Chapter One
Kimberly
“Miss!” the man with the big lumpy head says as he aggressively waves me over.
Shit.
Come on, Kimberly. Be nice. You want to keep your job or sleep in the bus station tonight?
I put on my best fake smile and walk over as I smooth out my waitressing apron.
He shoves the bill in my face.
“What does that say?”
“Carl’s Diner.”
“Not there! Here!”
“That says one cup of coffee. Which you ordered. And drank.”
It’s getting hard to keep my fake smile plastered on my face.
“And look how much it is. Three dollars. Three! Is this some kind of special gourmet blend or something?”
“Yes,” I say as I tilt my head and deepen my smile. “Our coffee is made from a special, very rare coffee bean only found in the Himalayan mountains. Each bean is lovingly handpicked by blonde Swedish virgins who store them in their virginal trousers. Then, the beans are shipped to Vatican City where each one is blessed individually by the Pope.”
“Oh, really?” he says sarcastically.
“Yes,” I continue with a straight face. “Once they’re blessed, they’re flown in a private luxury jet to the rainforests of Borneo where endangered baby pandas grind them to the perfect consistency with their little baby teeth. They’re then brought here and filtered by glacial waters from lake Titicaca, the highest altitude freshwater lake in the world. You see the altitude gives the water the perfect amount of acidity for brewing a flawless cup of coffee. That’s why it’s three dollars. The diner actually loses thirty-six thousand dollars for each cup we sell, but Carl is such a coffee connoisseur that he takes the hit for your drinking pleasure. I hope you agree that at only three dollars a cup, it’s a wonderful deal.”
He’s just staring at me like I’ve peeled the skin off my face and shown that I’m a robot underneath.
“You are incredibly weird.”
“Thank you, sir. You have a lovely day.”
He throws down his money, leaving me a ten-cent tip (cheap bastard) and then hurries out the door.
“Kimberly,” Carl warns from behind the counter. “Are you scaring the customers again?”
I turn around with a shrug and a smile. “Not at all. He was just saying how wonderful a waitress I am.”
He’s not buying it. “Mm-hmm,” he grumbles as he returns to the back with a frown on his face.
I sigh as I clean the table, wondering what I’m doing here.
There’s a cute guy at the table next to me who heard the whole thing.
“That was really clever,” he says. “Did you make that up on the spot?”
I shake my head. “Every word is true. Except for the virgin part. Those Swedish hussies aren’t fooling me.”
“Well, it was very creative,” he says with a wide smile. “You should be a poet.”
“I am,” I say with another fake smile. “But I write my poetry in Sanskrit, which is, you know… a dead language. So, nobody buys them.”
“That’s too bad,” he says as he leans forward.
“Not really. It means I get to stay here and enjoy all of this magic.” I wave my hand around the crappy dilapidated diner with a smile.
“He’s cute,” my coworker Debbie says when I walk behind the counter. “You should ask him out.”
“No, thanks,” I say as I put the dirty dishes in the basket. “I don’t date customers.”
“Then who do you date?”
“At the moment? Nobody. In the past? Nobody.”
She laughs. “My brother is single.”
I shake my head as I give her a sad look. “Now, why would you put your poor brother through that kind of torture?”
“So, you’re just going to be single forever?” she asks with a grin.
I shrug. “It certainly appears that way.” I’m twenty-two and still have my crisp shiny V-card in my wallet.
It’s not that I haven’t had any opportunities. I’m not the prettiest of girls, but I have hips and a round ass that always gets attention. I just never felt a click with any guy before. You know that click… Julia Roberts has made a whole career from acting out that click. The internal feeling of something just sliding into place just right. That’s what I’m waiting for. That’s why I’m still a virgin with a capital V.
“Here we go,” Debbie says as her back straightens and her eyes widen. She’s staring through the large windows into the parking lot.
I follow her gaze to where two sleek gorgeous men are stepping out of a shiny new Porsche. They look like they could be brothers with their similar dark features and matching jade green eyes.
“Oh, man,” Debbie says under her breath as she quickly fixes her hair. “Even you can’t turn these guys down.”
“Watch me,” I say, taking it as a challenge.
She’s shaking her head as she shamelessly stares at them. “I’d dump twenty years of marriage down the toilet for an afternoon with both of them.”
I can’t tell if she’s kidding. “You’re allowed to blink, you know.”
“And waste a split second of staring at them? No, thank you.”
