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I do the right thing and walk away.
It feels wrong, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about that.
Chapter Four
Lita
Thelunchrushhasstarted when I get back to the kitchen, and I’m still agitated over leaving Adam with that awful woman at the nursery. I have a few near misses with some poorly balanced plates before I manage to pull myself together.
Alina asks if I’m okay when I get a second alone with her.
She can tell I’m rattled even if I’ve gotten it under control.
I tell her I’m fine. I add that I don’t like that bitch who runs the nursery.
She smiles. “Maria can be very unpleasant, but she is not as bad as she seems.”
I shrug, still wishing I could have done something to avoid letting Adam go back with her.
“He’ll be okay,” Alina tells me. “He’s a good kid.”
He is. That’s what makes it feel so bad.
I nod and start drying the plates she’s already washed. The first load of tables have been served and now we have to get prepped for the second round. That means making sure we have enough plates and cutlery ready, and that we haven’t run out of any of the food that we need.
Emily yawns as she stirs the fresh pot of soup she helped Alina to make.
She tastes it after a few seconds and gives us a thumbs up to let us know it’s ready for the second rush. I stack the dried dishes on the serving table, knowing there’s a little time but wanting to be sure I get everything done before it’s needed.
Cora steps into the kitchen and we turn. She pulls a face, and I can tell what she’s about to say before she signs it. If there’s one reason my coworkers love ASL, it’s to help them be discrete about the people we’re talking about when there’s a chance they might overhear.
“Royalty has arrived,” she signs, rolling her eyes and then signing, “Roll out the red carpets.”
We all know what those two favorite phrases of hers mean.
The Alpha never eats with everyone else, but his sons do, and they aren’t that well liked outside of the groups of girls who want to be mated to them and the boys who want to be them, mainly because they act like they're above everyone else.
Emily signs, “Fuck off.”
Cora gets the giggles, and I can’t help laughing either.
Emily can never be bothered to sign, but she always manages it for this one profane purpose.
Alina shakes her head at us, but she has a smile on her lips.
“Well, you’d better go ask them what they’d like to eat,” Alina tells Cora.
She pulls a face, and I can tell she’s about to say she needs to go to the bathroom, her usual excuse to avoid the jobs she doesn’t want to do.
Goddess only knows Astor will be too busy daydreaming in the cafeteria to notice them. She probably doesn’t even realize Cora’s abandoned her yet.
I make sure my hands are full, grabbing another dish to … keep wet with the now sodden dish towel. The last thing I want is to capture the attention of Apollo Masters or one of his brothers.
I needn’t have worried. Alina knows my peer group are the ones who make fun of me the most. She would never make me serve those guys. She doesn’t make Emily do it, either, because our constantly tired friend would do her best to accidentally-on-purpose spill hot soup in their laps.
My guardian straightens up and dries off her own hands before she leaves the room to ask our least favorite guests what they’d like from the options we have on offer.
Everyone is supposed to get the same, but we always ask when we’re able to offer more than one option. Lately, we’ve been blessed with good crops, so it’s rare when there aren’t a couple of choices.
