Mina rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“So, I promised you a second date, and you promised me a third, one you would plan. How about we do some of that? In the daylight.”
She arched an eyebrow. “With clothes on?” she asked in mock shock.
“Just so we don’t get arrested.”
She cupped his face in her hands and leaned down to kiss him. “Okay. Sounds like a good time.”
“Tomorrow okay?”
“Yep.”
He was still smiling long after she left the room.
~0~
The next day, Tuck was with him as he prepared for his date with Mina. The restaurant was closed for the day, but his boss had agreed to let Val use the kitchen and one table.
“Hey, what’s the first thing I taught you, huh?”
Val put down the knife and took a deep breath, bracing himself on the counter. “Speed doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have a steady hand.”
Tuck smirked. “You’re good with vegetables. You’re used to flying. These bones? Not vegetables. They’re a whole different animal.”
“Yeah, because it actually was an animal, whereas an onion is an—”
“Ogre?”
“Sure. Okay.” Val picked up the knife again. “I just want this to be perfect.”
“Aw.” Tuck leaned on the counter and tilted his head, making an over-the-top cute face. “You’re adorable when you’re nervous.”
“Shaddup,” Val muttered.
“Okay. Slow…” Tuck swept his hand over the cutting board.
“Yeah. I got this.”
“And then, my friend, then I’m going to teach you about the secret sauce.” Tuck clapped him on the back.
“Aw, hell. This better not be the lead-in to a dirty joke.”
“Hey.” His friend and boss jabbed a finger at him. “What’s the first rule of the kitchen?”
Val resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Tuck in the kitchen was Tuck in drill-sergeant mode. As he’d told Val when he offered him the job, it was all about taking instructions. “Don’t even joke about gross stuff and food.”
“That’s right. This is a serious thing, brother. I’m going to teach you this recipe so you can impress your woman.”
“Thanks, Tuck. Really.”
His friend smiled. “Anytime, man.”
~0~
Val rubbed his palms on his pants for the 24th time and glanced at the window for at least the 72nd. Behind him, Tuck chuckled. “Adorable. I’m telling you.”
“If you’re waiting for the plot twist where I fall for you instead of Mina, you’re going to be waiting a long time. I—” His words cut off as he did a double take. This time, when he looked out the window, Mina was there.
But she wasn’t alone.
Tuck whistled. “You dog. You didn’t tell me this was a threesome.”
Val rolled his eyes as he watched the women approach. They were arguing, and Mina looked exasperated.
Despite Mina’s obvious protests, the blonde pushed through the door, looking around the place as she did so. Her eyes fell on Val, and she quirked an eyebrow. “Did you rent this whole place?”
“Agh. Sorry about her,” Mina stated, face flushed as she threw an apologetic look at Val. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her friend. “You’re just being nosy.”
“Obviously.” The blonde smirked, absolutely unapologetic. She was eyeing Val now and didn’t attempt to disguise the fact she was judging him. He had to resist the urge to glare. “So this is Mr. Dependable, huh?”
“Oh, my God. Shut up, Celeste.” Mina looked to Val. “Val, this is Celeste. She’s obnoxious. Celeste, Val.”
“And is this your parole officer?” Celeste retorted, eyeing Tuck the same way she had Val.
“Celeste!”
Irritated but also unwilling to take this woman seriously, Val answered straight. “Tuck’s my boss. I haven’t been on parole for a decade and a half.”
“Okay. You got your digs in. Now go away,” Mina said.
“I’m just looking out for you, babe. He’s got to know.” Celeste looked at Val, her gaze sharp. “If he does you wrong this time, we got friends in high places. It’s not going to end well for him.”
On one hand, Val couldn’t help but appreciate Celeste’s protective streak. He had some idea what this had to look like to someone else. He was a good-for-nothing ex-con at best, an older man who hadn’t managed to get very far in life. Still, her words set off every alarm bell he had.
Then there was Mina’s reaction. She grabbed her friend by the arm and gave her a shake. “Don’t go there, Celeste. That’s not cool with me. You get it?”
Val and Tuck exchanged a glance. Celeste studied Mina for a moment before she shrugged. “I’m just saying is all. Remember about Thursday, huh?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
Celeste held Mina’s gaze for another moment before she flipped her hair over her shoulder and exited without a backward glance.
“You got friends in high places, huh?” It took some effort to keep his voice steady as he looked at Mina.
She glowered, but under her glare, he saw a measure of anxiety. “She didn’t mean anything by it. She’s just being Celeste.”
“Mina—”
“Hey, are you really gonna bust my balls right now?”
“And that’s my cue,” Tuck announced. He clapped Val on the shoulder. “Good luck. You know where to find me if you need anything.” He looked at Mina. “Nice to meet you.”
Val glanced over his shoulder, watching Tuck retreat, heading toward the stock room to do inventory. When he turned back to Mina, she’d crossed her arms over her chest and her shoulders were set in a defensive posture. He sighed and raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Sorry. It’s just that I know trouble when I see it, and she looks like trouble.” He remembered how many times, when Mina came home late, Celeste was involved somehow.
