Rafael
“I want to thank you all for coming,” Grey said. He looked deeply uncomfortable; he’d taken his seat rather than towering over all of us, as he usually liked to do in staff meetings, and he was visibly pale. “It means a lot to me that you’re giving me a chance to try to make amends.”
“I don’t see Beau here,” Ainslie scoffed. “He’s the one you need to make amends to.”
“I called Beau and invited him, but he didn’t want to come,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grey wince. I didn’t know whether he really had feelings for Beau – I would probably never know the truth for sure – but it couldn’t have been an ego booster to hear that his former fling wanted nothing to do with him now. “He gave us all his blessing to decide for ourselves whether we wanted to work here. He just can’t join us.”
Ainslie sat back in his chair, a little mollified but still disgruntled. Every face around the table held a different level of emotion: Nikolai was stoic, Kit was restless and fidgety, Luca looked like he would rather the ground swallow him up rather than let him stay here for one more second. And Drake…
Drake still hadn’t shown up at all.
“I spoke with earlier today, and he’s agreed to come back and work for me,” Grey said, nodding in my direction, careful to ensure that I was okay with what he was saying before he carried on. “I’ve made a deal with him that some of you may know about already, and on that basis, he was happy to sign a new contract starting with today’s service. That contract is now in effect.”
“We heard about this,” Kit said, shifting in his chair. “It’s not real, surely?”
“I’m afraid it’s very real,” Grey grimaced. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed a hand over his face. “I know you all feel that my behavior has been unacceptable. I also know you all think that even if I say I’ll stop, I really won’t. The only thing I could think of to do was to have it written into a contract that means I have to pay in blood if I mess up.”
“Not quite in blood,” I added hastily.
“What are the exact terms you’ve agreed to?” Ainslie asked. He was addressing me, but it was Grey who answered again.
“I’ve sworn under the terms of the contract that I won’t sleep with anyone at all for the next year,” he said. He was improving; this time, there was slightly less pain in it than there had been when we were negotiating the terms. “Additionally, for the next year after that, I’m restricted from having sex with anyone who lives within the Crowhill Cove area or is visiting for the day. In other words, I’ll have to make a special trip for it.”
Someone down the table snorted. I looked up, but Nikolai’s face was perfectly still and calm.
“Is that even enforceable in a legal contract?” Kit asked.
“Probably not,” Grey shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve given my word and I’ve signed a piece of paper. As far as I’m concerned, it’s binding. If I break the terms of that contract, will receive an immediate payout equivalent to a full year’s salary at the time of my lapse.”
There was immediate hubbub around the table, everyone speaking at once. “Why don’t we get some kind of payout?” Ainslie asked immediately, his voice louder than the rest.
“I think it’s enough that I already have one,” I said. “As Head Chef, I’m in charge of the kitchen. As it is, a payout of that size will probably bankrupt the business. I don’t need that much money, so I’d probably use it to ensure you could all keep your jobs.”
“How would you do that?” Nikolai asked.
I spread my hands on the table openly. “I’d buy the place off Grey,” I said.
“What?” Grey asked, staring at me. “We didn’t discuss that.”
“We don’t need to discuss it until or unless we come to that point,” I told him evenly. “But if The Crow was going under, I would want to save it. We’d be in a good position to negotiate.”
Ainslie leaned forward, putting his forearms on the table. “Well, if you’d be using it to buy Grey out, then I’m all for it,” he said.
I nodded. “I don’t have this written into any contract, but you all have my word that that’s what I would do. Either buy it outright if I had enough saved or take my payout as a stake in the restaurant instead.”
“That changes things for me, also,” Nikolai nodded. “I would accept that guarantee.”
I let a smile touch my lips briefly. After everything, my team still believed in me. That meant more than I could say.
“There’s one last clause to the contract, by the way,” I said, nodding at Grey.
He looked sheepish. “Right. The final stipulation. Even after my two years of not being able to have sex in Crowhill Cove are up, I will never be allowed to have sex with an employee. It’s strictly forbidden. Just once, and the place, apparently, will be ’s.”
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him again. We’d been over it so many times, but I wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing. Grey was only five or six years older than me; two years from now, he’d be thirty-five. He was, essentially, holding himself to not getting into a relationship until then, since someone who spent every single day at their business wasn’t going to get many chances to travel and meet someone outside of the town limits. He was guaranteeing himself that he would be alone until then.
It wasn’t like he needed to go and find someone to marry before he was too old to have kids, but still. It was a lot to commit to. Even I, someone who committed so much to his work that he hadn’t had a boyfriend in years, thought it was a promise that would be hard to keep.
And if he couldn’t keep it…
He would be giving up his livelihood.
“This business is what’s important to me,” Grey said. He swallowed before going on. “This team is important to me. I’m sorry that I’ve disrupted and disrespected that, now and in the past. But I’m making a commitment now. I’m choosing the business over sex. I mean it.”
There was silence around the table for a long moment.
“For what it’s worth,” Luca spoke up nervously. “I believe you.”
“Thank you, Luca,” Grey nodded. “That’s worth a lot.”
“You’re sure Beau is okay with this?” Ainslie asked, looking at me.
I nodded. “The way he said it, he was walking out no matter what because he couldn’t work with his ex. He said the rest is up to our decision.”
Ainslie sighed.
“For what it’s worth, I’m coming back,” I said. “I signed the contract, and I intend to hold Grey to it. I’ll be here, no matter what happens next.”
Nikolai nodded. “Good,” he said and slapped the table in front of him. “I’m coming back.”
“I’ll come back, too,” Kit said hurriedly, following Nik’s lead as ever.
Luca nodded. “I didn’t yet find another job, so…” he said. A faint smile crossed his face. “Again.”
Grey rubbed a hand over his face. “Don’t remind me,” he said. “I’ve messed up a lot. I know.”
Ainslie sighed for a second time. “Fine,” he said.
“Fine, yes?” Grey clarified.
“Yes, I’ll come back.”
“Alright.” Grey smiled for the first time since the meeting had begun. “That’s everyone. Thank you all.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. I gestured to the empty chair, the one that Drake would have sat in if he had been here. “There’s still one person to hear from.”
Grey looked at me. “But you’re the Head Chef now. I mean that. I’m not going back on it. It should have been you, all along.”
I swelled with pride a little at finally getting that recognition, but I pushed it aside for now. “I know. But we have to give him the chance to decide whether he wants to work under me or not.”
Under me – the phrase had a delicious second meaning that I didn’t want to bring up. But it was there. And I had to know.
Whether he wanted me or not. Whether he wanted the job or not. He could have one and not the other if he wanted, even though it would be painful.
But he had the right to decide. Not showing up didn’t mean I had the right to decide for him.
I stood up.
“Where are you going?” Grey asked. “I thought we might all share a drink to toast a new era.”
“You can have mine,” I said. Why not? Let Grey test his resolve right out of the gate. Let him see how easy it was to avoid having sex if he got drunk. “There’s something I have to do.”
“Get your man,” Kit said, quietly but approvingly.
I looked at his twinkling eyes and knowing grin. “Shut up,” I said and walked for the door.
Because he was right.
I needed to go find my man.