Peyton grimaced as the overpowering yeast stench from the oven assaulted his nostrils. The smell mixed with the pepperoni scent. Bile rose in his throat.
Lily covered her mouth as she waved the magazine in the air. “What the hell did you do? It smells like a sewer backed up in here. Is that what happened?”
The warehouse didn’t have a lot in the way of natural airflow, so no matter where he walked, a smothering cloud of yeast nastiness waited to choke him and remind him of his awful failure.
“This is…not good. So not good.” He shook his head. “Okay, so there is such a thing as too much yeast. Good to know.” He picked up the pizza and tossed it into a trash can. “I’ve got to air this place out before someone calls a HAZMAT team.”
“If you leave the loading bay doors open Shay will point her gun at your head. Does the ceiling open up? What? There’s a lot of weird shit in these warehouses. An opening ceiling would not be even in the top ten.”
Peyton shook his head. “No opening up there, although not a bad idea for my to-do list. I can figure out how to deal with the smell later. I still need to get a halfway decent pizza finished, and now I know to use the measurements in the recipe and not be so inexact.”
“You’re talking to the pizza again, aren’t you. Fuck, dude, I’m going out for some air. You stay in this if you want to and I’m taking cash from the petty cash drawer.”
“That was my secret stash.”
“Found it the first night and I was on pain killers. You would die in the wild.” Lily tucked two twenties in her pocket and headed for the side door.
“I’ve been in the field before,” Peyton protested.
“How’d that go? I thought so,” said Lily, as she pulled the door behind her.
Peyton grimaced as he tilted his head and calculated how much yeast he’d added.
Okay, maybe nine times as much as called for was a little excessive.
With a renewed respect for quantities Peyton prepared new dough, humming as he kneaded and rolled it out.
“It’s not just about the oven,” he murmured. “And if I can’t mess with the recipe much, it’s got to be about technique. That’s got to be the key. Might as well do it like the pros.”
Peyton picked up the dough and tossed it in the air. It couldn’t be that difficult. After all, he’d seen it done countless times at the pizza places Shay had taken him to.
“This isn’t so…” he stared down at his now dough-covered shoe, “hard.”
Peyton’s stomach rumbled as he stuck the wooden pizza paddle underneath his latest attempt at an edible pizza and transferred it to a tray. His prep had included perfect measurements and no clever dough-handling stunts. Everything was finally going according to plan.
Sure, the whole building still smelled like he’d fallen into a yeast vat, but he’d gotten used to it.
All the suffering and trials had led to this point. He’d taste the delicious pepperoni pizza he’d made with his own two hands and remember that no man improved himself without some setbacks.
“I wonder if Shay would get mad if I started calling myself ‘the Pizza King?’” Peyton chuckled and shook his head.
He paced in front of the pizza, giving it a few more minutes to cool.
The steel of the pizza cutter glinted in the light as he lifted it.
“I declare thee the first victim of the Pizza King. Your crime? Being too delicious.”
Peyton sliced the pizza into six pieces and picked up one. The color looked decent. Maybe a little more cheese was in order and the pepperoni could have been sliced with more consistency, but it wasn’t half-bad.
The delicious smell made his stomach gurgle again, and he bit down.
Peyton managed to keep the bite in his mouth a whole three seconds before he spat it out. So much for taste aligning with smell.
“What the hell? I followed the damn recipe, so why does it taste like vinegar and soy sauce had a baby together on my pizza?” Peyton dropped his face into his hands. “The rebels are winning. The Pizza King may be deposed. Where’s Lily with some food?”
Peyton sighed as he finished putting his ingredients away in the breakroom cabinet and refrigerator. Lily had taken pity on him and brought back a burger and fries, still warm.
“I still don’t understand what I did wrong.”
“The way I see it, it’s like my training. More complicated than it looks on the surface but if you’re willing to hang in there, you’ll get it. Of course, tell Shay about my business like working out already, again and I’ll bust apart your oven.”
“Deal. We should stick together. I only pray that Shay doesn’t decide to watch the warehouse surveillance feed. She might never reveal her secret warehouse to me after witnessing the catastrophe.”
“What do you think is in there?”
“Could be anything. Men held in suspended animation. Magical artifacts all her own. I don’t know, I’m out. That’s all I have.”
“You’re bent, dude,” said Lily, slurping up the rest of her chocolate milkshake.
“Did you bring me one of those? That hurts.”
“One good arm. Be glad for what you did get.”
Peyton’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Shay. It was like she knew what he’d done. Maybe she had watched the feed. He waved frantically at Lily to be quiet.
“What? She knows I live here.”
“Hey, Shay.”
“Just wanted you to know there’s been a change in plans,” Shay explained.
“What?”
“I’m going to Virginia to stay with Alison until Brownstone gets his shit cleaned up.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’ve already contacted the Professor about the job.”
“Need me or Lily to do anything?” Peyton asked.
“Nope. When I come back you’ll need to check out the phone, but nothing before then. Don’t do anything stupid or make a mess and you’ll be fine.”
Peyton glanced at
