Chapter Nine
Ches
I nearly dropped an entire elaborate snack order.
The guests, in the villas especially, had erratic schedules, and this one ordered a grazing or snack board, along with some breakfast dishes at three in the afternoon.
The chef’s snack board was legendary here, but sometimes a finicky guest would cancel the order late or refuse the order.
As soon as the order touched the break room, it was demolished.
It was the perfect ensemble of sweet, savory, naughty, nice, and healthful.
If I ever had a home and a place to call my own, I would be recreating them.
No comments were made about my bout with the stomach bug the night before, and I was encouraged by my direct manager to take the morning and make sure I was fit for work.
Even with sleeping in and having a great breakfast in the break room, I was off my game mentally.
I tried like hell to brush off the events of the night before but in the middle of the night, I sat up straight in my bed and it all came crashing down on me.
I’d been on the verge of some life-altering event.
Grant saved my life. Saved me from horror beyond my imagination, probably.
Underneath all the fear and what-ifs was also the knowledge that maybe Grant had burst into my life for more than one reason. My wolf complained about not being near him. Not making a move.
My wolf also said Grant was our mate.
Not the way I wanted to meet my fated, but I would take it.
He was tall and incredibly sexy and obviously could protect me and, to my wolf, that was important. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt safe. My shell had hardened so much that sometimes I thought I might never be a soft person who could submit to love.
All my fears prevented it.
The almost dropping of the snack board was the tipping point into a quicksand day.
The harder I tried to forget the night before and do my best, the worse things got.
I tripped on the walkway and almost collided with a group of guests on their way to the spa.
I nicked my finger on something—I didn’t even know what but it was complaining at me.
This went on and on until by late afternoon, I was spent and I’d only worked a few hours.
I waited for an order to take to one of the villas, preferably one far away from the villa I’d been trapped in the night before, and my hands began to shake.
“Get a grip, Ches,” I murmured to myself, but it only made things escalate.
I reached for the silverware to add to the tray, hands shaking so badly I toppled the entire stack of clean forks. They clattered and clanged onto the floor and garnered the attention of the whole kitchen, including the dishwashers who I had accidentally personally offended by the act.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed and crouched to pick everything up.
As I took the tray of dirty forks back to the dishwashing area, one of the chefs stepped in front of me and intercepted.
“What is going on, Ches? Are you still sick? Is something wrong? You’ve been a mess all day.
We run a tight ship here and this is a peak weekend.
We can’t afford all this chaos in my kitchen. ”
Every eye was on me.
I’d thought last night the bulk of my nightmare had been the beginning of forgetting, but it had only been the beginning of the trauma.
“It won’t happen again. I’ll get my act together.”
The chef put his hands on his hips and told the rest of the staff to get back to work.
Then he leaned in. “Are you okay? You are never like this. We count on you, Ches. Take a break. Get some coffee.” He clapped me on the shoulder and I felt like an absolute fool.
Everyone had things going on in their lives.
Personally. Family. Mentally. Emotionally.
We all had issues to preoccupy us, but we tried not to let it get in the way of our work.
And here I was, vibrating with fear and anxiety over almost. I almost was raped. I almost was kidnapped. I almost was trafficked.
I walked away, intending to follow his advice. Get some coffee. Water on my face.
“Hey,” Alias said, tugging on my shirt to pull me to the side. “You’re not okay.”
“I’m not but I have to be. I can’t…”
He sighed. “I know. You can’t lose your job but this is serious. If you keep this up, you’re not going to have a job because you’re freaked out. We need to go to HR and tell them what happened. You can’t work in fear. If you don’t, I will.”
“Okay,” I relented. “Fine.”
We took the long way to the HR department to take less of a chance of getting stopped by a guest. The HR department was one man sitting at a desk, playing solitaire and talking on the phone to his wife all day. At least, that was the rumor and, when we walked in, I expected that scene.
What I didn’t expect was to see Grant sitting across from him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Grant turned. “Probably the same thing you are. I told you I would keep things quiet, but I didn’t want you to be in danger.”
The HR manager, Tim, leaned forward. “Sit down, Ches. Tell me everything. I’m here to help you.”
I almost scoffed. HR was never there to help the employee. They were in their position to help the company avoid lawsuits.
But maybe this would keep another omega from being violated.