Chapter 12 #2
Ezekiel looked over, spotting us, shooting us a grin and a nod as if this wasn’t weird at all. What more, he leaned over to the girl and said something to her before breaking away and coming to the checkout counter.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” he greeted us collectively.
“Hey,” I let out.
“Looking for something?” Paisley wanted to know. She’d activated protective mode as she sized Ezekiel up with no shame.
“Actually, I was hoping I could steal Nas for lunch,” Ezekiel said.
“We’re working,” I said. “It’s busy.”
“Ah.” He stepped back and showed a hand toward the young woman browsing our selection of purses and handbags. “I figured you might say that, so I brought a hand. Jonelle’s got retail experience and she’s great on register at the club.”
Paisley eyed Jonelle. “Who is that?”
“One of our bottle girls,” Ezekiel explained.
“We don’t know her,” I said. While I was relieved he wasn’t here being an asshole and rubbing the next woman in my face, I couldn’t just let her work in my shop.
“I’m good to my people, so they’re good to me. I wouldn’t have brought her if I didn’t trust her. She’s doing me this solid in exchange for the night off, plus, I want her to wear something from the store for when we promote Shéc at the Ladies’ Night event.”
He’d thought it out. He’d take me to lunch and have one of his employees take my place to help Paisley while I was gone. It was sincere and sweet. Not at all what I was used to.
Again, Paisley nudged me. “You gotta hand it to him, that’s considerate.”
“A little spontaneous, but I was thinking about you,” Ezekiel admitted. He touched his chest. “I’m sorry if I’m putting you on the spot, or if you’re not in the mood.”
I did feel lousy, but so effortlessly he brought a smile to my face. “No. Thank you, for this, Zeke.”
He smiled and eyed Paisley. “I’ll even bring you back something.”
Paisley didn’t need much convincing after that. “You know what I like,” she said to me before looking over at Jonelle. “Well, let’s see how this goes.”
Ezekiel called Jonelle over and introduced us all to each other.
She got behind the register and Paisley showed her the way we ran things, and thankfully she was a fast learner.
I was nervous about this whole thing, but something about Ezekiel made it all too easy to trust in his word.
That he wouldn’t put me in harm’s way, and as na?ve as it was, I put faith in him.
“I guess you always dress like that,” I teased as I met up with Ezekiel at the shop’s exit.
In his long-sleeved black shirt and navy slacks, Ezekiel was business casual.
Ezekiel peered down and examined himself. “I like to dress like I’m doing something important.”
His pants didn’t sag and he looked about his time and his money. I couldn’t fault him. He was successful.
We stepped outside and I chanced a look over my shoulder, finding Jonelle and Paisley already cracking up about something.
I came back to Ezekiel and he was chuckling beside me.
“What’s so funny?” I dared to ask.
Ezekiel elbowed me. “You.” He leaned down to tease me further. “You really thought I would stroll through ya spot with another woman? Come on, now, I got more sense than that.”
“A man with sense? Haven’t seen one in a while.”
Ezekiel smirked. “You’ll learn soon enough not to write me off.”
He placed his hand to the small of my back and led me across the crosswalk over to the parking area. Today he’d driven his red Acura, and like the gentleman he was, he went and opened the passenger door for me.
Returning the favor, I leaned over the driver’s seat and opened his door for him. A gesture that made him smile as he slid in beside me.
“So, what you hungry for?” he asked.
I buckled in and thought it over. “Italian sounds good.”
Ezekiel started up the car and looked over at me. “Ever have Dellucci’s?”
Dellucci’s was one of the few five-star restaurants in Belmont. Growing up, I’d always heard about the homestyle Italian dishes and how amazing the atmosphere was. Except, the restaurant was harder to get into than the Capital.
“I wish, that place is impossible to get into,” I said with a pout.
Ezekiel appeared thoughtful. “Is that what you want?”
I faced him. “I’d love to try them, but we can’t get in.”
Ezekiel pulled his cell phone from his pocket and placed in an AirPod. He sifted through his phone and dialed a number before he began backing out of the spot.
Curiously, I watched him maneuver out of the strip mall into traffic on the street as his phone call picked up. “What up? … Oh, you know how it is over here, playboy … Yeah, I need a table for two … Love.” He hung up and kept driving.
There was no way.
Absolutely. No. Way.
In thirteen painfully anxious minutes, Ezekiel drove quietly from Shéc all the way over to the upper east side to Dellucci’s.
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to impress me, but by the packed parking lot, I knew I was right and that we wouldn’t be let in.
