Page 25 of Targeted By Fate
They didn’t really ask me anything. Just said, “Here are the hours. Here’s the pay. You get tips. But if you break it, you pay for it. So don’t drop trays.”
I should’ve been happy. I should’ve been excited. I should’ve been thrilled. I got a job. One that was fairly easy as far as learning curves went.
But there was something about the owner that put me ill at-ease, and I couldn’t quite place what that was. He didn’t leer at me. It wasn’t sexual, for sure. Maybe I was just still holding on to what happened last time.
Whatever the case was, I wasn’t going to let that happen again, not at any bar. Because for all I knew, it was a patron who’d spiked the drink. If that was how I even got the drug in my system. We still didn’t quite know.
But bottled water from now on. Done.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity,” I said, shaking his hand.
“Sure. Be here tomorrow on time. Probably want your jeans a little snug, you know—for those tips.”
“…Yeah, okay. Can do.”
I left hating the discomfort I was feeling, but at least now I was going to be able to do my part.
And that was something, right?
13
BOAZ
It was Rhodes’s and Maynard’s turn to host the monthly family dinner.
I was dreading when we had to cook for my brothers, as neither Keane nor myself were great in the kitchen. Maybe we could order takeout and pretend we made it. Nah, my brothers would suss out the deception and never let me forget it.
On the way to my brother’s new house—he’d sold his luxury apartment—set back from the road, on a large piece of land and with high-tech security courtesy of Ezra, plus he’d hired armed guards, we bought wine and a potted jasmine that they could plant in the back garden. When it flowered, it’d give off an amazing scent at night.
This was Keane’s first time meeting Rhodes and their little one, Luna. Even though Rhodes was human, he and my mate were both outsiders who had been welcomed into the family and the pack through mating. I hoped they’d become friends.
“Been cuddling bunnies today?” Thiago quipped as we walked in.
I rolled my eyes and ignored him.
“What’s that about?” Keane asked.
“He thinks he's being funny.”
“Nah, he’s been in a meadow, skipping through the wildflowers before picking some and sniffing them as the sun kissed his cheek.” Riggs ducked, apparently expecting me to throw something at him.
But I let my wolf shine through my eyes.
“Tell me,” my mate insisted.
“Boaz was always the hard-ass brother.” Rhodes, the relative newcomer, had experienced my displeasure and wrath on our first meeting. “But now…”
“Now he’s a little pu—” Lake froze, his lips pursed.
I understood what he was going to say, but my mate was a cat, and he couldn’t say I was a pussy without offending him.
But Keane winked at me. “I love when he purrs and brushes against my legs, wanting to be fed or patted.”
My brothers glanced at one another, their eyes darting around the room.
“It's a joke, guys. Lighten up. Besides, he doesn’t purr, he meows.” My mate giggled, and after a moment's hesitation, everyone joined in.
“Please sit,” Maynard ordered.
