“Yeah, it’s a pain in the ass. But if I wanna keep living under his roof, I gotta follow the bastard’s rules.”
“Sucks, dude.”
“Oh yeah,” he agrees as he gets to his feet.
Simon stands up too. “You coming?”
I shake my head. “Nah, I wanna finish these, and I have some unfinished business to attend to. Go on, I’ll take care of the bill.”
“Thanks, dude. Have fun,” Shane says with a chuckle, flicking his gaze over my shoulder.
I raise my eyebrow, but don’t turn to see what or who has caught his attention. “See ya.”
The two of them leave, roughhousing and joking around with each other on their way out the door. They can speculate, and they’ll probably be right on the money about the real reason I’m hanging back.
Pulling out my wallet, I thumb through it for my credit card and set it on the table, ready to pay for our food. Within moments, Katy comes over with the bill and I pay, tipping her generously. She’ll never like me, but it never hurts to keep the servers sweet.
I lean back on the seat, waiting for Amos to come out.
Chapter Eight
Amos
I run my hands down my face after I turn away from the flattop with another burger, and place it on yet another plate.
I still haven’t taken that break that I promised Xavier, and honestly, I think I’m doing this to myself on purpose.
To both of us.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I glance over at Suzie who’s watching me from the other side of the pickup counter, and I smile ruefully.
“What are the chances that they left?” I ask her.
“Who?” she presses curiously as she reaches for the order.
“My brother and his idiot friends.”
“Oh!” she begins with a chuckle. “Actually, most of them left. He’s just sitting at the table nibbling on that plate of fries,” she finishes with an eye roll.
I chuckle.
He’s waiting me out.
“Okay. Um, I think I’m going to take my break in a little bit. Wanna send Colin back here to take over while I’m out back?”
She gives me a nod as she walks out of the kitchen through the double, swinging doors and disappears into the diner.
I glance around the kitchen while I have a moment to collect myself.
I reach for the peeling knife because he seemed to like that. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to myself that I fucking loved the way it felt against my skin.
But I don’t think it was the sensation that had started to get me hard—I think it was more who was causing it.
Shaking it off as best as I can, I keep glancing around the kitchen. That's when I spot a small, angled measuring cup; the kind that’s used for less tedious tasks inside of the kitchen. The kind that gives me a great idea, and I only hope he’ll go along with it.
“What else?” I mumble as I take one last look around the room.