Chapter 18 #2
Fallon glances over at me, then looks back at the road. “They always figure it out, Amber. They’re brothers. They fight, they yell, they move on. It’s how they function.”
I stare at his profile. The line of his jaw, the tattoos peeking out from the collar of his shirt. I want to believe him. I want to believe it’s just about spices and profit margins.
But I remember the way the room went dead silent when I walked in. The way Eli wouldn’t look at me. The way Knox looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
I’m too scared to ask if this is about me. I’m terrified that if I ask, I’ll confirm my worst fears—that I’m a wedge being driven between them.
So I don’t ask. I lean back against the leather seat and let the rumble of the truck lull me.
Fallon turns up the volume on the radio, and we drive the rest of the way to the store, surrounded by the smell of leather and sea salt, pretending that everything is fine.
Things are definitely not fine.
The tension in the kitchen is thick enough to cut with a knife. Usually, Blade that would be too easy. He’s silent.
He moves through the kitchen with rigid, jerky motions, slamming pots down harder than necessary and slamming oven doors with a distinct lack of grace. Every time I walk past him, he stiffens, his eyes locking onto the stainless steel countertop as if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
Eli is no better. He’s usually my sanctuary, the one who smiles and offers me a taste of whatever he’s mixing up. Today, he’s distant.
He focuses maniacally on his pastries, measuring and weighing with a surgeon’s precision, ignoring me completely when I try to make small talk. He hasn’t even looked at my bandaged arm.
Fallon is the only one acting relatively normal, but even he seems to be walking on eggshells, cracking jokes that die in the air before anyone laughs.
The cleaning takes forever. We’re scrubbing the dining room from top to bottom, getting ready for the evening service.
Usually, we talk, we listen to music, we joke. Today, the only sound is the squeak of rags on the floor and the thud of furniture being moved.
The silence is heavy, pressurized, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm.
Lunch hour is weirdly quiet, the usual bustle dampened by the weather and the gloomy vibe inside. When the rush finally dies down around seven, I’m exhausted. Not physically—my arm is sore, but manageable—but mentally.
The strain of pretending not to notice the weirdness is draining.
“Amber,” Knox’s voice cuts through the quiet kitchen.
I jump, dropping the towel I was folding. “Yeah, Chef?”
He’s standing by the office door. “My office. Please.”
My stomach drops into my shoes. This is it. The bandage. The clumsy mistakes. The fact that I’ve felt like an outsider all day.
He’s going to fire me. I’m going to have to go back to Jude and tell him I lost the job within a week.
I walk to the office, my legs feeling like lead. I step inside, and he closes the door behind him. The sudden quiet makes me nervous.
He walks over to his desk and opens a drawer. I brace myself for the lecture, the harsh words.
“Here.” He holds out an envelope. “Your paycheck for last week and the two days you worked this week. There’s a delay with the bank.”
I take the envelope. “Thank you.”
“Tomorrow morning’s cleanup is Fallon’s duty,” he says, his voice clipped. “You don’t need to come in until noon. I’m going to head to the bank and then I’m holding some interviews for more staff. I want to bring in a dedicated dishwasher and maybe a prep cook to lighten the load.”
Panic flares in my chest. “Wait, interviews? You’re hiring more people?”
“Yes.”
“Before you… before you replace me, can you just tell me?” My voice trembles.
I hate how weak I sound, but I can’t help it.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday. I know I was a disaster.
I know I’m not as fast as you guys, and I messed up the service.
But I need this job, Knox. I can do better. I swear.”
Knox looks genuinely startled. “Replace you? Amber, I’m not firing you.”
I blink. “You’re not?”
“No. I’m hiring help because we’re drowning, not because you are incompetent. You’re doing fine.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I’m trying to organize the kitchen so no one has to work twelve-hour shifts. That includes you.”
Just then, the office door opens without a knock. Eli bursts in, his face pale.
“What happened?” he asks, looking between us. “I heard voices. Is everything okay?”
Fallon leans against the doorframe, looking exasperated. “Knox, do you have a death wish or something? You scared the hell out of her.”
“I thought I was being fired,” I say.
“I wasn’t firing her!” Knox snaps. “I was giving her a paycheck and a schedule change.”
“Why didn’t you just say that in the kitchen?” Eli asks, looking at Knox like he’s lost his mind.
“Can we talk about this after work like we agreed?” Knox says. “This restaurant is a place of work and we don’t need to talk about this until we get home.”
“Talk about what? What’s going on?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Knox and Eli say in unison.