Mina snorted. “Yeah. She says the same about you.” She sighed and shook her head. “I met Celeste at the party.”
“What party?”
Her eyes pinned him. “The party.”
It took Val another beat, but then he understood. The party where her friend had died. Celeste had been there when he hadn’t.
“It’s my fault,” Mina said, her expression gentling. “Celeste is the friend I go to when I need to vent.” Her lips twitched as she looked at him. “And I’ve needed to vent about you a lot since I was sixteen. She hasn’t gotten to hear much of the good stuff yet. She thinks it’s her job to keep me safe when I’m gone over a boy.”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second. There was something going on with Mina he hadn’t been able to figure out, and he was sure now it had something to do with Celeste. But hell, she was here in front of him and looking done up, all pretty again, just for him. He still hadn’t gotten his head wrapped around that idea.
With a breath, he let go of his suspicion and fear for her. He came to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “So, you’re gone over a boy, huh?”
She melted and turned in his embrace, looping her arms around his waist. She flashed a grin full of teeth. “Yeah, it’s this weird guy in another county with a motorcycle and tattoos.”
“I can get a motorcycle. And I already have tattoos.”
“I know.” Her fingertips tickled the space on his chest where one of his tattoos was—her favorite one. “I traced it with my tongue just yesterday, remember?”
He shivered and bent his head to kiss her. It wasn’t a chaste kiss. It was the kind of kiss that suggested he’d like to have her for dinner if only his boss weren’t in the backroom. He hummed against her mouth and pulled away from her with a groan. He leaned his forehead against hers and chuckled, bumping the underside of her chin. “We better stop now, or I’m going to get fired for turning our dining room into a porno.”
“Can’t have that.” Mina pecked
his lips once more before she disentangled herself from his arms and sat at the nearest table. “You actually like your job.”
“Yeah. How weird is that?” He poured them red wine and set salads and a breadbasket on the table.
“Salads, huh?” Mina said, grinning in that way she did when she was planning on being a bit of a brat.
“Something wrong with the salad?” In spite of himself, he was anxious. He wanted her to be impressed.
“I like salad. Catalina dressing? You don’t see that very often anymore.”
He tilted his head. “But?”
She rested her chin on her hands, leaning on the table. “Isn’t one of your appetizers just bacon?”
Val smirked. Without a word, he got up and took the bacon from where he’d hidden it behind the bar. He brought it to their table, setting it between them, smiling when her face lit up. She grabbed a slice—it was a special smoked bacon rimmed with brown sugar—and took a bite. She froze and then moaned, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“You’re making your ‘O’ face, babe,” he teased.
“Mmm.” She turned the bacon over in her hands, staring at it like it was her lover. “You’re right. You can’t lose this job, Val.”
“So what you’re trying to say is if I’m ever in the doghouse with you, don’t bring you flowers.”
“Bring me a stack of this bacon.”
Appetizers went well. Mina was happy. The fact he was the one to make her happy made him happy.
She liked the dinner he’d cooked for her. That made him really happy.
Mina sighed contentedly, sitting back with her hands on her full stomach. “This is great, Val. It’s so great that you’ve found something you like to do, and you’re damn good at it.” She sighed, her content smile falling. “You’re lucky.”
He hummed. “Still having trouble figuring out your life?”
“What else is new? Hey, I thought a degree was supposed to open some doors. Is there a job store I haven’t heard of?”
“Hah. If you ever figure that one out, let me know.”
She shrugged. “I got on the list with the county for an eligibility job. Eligibility for social service programs, you know?”
“Oh, I know,” Val said wryly. He’d been on food stamps more than once in his life. “That wouldn’t be a bad gig. Government jobs are more secure than most and easy to branch out from.”
“Yeah. It’d be something, which is preferable to the go-nowhere job I have now. Still, I wish I’d figured out exactly what I wanted to do.”
“That rarely works out anyway.” Val drummed his fingers on the tabletop, considering for a moment before he spoke again. “You know what I was thinking?”
“What’s that?”
“You remember last week you were telling me about the classes you really liked and you mentioned how you took a social work class?”
“More than one, yeah.”
“The one where the professor was also in charge of the social work program at the hospital?”
“Right.” Mina tilted her head, looking at him.
“When you were telling me some of the stories, the things she’d had to do, you didn’t make them sound horrible.”
“It was interesting. Breaks your heart when you think about some of the things she’s had to do.”
“Right. That’s what I mean. A lot of people don’t want to think about things that make them helpless. That’s how it makes me feel. Like about the homeless people she has to try to find help for when they have no one to look out for them?” He shuddered. He’d come close to being homeless a couple of times, and he wasn’t ashamed to say the thought terrified him. “When you tell me things like that, it makes me feel helpless.”
“You wouldn’t be helpless if you were a social worker like her. You’d be able to do something.”
He smiled. “But that’s the thing, mija. See, my instinct is to not think about it. It’s too big for me to think about… but it’s not too big for you.”
She stared at him, her lips pursed in an O shape. She tilted her head one way, then the other. “Are you saying I should be a social worker?”
“I’m just saying it’s something that doesn’t scare you, and it’s interesting, like you said.”
