas by the time he pulled into the parking lot of the twenty-four-hour chain diner. Noah stood next to the entrance, hands stuffed into the pockets of a leather bomber jacket.

  There was definitely a little chill in the air, at least the sort that bothered Southern Californians, of which Thomas was one. He had on a light jacket as he locked his car and joined Noah.

  “I was wondering if you were going to stand me up.”

  “That happen to you a lot, Petrie?”

  “No.” He pushed the door open and gestured for me to go first. After they were seated in a back corner booth with plastic menus, Noah eyed him. “Are you hungry? You can get food if you want.”

  “I don’t need your permission to eat.” Thomas knew he was being snarky, maybe even bratty. Noah seemed to bring it out in him.

  “I know. I meant since I said I was paying, you can get food, too.” Noah shook his head. “You are the touchiest guy. I think maybe I’ll get the nachos. Wanna split them?”

  Thomas shrugged. “Maybe.” He lifted the menu and read it over. “Yeah, okay. They sound good.”

  The waitress came by— she looked tired and frazzled—and took their order. Thomas ended up ordering iced tea, but Noah ordered coffee and water.

  “I worked at a diner,” Noah said.

  “You?”

  “Uh-huh. You know you can’t walk into a restaurant like ours and get a waiter job right off the bat with no experience. “

  “Yeah,” Thomas begrudgingly admitted. “I worked at an Italian restaurant for my first waiter job.”

  “Yeah? How was it?”

  “It was all right. I ended up smelling like sauce and cheese most nights. Friends of my aunt owned it and because of that, I got in without much experience. I’d had a part time fast food job in high school, but that was the extent of my experience before Luigi’s.”

  “You know I worked at a fast food place in high school, too.”

  Thomas almost rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know. It was the same one I worked out. At the same time.”

  Noah blinked, frowning. “We worked together before?”

  “Yes.” The waitress came by to hand Thomas his iced tea. She placed the coffee and water in front of Noah and moved off again.

  “Wow, I totally don’t remember that.”

  “Why would you? We weren’t friends or anything. Do you remember I lived a few doors down from your house?”

  “Uh.”

  Thomas stabbed his straw into the table to remove its wrapper and shoved it in his iced tea. “Unbelievable.”

  “Well that was a long time ago, those days,” Noah said defensively. “What? Four? Five years ago?”

  “High school, yeah. But my family lived by you since we were little kids. Not that you paid much attention to me. Other than to try to intimidate me.”

  “I tried to intimidate you?”

  “All the way through high school. Until you and your asshole friends mercifully graduated. My best year in school? Senior, when you and the rest of your idiot group were history.”

  “I’m sorry, Thomas. I don’t remember that.”

  “Convenient for you, anyway. Actually, I thought maybe that’s why you wanted me to go get coffee with you.”

  “To do what?”

  “Maybe apologize? I don’t know.”

  Noah shook his head. “I asked you out because you’re hot. And from the looks you’ve been giving me, I figured you thought I was hot too.”

  “Hot?” Thomas asked, dumbfounded.

  “Yeah. You. Have you ever looked in the mirror for fuck’s sake? You’re a hot little twink.”

  Thomas thought his mouth was likely hanging open now. “A twink? You think I’m a twink?”

  Noah smirked. “You don’t know you’re a twink?”

  “Never mind that. You-you’re not gay.”

  “No?” Noah raised his eyebrows.

  “Listen, Petrie, I’m not going to be your little bi-curious experiment so get that out of your mind right now.”

  He laughed at that. “I’m not bi-curious. I am bisexual, though. I figured that out a long time ago. I’m attracted to whomever, regardless of gender. I’ve already been with both, trust me, Thomas, you aren’t an experiment.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Why would I lie?”

  The waitress interrupted to bring the nachos to the table. The platter of them was huge, bulging with chips, beans, ground meat, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream. Noah had asked for the jalapenos to be left off.

  “For the same reason you were a dick to me in high school. To get some sick enjoyment out of picking on those you think are less than you.”

  “Thomas, I barely remember you in high school. And I certainly don’t remember bullying you or picking on you.”

  Thomas sighed and picked up a chip covered with cheese and sour cream. “Not directly. But you never stopped it and you laughed when anyone else around us did it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Noah said. “That was uncool of me. I wasn’t very mature and I admit that. I never intended to hurt you or anyone. Okay?”

  Thomas toyed with another chip he had taken. Now as adults years away from high school, it seemed sort of petty to hold a grudge. No one had ever hurt Thomas that badly. Not that he thought bullying anyone was a good thing. But there were many who’d had it worse than him.

  “I guess.” He shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “That time was a struggle for me, too. I liked girls.”

  “Obviously.”

  Noah gave him an exasperated look. “And guys. It was hard for me to reconcile that for a while. Finally, I said fuck it. I like who I like. But it took some time.”

  “Did you ever tell your cheerleader girlfriend?”

  He frowned. “Allison? Why?”

  Thomas chewed the chip he’d popped into his mouth and swallowed before answering, “I know girls get weirded out when they learn their boyfriends wanna bone another guy.”

  “Well, I didn’t tell her. We broke up right out of high school. But the girls who have known didn’t seem to care.”

  “You live a charmed life, Noah.”

  He snorted at that. “Hardly. But cut all that crap, Thomas. The point of all this is I’m attracted to you.”

  Thomas rolled his eyes. “Just like that, you think I’m gonna roll over and let you get into my pants.”

  “You don’t have to roll, bending over would work fine.” Noah grinned mischievously.

  Thomas was tempted to roll his eyes again, but too much eye-rolling and he’d get a headache. “As tempting as the offer is … not, I think I’ll pass.”

  “I know the attraction is mutual,” Noah said in a low voice. “Are you
going to deny otherwise?”

  “Even if it was, and I’m not saying that it is, I’m not that easy. I don’t just go out to a diner, have a few nachos and, as you eloquently put it, bend over. “

  Noah sighed. “You do have a flair for the dramatic. Does it have to be complicated?”

  “Complicated is my middle name.”

  Chapter Three

  Noah was nothing if he wasn’t persistent and if Thomas intended to be prickly and difficult, Noah would have to be patient.

  Thomas was the sort of guy Noah liked. And even if Thomas didn’t necessarily view himself as a twink, Noah pretty much figured he fit the description.

  He had curly golden hair swept high across his forehead and ringlets that sort of gave him an angelic appearance. That coupled with his sapphire eyes and Noah could practically hear the lyrics from Close to You being sung about Thomas. The younger man was slim, of about five eight height, and with a rounded bubble butt that would be the envy of many lesser twinks. In short, Thomas was beautiful and tempting and Noah definitely wanted him.

  The frustrating thing was he knew Thomas wanted him too, but all the high school crap was getting in the way. And okay, maybe Noah wasn’t exactly the nicest guy back then but he never thought of himself as a bully. And he barely remembered Thomas from back then. He more remembered the geeky little kid who lived a few houses away from his family than the years spent at high school. Of course he hadn’t let on to Thomas he recalled they lived near each other as kids. His memory hadn’t been that bad, but it was kind of fun to tease Thomas.

  Besides the issue of high school, Thomas seemed to resent Noah being a good waiter. He wasn’t sure what that was about. Thomas was popular too.

  The waitress brought their check and Noah scooped it up as Thomas was reaching for it. “I’ve got this. I told you.”

  “I can pay my share.”

  “I’m sure, but I already said I was paying.”