Stir (The Sizzle TV Series Book 5)

Chapter 28 – Natalie

Ishoulder my bag and take a deep breath, soaking in the evening air as I push open the door, grateful it’s finally starting to warm up outside. A gray SUV parks just outside the Sizzle HQ building as I hit the sidewalk. It looks familiar, but I can’t tell who’s driving. Car services for the network, probably. They all look the same to me.

Risking the displeasure of my men, I decide to walk the whole four minutes to the restaurant to pick up our dinner order while they lock up so we don’t have to mess with the traffic in Nic’s car. I’m standing in line before they even realize I’m gone, texting Finn to make sure they pick me up after they’ve locked the office for the night.

My men. Huh.

The restaurant is full of the best smells in the world—sizzling meat, melting cheese, and all the cilantro. Waiting for the hostess to package our order is the sweetest form of torture.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like to see my men fed. At least this way, I know they’re getting a vegetable once in a while. One of these days I’ll get to cook for them properly, but for now, takeout will have to do.

Finn wants me to stay with them all weekend. What he really wants is for me to stay with them twenty-four seven until Nic’s brother is found and questioned by the police, maybe even charged with a crime. But since we already know I’m not the target, I can’t see the point.

I can see the appeal of it, though, being locked in together for the duration. But I remember what it’s like to wear out my welcome with a man, and maybe it’s silly of me, but I cannot bear the thought of them getting sick of me just because we spent too much time together too soon. Not that I want anything else, personally. If I could guarantee I wouldn’t get on their nerves or they wouldn’t need their space… truth be told, I’d never leave.

That’s probably not healthy, but it’s the truth. I want to be with them all the time.

It’s too soon to be feeling that way, but I can’t help it.

“Natalie?”

I blink, coming out of my thoughts to focus on the wingtip shoes on the floor in front of me. The only man I know who actually wears those?—

“Hello, Jeff.”

Jeff smiles, all teeth. It’s his “I can’t wait for you to hear this” smile. That doesn’t bode well for me. I look over to see the hostess arguing with a line cook in emphatic Spanish—no to-go order in sight.

“It’s great to see you, Nat,” he says, sliding into the seat next to mine. I shift a polite distance away.

“How are you?” I ask, not particularly caring but not wanting to seem rude.

Ask me why. Why in the world should I care if I’m rude to this man?

Moira would have something to say about that. Moira would probably eviscerate him just for talking to me, which is an entertaining image, if not particularly useful right at the moment.

Jeff’s smile deflates a bit. “Honestly, babe, if you’d asked me that a couple of weeks ago, I’d have been over the moon. Everything was going my way. Or so I thought.”

He’s looking at me intently, like there’s some kind of hint there I’m missing.

“Nat—” He lays a hand over mine, where it rests on the bench between us. “Nat, I made a mistake.”

I’m still staring at his hand, completely confused. Is he talking about touching my hand?

“We were perfect together. You were perfect for me,” he says, dropping his voice and leaning closer in the noisy restaurant. “Please tell me you know that. That you haven’t forgotten how it was between us.”

I finally pull my gaze up to his face.

“Are you serious?”

Now he’s puppy dog-wounded, like I’ve insulted him deeply. “I’ve never been more serious, Nat. I made a mistake with Tawdra. I should never have… but it’s in the past.”

He waves a hand, like he’s just magically wiping away his affair, their relationship, their engagement.

I burst out laughing loudly. Loud enough to draw attention. The hostess smiles and nods at me, waving me up, bags of food in her hands.

I don’t even bother turning around, heading to the counter, collecting our things, saying thanks, heading for the door.

“Natalie.”

Jeff is scrambling along behind me. Someone—not Jeff—holds the door open for me as I wrangle the bags out to the sidewalk.

“Natalie!”

Still chuckling, I stop. “What, Jeff?”

“I’m trying to tell you something here,” he says.

“I heard you just fine.”

“I’m pouring out my heart,” he starts. “The least you can do is?—”

“The least I can do?”

I’m not an angry person. Not the external kind of angry. I don’t throw dishes, break mirrors, trash my room, or even scream into a pillow when I’m mad. Most of my anger gets directed inward. There’s always something I can work on, you know? I take full responsibility for that—my choices, my actions. That’s how I process most of my anger.

But only most.

“You want to know the least I can do, Jeff?”

People on the sidewalk are staring. A year ago, I would never have been capable of this. Not even six months ago. Maybe not even a few weeks ago. Confrontation is not my thing, not at all. I’m not into taking revenge or keeping track of anybody else’s karma. I certainly have no desire to draw undue attention to myself.

But maybe that was old Natalie.

Jeff looks confused. Come to think of it, he wears that look a lot. I cannot believe I thought I was in love with this jerk.

“The least I can do is you,” I say, clear as a bell. Somebody passing by chokes on a laugh. “You were the least I could do, and only then, when I was at my very worst. I’m not sorry it ended—God, I’ll be grateful until the day I die to you and Tawdra. My life is better, thanks to the two of you cheating on me.”

“Baby, I’m telling you, that’s over. Tawdra and me aren’t together anymore.”

“I don’t care.” I shrug. Nic’s car is pulled up at the curb a few feet away. Nic and Finn are standing next to it. Nic’s got a hand on Finn’s arm, keeping him still. Seeing them, I smile wider than maybe I’ve ever smiled in my life.

“God, Jeff, I just don’t care. Do what you want. Or don’t. It’s not my business anymore.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Nat?—”

“Stop calling me Nat.” I’ve always hated that nickname.

“Baby, I want you back. We were so good together. Give me a chance to show you,” says Jeff, his arm sliding under my elbow like he’s going to walk with me.

He makes a gagging sound, jerking back suddenly.

Finn’s got a hand on the back of his shirt collar, holding Jeff in place as I pull my arm away from him. Nic liberates my hands, taking hold of the takeout bags.

“Pretty sure we heard the lady say no, asshole,” says Finn mildly.

“We did,” agrees Nic. “And the rest of the street besides.”

Jeff glares at them, twisting out of Finn’s grip and adjusting his tie. Impotent. The expression on his face is impotent.

I start laughing all over again.

“I’m serious, Natalie.” Jeff is all earnest now, and it makes me laugh even harder. Finn and Nic head for the car, and that strikes me as a fine idea. God knows, I’ve got more important things to do right now.

Nic sets the bags in the car. Finn opens the passenger door for me, but I stop, holding up a hand to stop them, too. My ex-boyfriend is staring, confused, humiliated, and maybe getting angry, but he’s still not getting the hint.

“You’re not actually leaving with your boss, are you?” he asks accusingly. “Pretty trashy, Nat, sleeping with somebody from the office.”

Nic steps into his space before I can even get my head around that hypocrisy.

“I’m not her boss, asshole. I’m her boyfriend.”

He hands me into the car. Jeff sputters, turning red, then faintly purple, before spinning around and heading off into the crowd.

“Thank God,” says Finn. “I thought he’d never leave.”

“Home?” asks Nic.

“Home,” I agree.

The gray SUV is parked across the street as we pull away from the curb, somebody watching from the driver’s seat. But it would be a long, long time before I remembered it.