The little hanging bell clangs as the door opens.
A coldness enters the small cafe and it sends a shiver creeping along my skin that feels like old frigid fingers as the two men step in. They look past us to the tables in the back, looking like they own the place and I get a sinking feeling in my gut. I don’t know why, but they’re making me very uncomfortable already and they haven’t even said a word.
They’re not having that effect on Debbie at all. She leaps forward with her chest puffed out as she grabs two menus.
“Hello,” she says as her cheeks start to turn red. “Welcome to Carl’s Diner. I’m Carl. I mean… Debbie.”
I fight back a laugh as I watch her cheeks get even redder.
“We’ll choose our own table,” the guy in the fitted blue suit says as he grabs the menus from her. We turn and watch them as they silently
walk to the back.
My muscles are tense and my heart is pounding as I watch them. There’s just something about them that isn’t sitting well with me, but I don’t know what it is.
“They’re so hot!” Debbie says as she grabs another menu and starts fanning herself with it.
“They’re all yours, Carl. I mean, Debbie.”
She hits me with the menu and laughs.
“I have to leave early, remember?” she says. “I have a dentist appointment. I’m not taking any more tables.”
“You’re going to be regretting this when they leave me a million-dollar tip.”
“I’d be more jealous if you got another kind of tip.” I turn back and she’s got a sly grin on her face.
I quickly check them out as I head over to the table. They’re magazine cover hot with beautiful faces, tall slim athletic bodies, and clothes that probably cost more than the diner they’re sitting in. But still, they’re doing nothing for me. Sometimes I wonder if there’s something wrong with me. Even when I touch myself, I don’t think of anyone in particular. I’m always thinking of a loving presence that has no face. I know the feel of him intimately, but I don’t know what he looks like.
“Look at this disgusting food,” the guy on the left side of the booth says as he reads the menu. He seems a bit older, with light gray hair and piercing green eyes. He looks sharp in a fitted designer suit just like his friend.
“I know,” the one on the right whispers. “Leave it to Aylwin to settle down in a shithole town like this.”
“He always was the dumb brother. Probably why he got himself killed.”
“And once again, his older brothers are here to clean up his mess.”
They stop talking and look up at me as I reach the table. These guys look rich as fuck. Rolex watches, designer suits, gold rings—they’re just emanating wealth.
“You boys look like you’re in the wrong state,” I say to them as their piercing green eyes bore into me.
“We’re here on business,” the one on the left says.
“You buying some cows or some chickens? I hope you don’t plan to shove them in the trunk of that nice car because they’ll cover it in shit.”
The guy on the right frowns. “Do you always swear in front of customers?”
“All the fucking time,” I say, but they don’t laugh. They just stare at me as I nervously shift from foot to foot.
“Do you guys want coffee while you’re looking at the menus?”
The guy on the left, let’s call him Mr. Frowny Face, frowns at me. “Is it gourmet coffee or is it swill?”
“Swill,” I say without hesitation. “It’s definitely swill. You’ll hate it.”
The guy on the right, Mr. Snooty in a Suity, sighs. “We’ll take two. Just make sure it’s hot.”
“Two hot cups of swill, coming right up,” I say as I quickly turn around and rush back to the counter where Debbie is waiting with interest.
“What were they like?” she asks as she plays with her hair. “Rich and sophisticated? Hot and smart? Did they wow you with their wit? Are you in love?”
“They ordered coffee.”
Her face drops.
“Don’t use that cup!” She practically leaps on me when I grab a cup with a brown stain on the bottom. “Get the nice mugs.”
“We don’t have any nice mugs.” I’m staring at her in disbelief as she rifles through the mugs, trying to find the whitest, newest ones. “Carl hasn’t bought any since the mid-‘90s.”
Carl is one cheap bastard.
“These are fine,” I say as I grab two mugs from the shelf. “I don’t think we have to worry about turning them into repeat customers. They’re just passing through on business.”
Debbie pulls her phone out of her purse and slides it beside the cash register.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a laugh as I pour their coffees. “Taking pictures? Are you for real?”
“Don’t judge me,” she says as she snaps away. “I’ll send you a copy.”
“Don’t bother,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?!?” Debbie gasps. “No!”
I jump and she makes me spill some of the coffee on my hand.
“What is it?”
She’s staring out the window and my pulse starts to pick up when I turn and see what she’s looking at. There’s a firetruck in the parking lot and two firemen are getting out.