The rumors were true, no matter the time of day, Dellucci’s was always booked and busy.
Ezekiel wasn’t fazed by the line of vehicles filling the lanes in the front of the building.
He drove around back, past a sign that read employee parking only, and pulled into a space a few feet from a set of hunter green dumpsters.
A man, who was clearly a cook judging from his white uniform, was outside smoking a cigarette.
My mouth was open in shock and denial had me refusing to budge from my seat.
“Come on, let’s eat,” Ezekiel insisted.
There was no way.
Ezekiel met me at my door as I finally stumbled out of my side and he took my hand. The cook tipped his head at Ezekiel, a warm smile on his face as Ezekiel went and opened the back door marked employee entrance only.
Inside, we were in a back hallway, and by the loud chatter nearby and the smells of sauce, I knew we were approaching a kitchen.
Ezekiel led me from the back hallway to the kitchen, where men and women dressed in white were in an assembly line preparing dishes on plates at chrome tables, while other men were at stovetops pouring wine in pots or stirring items in other pots.
All the different foods smelled delicious, and as we breezed through the bustling room, no one was bothered or shocked by our intrusion.
“Ezekiel!” a round man called out as we neared the kitchen exit.
Ezekiel paused, finding the man and greeting him with a big smile. “Giorgio!”
Giorgio abandoned his station and came over to us with a white platter before him, on it was a small serving of what looked like pesto and gnocchi. “Give it a little try. Nice and fresh for ya!”
Ezekiel wasn’t shy about grabbing the fork on the plate and trying the pasta. He ate it with a smile before turning and letting me try it.
This was so unreal.
The gnocchi and pesto were a perfect blend of olive oil, cream, and herbs. One thing that really made Dellucci’s popular was their homemade authentic Italian pastas. And now I knew why.
I covered my mouth as I chewed. “Oh, that’s so good!”
“Please, eat up,” Giorgio insisted.
“Hey!” A loud voice entered the room from the kitchen’s exit. In walked a young man dressed in a fine suit with his dark hair slicked back. He approached us with a faux look of anger on his tan face. “Hey, Gino, don’t fill ’em up before we charge ’em!”
Giorgio laughed a big and loud laugh before going back to work.
The man and Ezekiel exchanged hugs and pats to the back before the man went to plant a big kiss on Ezekiel’s cheek. With me, he cooled his approach, locking eyes with me as he took my hand and kissed the back of it.
“Nastasia, this is Carmine Dellucci, and Carmine, this is Nastasia,” Ezekiel introduced us.
“Pleasure to meet you, Nastasia.” Carmine’s warm and soft hands kept mine in his grasp. “Welcome.”
Oh wow. This was really happening. Ezekiel knew a member of the Dellucci family.
All I could do was look to him with amazement as Carmine showed us out to a private table set off from the main floor of the restaurant.
In a quiet alcove was a table for two. On it was a framed black and white photo of an older Italian couple.
As we were seated, I even spotted a curtain available for privacy.
Holy shit.
“Thanks for doing this,” Ezekiel said to Carmine.
“Always for you, E.” Carmine brushed it off as if it were nothing. He couldn’t have been that much older than me. He leaned down and shook my hand once again. “Hope you enjoy. Your server will be with you shortly.”
And then he was going, breezing into the blur of people in the lower half of the restaurant.
Dellucci’s was one of those esteemed establishments where patrons had to dress up to come and eat. Ezekiel’s business style made him far more appropriate than my loose overalls and white tee.
I looked at Ezekiel and he gave me this bashful smile. “How the hell did you pull this off?”
“Carmine wanted into VIP one night and I threw him a bone and he tossed me back a solid.” Ezekiel shrugged as if it were that simple.
“He’s the grandson of the founding members of the place.
This table is usually reserved for his parents, or family only.
I mostly come here alone because this is a good spot for privacy, but since you’ve never had them, I figured I had to let you experience Dellucci’s. ”
First the picnic, now this?
I was ten seconds from pulling the curtain shut for privacy so I could mount him.
But this wasn’t the time or place.
“Thank you, Ezekiel,” I said softly.
“It’s never a problem. Now, he gets me in the door, but he doesn’t go easy on the price, so you better not order no chicken fingers,” Ezekiel teased as he placed his cloth on his lap.
“I’ll pay for mine.”
He furrowed his brows. “No.”
“Really, it’s not a big deal.”
He chuckled. “I respect women and all that, but I’m not a man if I take a woman out and make her pay for anything.”