Again, she was quiet. “Social work.” Her eyes met his again. “That takes a Master’s degree.”
“Sure.”
“A Master’s takes money,” she responded, more to herself than him. “Though, I can get the money.”
“You can?”
Her head snapped up, her eyes going wide for a heartbeat before she tempered her reaction. “Sure. More loans, right?”
He studied her, positive for reasons he couldn’t put his finger on that she hadn’t been talking about loans. “Right.”
She sat up straighter. “It’s something to think about, but right now, there are more important things on my mind.”
“Such as?”
Her grin went wide. “Dessert. I know you have dessert.”
He chuckled. “Coming right up.”
Chapter 16
Mina did end up going back to work for Frank. At first, everything was fine. The people at these parties had never paid much attention to her. She’d been nervous until not a single eye turned toward her when she walked on the floor. Quickly, she remembered what had kept her coming to these events. It was good money. The bastards only looked up long enough to ogle her ass or tits. She gave them a drink; they gave her an obnoxiously large tip.
“Easy money,” Celeste said, leaning in close to her ear.
“Hey, gorgeous girls.”
Mina huffed, almost dropping her tray as some drunk asshole who’d looked her up and down earlier draped a heavy arm over her shoulders and another over Celeste’s. Mina cringed back at his booze breath. Celeste just flashed him a grin. “You’re heavy, Robert.”
“Believe me, Rob. You’re better off not touching that one.”
A chill went down Mina’s spine. She ducked under Robert’s arm and spun around. Sure enough, there was Patrick. He looked twice as intimidating when his eyes were clear, sharp, and narrowed on her. He locked her in his gaze even as he continued speaking to Rob. “She’s a bit of a drama queen, and you know how Frankie gets about women when they whine enough.”
She probably should’ve been scared. This man was dangerous—she knew that—but despite his size, he didn’t look it. Not with his arm in a sling like that. Maybe if she were actually doing something he wouldn’t like, maybe if she actually did have a wire or was trying to get him in trouble, she’d be worried.
As it was, she knew a stronger, much more dangerous man had her back, at least where this joker was concerned. “You’re just pissed you can’t jack off with your arm all messed up.” She smiled extra big. “Now, what can I get you, sweetie?”
Robert chortled and ruffled Patrick’s hair. “Sweetie, cutie.”
The rest of the night, Mina managed to avoid Patrick, except for his eyes. There was no avoiding his eyes. His glare was malevolent as his eyes followed her around the room all night long.
“You doing all right, babe?” Celeste asked as they left, throwing her arm around Mina’s shoulders.
“Yeah.” Mina rolled her neck, trying to shrug off the creepy-crawly feeling that had coated her skin all night long. “These guys ever give you the heebie-jeebies?”
“Heebie-jeebies.” Celeste laughed, squeezing her shoulders and releasing her as they got to her car.
“Celeste, I’m serious.”
“It’s a room full of mostly men, hon. You fill a room with guys, one or two of them are going to be disgusting assholes. We deal with creeps all the time. For free.”
“These guys are different.”
“Mina.” Celeste shook her head. “Frankie showed you what happens if someone messes with us. We’re off limits, hon. Hell, we’re safer there than with most jobs, and we’re making good money.”
Mina crossed her arms over her chest, staring forward.
Celeste made an exasperated noise. “We’re not in college anymore. We’re not kids anymore, and you’re with this clown, Val.”
Mina bristled. “Why are we talking about Val all of a sudden?”
“You got plans, baby girl. Big ones. You got things to do, places to see. You marry a guy like that and you’re not going to have any help. It’ll all be you.”
“Marriage?” Mina balked, wondering if someone had slipped something into her soda when she wasn’t looking. “Christ, Celeste. We’re not even together. Not really.”
“Oh, give me a break. I have eyes. And ears, for that matter. You were in love with him when you were sixteen, and you’re in love with him now.”
Mina’s heart was beating a mile a minute. She opened her mouth, but only pieces of words came out. Celeste just laughed. “Whatever, Mina. You don’t choose who you love. You don’t choose to love someone who’s thirty-seven years old and living with his mother. He’s nearly forty and thrilled he got a job chopping vegetables.”
“That’s not fair. He—”
“I said no judgment. Life’s not fair. Whatever. That’s not the point. He’s not the point. The point is we’ve been doing this for ten months? Something like that? You’re almost done paying your student loans. Do you know how many people have their student loans paid off a year after graduating? And now you want to talk about grad school?”
“I came back, didn’t I?”
Celeste flashed her a grin. “Yeah, and you totally owned that bastard. What are you worried about?”
~0~
Someone was poking her gently in the sides, trying to coax her awake. There was a low, soft voice in her ear calling her name. “Wake up, Mina. Time to wake up.”
“I’m asleep,” Mina moaned, burrowing further into her pillow.
“Hmm. I know.” There was a gentle touch at her crown, and she felt her hair being brushed back. He kissed the shell of her ear. “That’s the problem. You have to wake up.”
Mina groaned as Val pulled her blanket down an inch. “I don’t wanna.” She shivered as he trailed kisses across her shoulders. “Don’t start with that, cabron. That’s what got me in trouble last night.”
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