I’ve heard rumors about the five hot firemen of Blackcloud Point, Montana, but I haven’t seen them yet. I’ve only been here for just under a month and they haven’t come into the diner.
“This is so not fair,” she says as she watches them approach. “Blake and Ethan. The one afternoon I take off and there’s a hot guy convention in the diner. This is so typical.”
She’s shaking her head until they walk in and then her grimace turns into a wide smile.
“Hello, boys!” she says with a big welcoming grin.
Their eyes dart right past us to the two men in the back. Their faces tighten and their bodies look tense.
Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity are staring back at them and the diner fills with a charge of something as they stare each other down. The tiny hairs on my arms raise as I watch with uneasiness.
“Grab a seat,” Debbie says. She’s completely oblivious to the tension in the air. “I have a dentist appointment, so I’m leaving, but our new waitress Kimberly is going to take good care of you.”
The older-looking one, who is incredibly gorgeous, breaks the tense eye contact first and smiles tightly at me. “Nice to meet you, Kimberly. I’m Blake. This is Ethan.”
“Hi,” Ethan grunts.
They grab two menus and sit at the booth by the door. I notice that the two pairs of guys keep looking at each other every so often.
“I’ll be with you guys in a second,” I say as I take the coffees over to Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity.
They welcome me with their usual cold sterile blank faces. “Are you guys ready to order? Were you able to make the impossible decision between cold runny eggs and cold soggy pancakes? Which one is it going to be?”
“Eggs,” Mr. Frowny Face says.
“Pancakes,” Mr. Snooty in a Suity adds.
“Great,” I say as I put down the coffees. “And here is your swill.”
Mr. Frowny Face grabs my wrist and my eyes dart over to him.
“Anyone come in here named Aylwin?” he asks as his fierce eyes lock onto mine.
“I’m not sure. Aylwin? Was he dressed like a Lord of the Rings elf?”
They’re not fans of my humor. Can’t blame them there… most people aren’t.
His grip on my wrist tightens and a little whimper escapes from my throat.
“He’s our brother and he’s gone missing,” he says in a low voice that’s not fucking around. “We’d really like to find him. His office building caught on fire a few weeks ago.”
“Oh,” I say as I yank my wrist back. He lets me have it. “Well, those guys are the firemen. Why don’t you ask them?”
Their eery green eyes dart past me and land back on Blake and Ethan.
They both sniff the air, which is really weird because it does not smell good in this diner.
“Bears,” Mr. Snooty in a Suity mumbles.
“Yup,” his brother says.
“Okay,” I say as I slowly back away from the table. “I’ll get your breakfast now.”
I call out the order to the chef and then head over to the firemen. They’re both hot and a lot friendlier than my last table. I can see why Debbie likes them.
“Who are those guys?” Ethan asks after we chit chat for a bit. He nods to the two suits in the back.
“I think they fell out of the Matrix,” I whisper. “They’re looking for some dude. Aylwin, I think? It’s their brother.”
Blake and Ethan look at each other with a tense look, and I can see there’s something going on that’s going right over my head.
?
??So, do you guys want shitty waffles or an even shittier omelet?”
They look at each other for a long moment and then get up.
“Actually, we’re going to pass on the breakfast,” Blake says as he glances over to the guys in the back of the diner.
“Yeah, we have to get back to the fire station,” Ethan adds. They both look uneasy as they head toward the door.
“I get it,” I say as I watch them with a raised eyebrow. “They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I don’t think that’s fair to cigarettes and beer. They’re pretty important too.”
The bell over the door rings as they leave.
“What happened?” Debbie says as she returns from the back. “Where did they go?”
“Did you put make-up on?” I have to choke back my laugh.
“No,” she says defensively. “I always look like this.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her shoulders drop and she rolls her eyes. “Did you scare them away? You have to stop doing that or you’re going to get fired.”
“I didn’t!” I tilt my head. “At least I don’t think I did. They just left.”
She looks disappointed, but at least she still has Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity to gawk at before she leaves.
“Hey,” I say to her. “Do you know an Aylwin?”
“Aylwin Kirk?” she says as her eyes light up. “He ran a criminal business outside of town and the whole building burnt down. A girl almost died.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Actually, that guy Ethan saved her. They’re a couple now. Her name is Chloe. Sweet girl.”
My mind is spinning as I glance over at them. So, they’re looking for their criminal brother who disappeared under mysterious circumstances…