Chapter Nineteen
“Raincheck?” Elena offered, more than a little disappointed she had to cancel their date tonight. To be honest, it made her want to cry. Their schedules had been so busy that the only time they’d spent together was either at work, or on the way to and from. With the shifts she’d picked up to cover for ‘Sol, it would be another week of waiting for a night off.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to pick you up after? I know it’ll be late but we’re up for it if you are…”
“That’s sweet but I’ll probably be wiped,” she said, eying the long line waiting at the counter. Fridays were always a little crazy due to the bar crowd that moseyed down the main thoroughfare. It was even worse when there was a band in town, like tonight, often keeping Medina’s open until well after midnight. She was going to be on her feet for probably the next six hours. “Will I still see ya’ll tomorrow morning?”
“Abso-fuckin-lutely,” Pax answered with genuine enthusiasm.
It didn’t really surprise her. The guys had been giving her grief about the condition of her porch since that first date. She was going to be just as happy to not hear them give her shit any more as they were going to be having her porch fixed.
“We’ll be there as soon as the suns up,” he promised.
“Good,” she said softly, smiling at the promise. She knew it was crazy, but she was already looking forward to seeing them again. “I’ll see you then.”
“Wait,” Pax interrupted. “How’re you getting home later? And please don’t answer that you’re planning to get rideshare.”
“I’m not.” Elena shook her head even though he wasn’t there to see it. The Medina brothers hated the app she used for rides just as much as her bikers did. If she had a late night, they physically made sure she made it home safe. “One of the boys will take me home after we close.”
“Good.”
“Elena!” Mamma J yelled from the kitchen.
“I gotta go.”
“I heard,” he chuckled. “Call us when you get home, okay?”
“It’ll be late, she warned.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“10-4.” The sound of chaos had her cutting things short. Whatever Ricky and Mamma J were up to in the kitchen sounded scary. “Gotta go. Bye.”
Spinning on her heel, Elena yelled, “IN!” before shoving the swinging door open.
“Where do you need me?”
“Onions!” Mamma J yelled over the sound of the frying food.
“Actually,” Ricky said as he jogged by with a hot skillet. “We need everything. We’ve already blown through peppers and more cilantro needs to be washed. Cut the onions first though. Once I get this order out, I need to run some out to the food truck.”
“Got it. Who’s working the truck tonight?” Elena asked as she moved to start slicing and dicing. The food truck they had stationed outside was normally manned by MJ, the eldest Medina brother, but one of his kids had picked up the flu and now everyone was sick. It was the reason she was working tonight instead of enjoying the date night her guys had planned.
“Dad,” he answered, zipping by with a stack of takeout containers emanating heat. “It was going to be Luis, but he started to feel bad after lunch. He wasn’t running a fever or anything, but he went home just in case.”
“Good,” she said with relief. When it came to handling food, it was always better to be safe than sorry. Not only did they want to keep their customers healthy, they also didn’t want to spread germs to each other. The family was so big it seemed like there was always at least one person sick, especially with the number of kids in the mix. She made a mental note to sanitize her hands more around her honorary nieces and nephews. They were awesome kids but also little ticking time bombs of germs.
“Tonight’s going to be busy, ‘Lena,” Mamma J warned as her son flew out the door. “We’re going to sell lots of tacos.”
“Heck yeah we are,” she agreed with a grunt as she slammed the veggie chopper closed, sending a chunk of diced onions into the prep bucket directly underneath.
“Ricky mentioned you had a date…” Mamma J probed without any sort of subtly at all.
“I did,” she said, unsure exactly how much she wanted to share. “They’d planned to take me to the Iron Seeds compound.”
“ Iron Seeds?” Mamma J stopped stirring and looked at her with raised brows.
“Yeah,” she answered with a nervous nod, a little scared of the reaction her unusual relationship might bring. She pulled the lever in front of her with an oomph, letting the burn in her eyes distract her from the butterflies in her stomach. “They work at the garage.”
“How many?”
“Three,” she answered hesitantly. The pause wasn’t because she was ashamed of them or anything, it was because the Medinas were catholic.
Super-duper catholic.
“Hmmm,” Mamma J hummed as she went back to stirring.
Elena waited for a follow-up, just a bit more clarification so she didn’t feel like she was on the verge of puking—but nothing.
Nada.
Radio silence.
Mamma J just stirred the pot.
“Ummm”, Elena said, clearing her throat before sending another bin of onions through the dicer. “Is that a good ‘hmmm’ or a bad ‘hmmm’?”
Mamma J’s arm froze as she looked up. “Are they good men? Do they treat you right?”
Elena was nodding before Mamma J was even finished.
“Yes, and yes. They’re amazing.” She was ready to list a million reasons why, but they weren’t needed. Mamma J was smiling at her with a look of both love and support.
