Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
M oon shot himself out of the house before Larissa could give him any further demands. He barreled into Priss when he turned from shutting the door but managed to prevent both of them from tumbling to the ground.
“What the …?” Priss stared at him with wide eyes.
“Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”
Her gaze went from his to the door behind him then came back to his. Understanding dawned on her expression. “What does she want?”
Moon swore he saw burgeoning fear on her face.
“A sack of burgers.”
“Was she crying?”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“Ugh!” Priss muttered quietly, as if Larissa could hear them from the living room with the closed door separating them. “You have to do whatever needs to be done so she doesn’t get to the crying stage!” she whisper-screamed. “I found that out when she wanted a banana milkshake for lunch the other day. And she nearly took off Lana’s head when she came home with Trefoils. She had to go back out and get the s’more cookies.”
“I would rather have to deal with a Girl Scout than Marty.”
Priss gave him a pitying look. “Clearly, you’ve never had to deal with the mother of one of them. Lana came back with two boxes of every flavor, just so she could buy two boxes of the s’mores. She made the mistake of telling them that her pregnant sister was craving them.”
Moon was starting to appreciate what Train had to live with, having Killyama as a spouse. The brother deserved a silver star.
“A heads-up would have been nice.”
“Why? And let you miss the joy of impending fatherhood?” she said snidely.
He debated hightailing it to Ohio as he tried staring her down.
His shoulders slumped. It seemed Priss was immune to his intimidation tactics.
“Do you want any burgers? Larissa told me she isn’t sharing.”
“I’ll take a sack. And get one for Lana. Saves me from having to make dinner.”
“Glad to help out,” he said insincerely.
Moon started to move around her when he noticed Priss made no move to enter the house. Instead, she turned to head in the same direction as him.
“Aren’t you going into the house?”
Priss backed further away from the door. “Nope. I’m going to wait in the car until you come back.”
“I’ll pay you fifty bucks to get the burgers.”
She vigorously shook her head. “I’ll pass. Marty is worse than Larissa.”
T here were already customers waiting outside Marty’s when he approached the restaurant. Eyeing them, he evaluated the chances of getting them to go inside and place an order for him.
Lucky made a face at him. “Save your breath. None of us are going to help you out.”
Not dissuaded, he made his pitch to the other people standing outside. “I’ll give you three hundred dollars to order my food for me.”
Beth, Nickel, and Evie all shook their heads.
“Sorry,” Beth apologized. “I’ve already ordered. Marty will know I’m ordering for someone else.”
Nickel wasn’t apologetic. “No. I didn’t even want to place my own order.”
Moon gave Evie a pleading look.
“Forget it. He knows I’m married to King. If he makes one more sarcastic comment about me coming to get his food, I’m going to shove him in the freezer.”
“Fuck,” Moon groaned, giving up.
He opened the door and warily went inside to walk toward the counter. The whole restaurant was empty. What used to be a bustling, fun place to sit around and shoot the shit had become like entering a lion’s den—you didn’t know if you would walk back out with all your limbs still attached.
Stopping at the counter, he waited for Marty to come out from the back.
The first time he had come here after Marty had taken over, he made the mistake of calling out for service. When he had left then, he swore to never come back. It was a promise he’d had every intention of keeping until Larissa went off the wall on his ass.
He had to wait several minutes before the huge man came lumbering out with his beef hands filled with sacks of food.
“What in the fuck do you want?”
Moon bit his tongue on what he wanted to say. “I want to place an order,” he replied politely.
“No shit.” Marty’s beady eyes stared at him. “What do you want to order?” he snapped, setting the bags down on the counter.
“Four deluxe sacks. One of the sacks is for Larissa; she likes extra pickles.”
“Go outside and wait. Takes about ten minutes. Tell the fuckers outside their food is ready.”
Moon nodded then hurried outside.
Everyone outside looked at him expectantly.
Vengefully, he didn’t mention their food was ready.
It was only when Beth asked fearfully if ten minutes had passed that he said something.
“He said all your orders are ready.”
He shrugged off their angry glares but started to worry if he had pissed Marty off by making him wait for them to come inside and get their orders.
He again ignored the furious glares coming from Beth, Evie, Nickel, and Lucky as they walked back out.
“Don’t bother asking me to switch shifts when you want me to,” Nickel told him as he passed by.
“I’m going to tell Razer that you’re the reason his hamburgers are cold,” Beth threatened.
Lucky stopped in front of him. “You know I’m going to pay you back.”
“Bring it on, brother.” Unconcerned, Moon crossed his arms over his chest.
Evie came up to him. “You’re not allowed in my restaurant anymore.”
His arms dropped at seeing how mad she was. “You’re kidding?”
“Try me,” she snarled. “I hope Larissa twists your dick into knots.”
“That’s a little harsh.”
Evie flipped him off before crossing the street.
Moon watched everyone leave, knowing he had earned a place on their shit list. Damn, maybe he should have given more thought about making them wait.
After exactly ten minutes, he walked inside and strode up to the counter. Waiting expectantly for Marty come out, he had to twiddle his thumbs until five minutes later.
From Marty’s expression, he knew one of the people outside had tattled on him.
Yeah, he had made a mistake. He was finally willing to admit that.
He handed Marty his credit card and picked up an ink pen, ready to sign his name and get the fuck out of the restaurant.
Marty’s gloating expression should have given him a clue when he handed him the receipt. Poising the ink pen over the signature line, he ran his eyes over the total. Then they flew upward at the amount billed.
“You charged me too much.”
Marty’s beady eyes narrowed on him. “The extra hundred is what it cost when you wasted my time.”
“That’s illegal,” Moon blustered.
“Nobody’s forcing you to sign it. I can donate the sacks to the police department. They won’t go to waste.”
His fingers shook as he swirled his name onto the receipt.
“You the one who knocked Larissa up?”
Moon started to ignore his question, but he didn’t want to chance Larissa not getting another craving for his food.
“I’m the father of her baby, yes,” he admitted through clenched teeth.
“You going to marry her?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“In other words, no.” Marty maneuvered his huge belly around the counter to sit on a chair. “My daughter is supposed to come for a visit. When she does, I better not catch you sniffing around her.”
Moon juggled the bags in his arms. “I can guarantee no man in town will go near your daughter.” Keeping his face devoid of expression, Moon started for the door.
“Good.” The son of bitch wasn’t done. “And make sure none of your biker buddies come here, sniffing around her, either.”
“I won’t have to.” He opened the door and managed to get out of there without shooting the rat bastard.
Packing the food into his saddlebags, he rode home. He had enough aggravation to last him for the day. As soon as he dropped the food off, he was going to head back to the club.
When he parked his bike in the driveway, he noticed Priss wasn’t sitting her car. Leaving his food in the saddlebag while carrying the rest to the door, Moon used his elbow to ring the doorbell.
He again had to grit his teeth when he heard Priss call out to come in. He opened the door and walked down the hallway, from where he saw Larissa already sitting at the table. She had changed while he was gone.
Wearing a pretty pink robe, she looked so cute sitting there with an expectant look on her face. He felt his cock harden at how beautiful she looked with her hand resting on the baby bump, which kept her unable to pull the chair closer to the table.
He set the food down on the table before he turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Larissa asked as she immediately started opening a bag.
Moon didn’t bother to turn around. “To get my sack.”