The Fire Between High & Lo (Elements #2)(71)

“You have to dip the duck into the sauce!” Alyssa chimed in before going back to chewing on her shirt. “Oh! And the Brussel sprouts. Dip the Brussel sprouts in the raspberry sauce, too!”

He did as she said, and I cringed watching. He placed his fork down, sat back in the booth and a small smile graced his lips. “Well, f*ck me sideways, that’s good.”

A bit of confidence found me. “Yeah?”

“No. Like—it’s good. Like out of the world, best-thing-I’ve-ever-eaten-good.” He went back to spooning more into his mouth. “Holy shit. Whatever you did to this dish, I want you to do to my menu each and every day you come into work.”

“So… I got the job?”

“Keep cooking like that and you can have the whole restaurant,” he laughed. Then he grew serious, pointing a finger at me. “That was a joke. The restaurant isn’t for sale.”

I laughed. “Well, the job is good enough for now.”

Pride filled me up inside, and I almost burst. Alyssa was beaming from left to right as she reached out, tossing her hands around me. “I knew it!” she whispered against my ear. “I knew you could do it.”

I breathed in her peach shampoo.

“All right, children, break it up. Go out and celebrate tonight. Logan, you start on Monday.”

We all stood up and Jacob went for a handshake, but I scooped him up into a bear hug and spun him around in circles before kissing his forehead. “Thanks, Jacob.”

“Anytime, friend.”

As Alyssa and I went to leave, I paused. “Oh yeah, Jacob, wait.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with the recipe for my hair mask.

He snickered. “Were you holding out on giving me the recipe until I gave you the job?”

“There might have been a small possibility that I was holding off until you gave me the job.”

He nodded, proud. “I would have done the same thing.”

***

Alyssa and I stayed out on the town for the remainder of the night, celebrating me getting my first official chef job. We ended up in a cheap diner with hamburgers and French fries stacked in front of us, taking on the battle of who could eat the most without getting sick.

I felt like for the first time, I was happy again.

But I should’ve known it wouldn’t have lasted long. Because after the highs always, always, came the lows.

“You eat here too, son?” was heard from behind me, and my jaw clenched. I turned to see my father smiling my way like the * he was. He had his arm around a girl, and when I locked eyes with her, I saw the fear resting in her stare. My mind flashed back to the night I first saw those eyes.

“Do you know how beautiful your eyes are?” I asked, changing the subject. I softly began kissing her neck, listening to her softly moan.

“They’re just green.”

She was wrong. They were a unique shade of celadon, holding a bit of gray and a touch of green to them. “A few years back, I was watching a documentary on Chinese and Korean pottery. Your eyes are the color of the glaze they used to make pottery.”

“Hey,” I swallowed hard, tearing my stare away from Sadie. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” he echoed. “You say what’s up as if the last time you saw me you didn’t try to start a fight.”

Alyssa was holding her purse close to her, and I could see the panic in her stare. She was terrified, the same way Sadie looked. The same way most women appeared when they were near my dad. “Look, I don’t want any trouble,” I said, my voice low.

“Oh, so now I’m trouble?” he snickered, talking loud because he wanted everyone to notice our interaction. That was the kind of person he was, the showoff. He stepped in closer to me as I sat, hovering a few inches above me. “Don’t forget the person who took you and your mom in all those years ago, Logan,” he growled, somewhat as a threat.

He stared at me with hate in his eyes for a few seconds before he smirked big and patted me on the back. “I’m just f*cking with you, buddy. Can we sit? Can we join you?” He didn’t wait for a reply before sliding into the booth beside Alyssa.

Alyssa tensed up, and appeared seconds away from crying. I took her hand in mine, lightly squeezed her fingers, and pulled her closer to me.

I wanted to ditch the place, and take Alyssa home. I hated how my father made women’s skin crawl out of fear.

“This is my girl Sadie,” he said, wrapping his hand tightly around her waist, pulling her into him.

I cringed, feeling my temper building, but tried not to let it get to me. I held my hand out to Sadie for a handshake. “Nice to meet you,” I offered. She didn’t extend her hand, and she broke her eye contact.

Ricky spoke for her. “Oh no, no, no. No touching.” His voice was drenched in the same threatening manner that it always was when he spoke to Ma. He thought it meant something that he was a big powerful dick, so he belittled women as a way of feeling strong.

It just made him look weak to me.

“Sadie doesn’t really like to be touched by other men, do you, Sadie?” Dad said.

She didn’t reply, because he wouldn’t let her. If I hadn’t spoken to her that one night, I would’ve assumed she was mute, seeing how she hadn’t spoken one word since I saw her in the diner.