“Ollie and Just Finn to the rescue!” Ollie declared. “How can we help?”
“I need you to get me everything on here.” Jax took a quick photo of the list he’d been curating, sending it to Ollie and Finn.
Checking his phone, Finn’s forehead creased.
“Wow, that’s a lot.”
“And you have a third of it. Go to this place, you can buy in bulk.” Jax sent them a pin as Liam entered the kitchen, and after a quick hug, Jax gave him and Owen the same instructions; however, he sent them to a different store.
Thankfully, Jax’s contacts came through with most of the proteins and Tristan’s made up the rest. Marci and Dylan took the shuttle bus to pick it all up, and after everyone left, Jax tried not to think about how much money this was costing The Pointe.
At least Owen didn’t seem pissed, just shocked and concerned. But Jax wasn’t worried about Owen. He was worried about Angelo, because this weekend had already been a disaster. And if another thing went wrong, Jax didn’t care about growth; he was going to wring Derrick’s neck.
“There’s nothing on the cameras outside,” Tristan came back to thekitchen, settling beside Jax, who looked over whatever prep work they could do, filling in wherever necessary. “And you can’t see the area by the pantry door.”
“Of course you fuckin’ can’t.” Jax took in a long breath that shuddered on the way out. “And if Derrick was outside smoking all the time, he might know that.”
Tristan jerked as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out, he turned it off, but Jax could read the expression that flitted across his face. Eve had just called.
Before he could add her to the pile of shit, Kate and Emma barged in, also wanting the story, and by the time he’d explained himselfagainand given them their third of the list, he was more exhausted than he’d been last night.
Even though his most pressing problem was actively being solved, Jax’s mind still spun, and the beast within roared, wanting to be released. Rubbing his eye with the back of his hand, he tried to suppress it.
“I have some good news?” Tristan said, as if he wasn’t sure himself. “Apparently, you’re down a line cook today. Winter passed me in the hall and said that Derrick’s not coming in.”
“I guess he wanted to try and make it worse?” Jax frowned.
“Or maybe he’s too scared to face you after what he’s done?” Tristan said in a low tone as both of them huddled in the corner. “Whatever his reasons, the timing is very suspicious.”
“I’m just glad I don’t have to see his shitty face.” The roar in his mind got louder as the beast started to take over. “’Cause I can’t trust myself not to beat-”
“This is one of those times to be calm.” Tristan’s voice weaved through Jax’s fury, fighting it.
“Shit.” Jax ran his hands through his hair again, trying to come back to himself. “Fuck,fuck, you’re right, buturgh. It’s so hard to be calm.”
“It is.” Those two words were soaked in empathy.
“Really?” Dropping his hands, Jax looked up at Tristan, his rage frozen. “Even for you? You weren’t born this way?”
“No,” Tristan chuckled, pulling Jax close even though he was as stiff as a board. “I used to get upset a lot when I was a kid, but my mother’s alwaysbeen serene. She taught me how to control my anger, but I took it too far until I met you.”
“That deal we made on our first date?” Jax said into Tristan’s shoulder. “It might be working.”
“I think so too,” Tristan replied, holding Jax tighter. His presence and body heat slowly melted Jax, and by the time the shoppers came back, Jax felt more like himself, ready to hit the ground running.
“Should we put everything in the walk-in?” Owen asked, holding several boxes of fresh fruit.
“Not yet. I’m trying to keep the door closed until it comes up to temperature.” Jax explained as the prep cooks and servers grabbed things and got to work, because they weren’t just in the weeds, they were in a damn swamp.
However, The Pointe banded together, and the teamwork blew Jax’s mind. Sure, he knew he’d face some criticism, and he’d definitely have to own up to what happened, but no one had let that get in the way of executing the weddings as planned.
“The first party is about to arrive,” Marci announced, striding into the kitchen. “How’s everything going?”
“As of now, the cocktail hour will be ten minutes late,” Jax wiped sweat off his brow, but it didn’t matter because he was practically soaked to the skin, and his back throbbed in time to his heartbeat.
“Good,” Marci ran her eyes over him, assessing, before they flicked to the walk-in, and Jax had a feeling that she knew what was going on, or she knew as much as he did. “Nice job, Head Chef Fiorelli.”
That had Jax standing a little straighter, because Marci had a ninety-nine percent approval rating and a compliment from her meant a lot.