“Then I am happy for you,” the older woman said as she came around the counter for a big hug. “As long as you remember to wear a helmet if you ride with them.”
Elena chuckled and gave her a good squeeze back before pulling away with a teary smile. She’d been nervous. She’d assumed that out of the Medinas, the matriarch was going to be the hardest sell simply because of her devotion to the church but she should have known better. Mamma J loved and accepted everyone; she always had.
“And I already knew you were seeing those bikers,” the older woman said, moving back to her big pot once again. “Everyone knows.”
“What?!” Elena squawked in surprise. She’d really thought they’d been keeping things low key. “Since when?”
“Since the beginning,” Mamma J answered with a shrug. “You know people talk.”
“People?” she echoed, looking around. “What people?”
“You know…” Mamma J waved her spoon. “People.”
“Is ‘people’ code for Marisol?” she asked suspiciously, wondering how the news had spread so fast. The only time they’d been together in public was that first date. Since then, they’d seen each other during the day at work and during lunches but that was it.
“It wasn’t ‘Sol,” Mamma J promised with a shake of her head. “Lawrence isn’t that big, ‘Lena. People are going to notice when you go out with three men—especially three men that look like that. We knew about your date before it was over.”
“Well, damn.”
“Why damn?” Mamma J gave her a look. “You wouldn’t have been able to keep it secret forever.”
“I didn’t want forever,” Elena shared with a heavy sigh. “I just wanted to have a little bit of time to figure things out, just the four of us, before people start picking it apart.”
Mamma J’s eyebrows rose high. “Does it really matter what strangers think?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. She’d promised herself long ago to say ‘fuck ‘em’ when it came to judgmental pricks and bullies. Her weight had always made her an easy target and because of that, she’d grown a thick skin early. “I guess I needed a reminder.”
“You need another one,” Mamma J told her, “you come to us. We’re family.”
“I know,” Elena sniffed with a smile.
“But just so you know,” the other woman continued with a smirk. “I had a feeling something like this was going to happen.”
“You did not,” she laughed, dabbing her eyes on the sleeve of her t-shirt.
“I did too!” her stand-in-mother argued. “I’m not blind. I know what kind of books you read.”
“Mamma J!” Elena gasped, biting her lip to keep from reminding Mamma J that Marisol read the same smut she did.
“All I’m saying,” Mamma J defended with her hands up, “is that I’m not shocked.”
Elena couldn’t keep from laughing at that.
“’Lena!” Ricky yelled as he walked into the kitchen.
“Fuck, Ricky.” Elena winced at the ringing in her ear. “Why’re you yelling when I’m right here?”
“’Sol needs your help at the counter; the paper jammed.”
“Sounds about right,” she said to herself. Their old-as-fuck credit card machine was held together with paperclips and pieces of tape.
She hurried through the kitchen door…and walked into a madhouse. There was a big crowd of hungry people around the counter, and it appeared they were losing their patience.
“Thank god!” Her bestie snagged her elbow and pulled her over to the printer. “You’re the only one that can get this fucking thing to work.”
“Got it.” Elena turned the power off and on twice, smacked the side three times, and wiggled the back cord for a few seconds before finally hitting the feed button. The paper slid through without a hitch, printing out a long line of queued receipts.
“She’s a witch,” Marisol joked to the customers watching from the other side of the counter.
“I’m not a witch,” she assured them with a smile as she doled out the slips of paper they’d been waiting on. By the time her hands were empty, the line was clear except for a few folks still studying the menu.
“Hot bikers, twelve o’clock.”
Elena glanced across the room, unable to keep from smiling stupidly as her guys made their way to the counter. Despite catching the attention of everyone in the small taco shop, it was obvious they only had eyes for her.
“I guess the cat really is outta the bag,” she mumbled as they approached.
“Oh yeah,” Marisol agreed with a grin before moving away to holler out the name on the next pick-up order.
“Hey, baby doll,” Pax said, ignoring the heads whipping around at the clearly spoken endearment.
“Hey,” she said, giving them a big smile that shifted the peanut gallery’s attention back to her.
After her talk with Mamma J, Elena had made an executive decision to pull her head out of her ass. She wasn’t going to shy away from sharing what they had together or the way they made her feel. She couldn’t. The way she responded to them was out of her control. Which was why when Pax leaned in for a quick kiss, Elena met him halfway. She didn’t kiss the other two men, but Tanner and Vinyl each grabbed a hand and gave her a little squeeze. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to see you tonight. What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to help,” Vinyl said with a small shrug. “I wouldn’t trust any of us in the kitchen, but we can bus tables or something.”
“We’re at your disposal,” Tanner added with a bow.
“You guys are the best,” she said, hoping they knew how much she meant it.