Silent Heart (The Vlasov Bratva #5)

Chapter 16 – Kolya

I felt it the moment I stepped into the Landing. Under the boisterous fever induced by the alcohol and food, was a rapid pulse. Panic. It was written in the tight lines of every staff member. The hostess’s forced smile said it all as she slid behind the podium with a sanitizer bottle and cloth.

“We’re slammed tonight, and we had some employees call in sick,” she informed me. “So, I can seat you, but you’ll have to be patient with us.”

I gave her a tight nod.

She didn’t ask, knowing by now where I preferred to sit. The two-top I’d staked my claim on was the only table open in Harley’s section. But as I watched my frantic little water sprite burst out of the kitchen, carrying an oversized tray to a large table a few feet away, I realized Harley was covering both areas.

There were still dishes on my table, which the hostess gathered and took to the second set of swinging doors.

I frowned at the table a few feet over that was in a similar state. No one cleared it yet. And there was a group of six men at the door. I was on my feet before thinking my actions through. Gathering the trays, refuse, and cups, I carried them to where the hostess gaped in the doorway.

“Wipe that table down,” I clipped out.

The kid—because she was probably still in high school—snapped straight and hurried to obey.

No sooner did I dump the dishes, pausing only to run my hands under the sink at the dish pit, than I was back in the bowels of the restaurant.

“What are you doing?” Harley blinked up at me.

My fingers itched to reach out and brush across her cheek. I wanted nothing more than to touch her, to pull her into my frame, and promise that I had her.

But…she deserved more than a black soul like me.

No, I could serve her, worship her, and adore her from afar, but I needed to keep my distance. What happened this morning couldn’t happen again.

“I’m helping.” I moved past Harley and began a sweep of the area, taking empty dishes from tables. After pre-bussing her double sections, I moved to the others.

There was no help tonight, and they were down a server. My impromptu debut as a bus-boy-food-runner ended up saving their asses. Being a serving assistant was easy in that there was a flow. The moment that was broken, there was a momentary chaos until the flow was reestablished. The number of times that routine broke was astonishing. It was little wonder the waitstaff looked haggard and drawn.

By ten p.m., Harley leaned against the bar, sipping a soda water. She watched me, her gaze feather light against my skin.

“Do we pay him?” the bartender asked under her breath as I carried the full grey tub from under the bar away.

“At a minimum, we feed him for free, and split tips like he was one of the other SAs,” Harley responded.

The urge to tell her it was for her was strong, but I swallowed it. I refused to look in her direction. The line could not be crossed now that I’d reestablished it once more.

“Hey, where’s our tater skins?” the ass from the original six-top called out.

They’d been there the entire time, ordering cheap appetizers one by one and beer. Their tab was high, but they hadn’t turned over the table. I hated that Harley had to go over to check on them yet again.

Pausing by the kitchen door, I memorized their faces.

“My firm’s making a generous offer on that old place of yours,” the pale faced one said as Harley placed a chilled glass mug before him.

The cold look she gave him could have frosted the top of the pint. “My grandfather isn’t interested.”

“He will be when he hears what we’re offering.” The slimy bastard smirked at her.

Harley tipped her chin up. “Leave it, Joe.”

“It’s Joeseph to you, sweet Hariet.” He grabbed her wrist. “You know I like things to be proper.”

I was across the room in seconds. The tray of dishes clattered on an empty table as I lunged for the handsy one. At the last second, I performed a move meant to disarm, rather than permanently hurt him. His face slammed into the table; his arm bent at a nasty angle up his spine.

I cut a look at his buddies, daring them to intervene, before pressing the struggling form. As one, they hunched into themselves, sensing the danger.

It was highly unlikely they’d ever encountered a monster as deadly as me.

A gentle voice broke through the sea of destruction. “Kole.”

Fingers slid into my view. Harley hesitated, not closing the distance.

You’re scared of me.

An agonizing pain cracked through my chest. I’d been shot, stabbed, and beaten to within an inch of my life. But the pain of her hesitation was worse than it all combined.

“Leave,” I barked, shoving the bastard once more and stepping back. I wouldn’t hurt him—here.

But he’d crossed a line.

He touched her . The one I couldn’t have, but would never stop watching.

“Without paying our tab?” The entitled sonofabitch grinned up at me. “I was going to put in a complaint to management about the treatment of the patrons, but I suppose a free meal would—”

I hauled him up by his shirt and dragged him to the door, which I opened with a vicious kick. The bastard sailed across the air as I tossed his sorry ass just like the sack of shit he was. I held the door impatiently for the other scum, and then closed it with a resounding clap. Without looking over my shoulder, I strode to the bar and pulled out my wallet. The metal card slapped against the scarred surface with a resounding clap.

“Their tab.” I pinned the wide-eyed bartender with a pointed look.

Angelica swallowed hard as she began to tap at the computer screen. “Um, it’s a lot.”

I shoved the card at her. “Run it.”

“Kole, wait.” The caution in Harley’s voice gutted me.

I didn’t look at her, keeping my focus on her coworker. When the slip of paper and my card were slid back, I snatched the pen from the waiting bartender. I didn’t even look at the total as I put a one, a two, and two zeroes before the point.

“Divide this evenly between the staff,” I instructed the bartender.

As I turned toward the exit, I heard Angelica gasp.

“This can’t be right!” she called after me.

“It is,” I responded.

“How much—” Harley hissed. “Holy shit, twelve hundred! That’s four hundred a piece.”

It should have been twice as much. I only kept the extra zero off, because I didn’t want to scare her into declining. Even now, I feared she’d be too proud to take the money. But after the hell the night shift had been, it was the least I could do.

As I walked to my truck, another idea formed as the clouds parted and moonlight bathed the ditch beside the gravel lot. Several plants swayed in the breeze, their color disguised by the moonlight caressing their natural fibers. The corners of my mouth twitched. Yes…that would be just the thing.