Oh fuck. “I’m being fired, aren’t I?”
“That’s not it,” Fallon says.
I look between the three of them—Knox standing stiffly by the desk, Eli hovering in the doorway, Fallon leaning against the frame. They’re all looking at me with varying degrees of concern.
“Then… why have you been acting so weird all day?” I ask, my voice rising. “You won’t talk to me. You won’t even look at me. I feel like I did something terrible. If I’m not being fired, and I’m not being replaced, what is going on?”
“Should we tell her?” Fallon asks, looking at Knox. “Because this is getting ridiculous.”
“Tell me what?”
Knox looks at Eli, then at Fallon. He lets out a long breath, his shoulders slumping. “Can we do this some other time?”
“Do what?” I ask.
“What Knox is trying to say,” Fallon replies, “is that our dynamic seems to be shifting.”
“What dynamic?” I ask, genuinely confused. “The work dynamic?”
“No,” Eli says, stepping further into the room. He looks at Knox, who gives him a curt nod. “Us. You.”
“Me?”
“Amber,” Eli says gently. “You don’t have to worry about this. We’re figuring it out.”
“Eli, what’s going on?”
“Guys, I think we should all just tell her,” Fallon says.
I want to drag my nails through my scalp. A new fear begins to creep in.
Do they know about my past? Did Luke find out about Eli and maybe ruin the only other good thing in my life other than my daughter?
Shit.
Shit.
I can’t start over again. I don’t have it in me to start over. I force a deep breath into my lungs. “What’s going on?” I choke out.
“We’re attracted to you. All of us. I just found that out and we’re kind of going through the motions,” Eli says.
I stare at him. “What?”
“All three of us,” Fallon says, pushing off the doorframe. “It’s becoming… complicated. We’re trying to figure out how to handle it. How to keep the pack stable while dealing with… feelings.”
My brain short-circuits. “You… you all like me? Like, like-like me?”
“Yes,” Knox says, his voice tight. “And it’s clouding our judgment. It’s affecting the workflow. That was why we were shouting this morning. We were arguing about boundaries.”
I look at Knox. I remember the dream. I remember the way he touched my face in the office yesterday, the gentleness he tried to hide.
I look at Eli, who is watching me with those warm brown eyes.
I look at Fallon, who is leaning against the doorframe with a relaxed, open expression.
“You like me?” I repeat, feeling lightheaded.
“Yes,” Knox says. “But we’re not going to pressure you. We’re not going to make things awkward. We just wanted you to know that we’re figuring out this new dynamic.”
“So… you don’t want me to quit?” I ask, needing to be absolutely sure.
“No!” they all say in unison.
“Absolutely not,” Eli adds.
“Hell no,” Fallon says.
“Then why does it feel like I’m walking on eggshells?” I ask, my voice shaking. “I don’t get it. One minute you’re hot, the next you’re cold. I’m not used to this. I’m used to people being direct.”
“We’re trying to be respectful,” Knox says. “Calisse! This is all so new to us. And we didn’t want you to find out. Eli is rightfully pissed after he learned about it.”
I look at Eli who has taken off his glasses and is nervously cleaning them up.
“Hey,” I tell him.
“Hey, sweetheart. I’m sorry today was so terrible. We’re trying not to make you uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?” I look at them.
I think about the dream. I think about the way my heart races when Knox looks at me. I think about the way Fallon makes me laugh, and the way Eli makes me feel safe.
“I… I don’t feel uncomfortable,” I admit. “I feel confused. Because I thought I was just Eli’s… whatever. But now you’re saying…”
“We’re a pack, Amber,” Eli says softly. “And we’re all drawn to you.”
I look at Knox. The intimidating, rigid, controlled Alpha who just admitted he likes me. I look at Fallon. The fun-loving, tattooed Alpha who is attracted to me.
I take a deep breath. “Okay. So… you like me. And you’re not firing me. And you’re figuring it out.”
“Yes,” Knox says.
“Okay,” I say again, my heart frantic against my ribs. “Okay. Then… figure it out. But can you please stop being so weird about it? Just treat me normally. We can talk about the… feelings… later. This is a lot for a girl to hear.”
Knox blinks, then actually smiles—a small, genuine twitch of his lips. “Normally. I can do normal.”
They are freaking attracted to me? What the fuck? I need to have a whole conversation with Eli.
What the fuck?
“Okay,” I say, clutching the envelope with my paycheck to my chest. “Because this is huge and I need a minute to process it, too. I really need this job. And I really like working with you guys. All of you.”