He catches me and flashes a smile from behind his gold-toned beard—one so big I often tease that it’s been fertilized with the tears of lesser men. Tall, broad, and looking like he’ll put a guy through a wall if he needs to, you’d never guess that when it comes to me, Scarlett, and even Hunter, our uncle is a big softy. One who’s actually given a stranger the shirt off his back once.
“Something I can do for you, Blue-Jay?” he asks, flipping the spatula just because he’s a show-off.
Shrugging, I smile back. “If you’re taking requests, I’ll take a yacht with a million bucks stashed inside.”
His smile turns into a quiet laugh. “Well, make that a double. When you find this mythical genie granting wishes, point him in my direction.”
The door chimes again, ending our conversation. Dusty glances over my shoulder and then goes back to scooping mashed potatoes into a to-go container.
I tighten my apron and start toward the door to greet the customers who entered, but I stop dead in my tracks when I finally look up and see who said customers are.
My first instinct is to ball both fists at my sides, and my next is to swing them when West flashes that wicked grin at me.
How on Earth did he know where to find me?
The group of twenty-plus make their way toward the booths lined along the window, but not West. His steps are steady and brimming with confidence when he strides over to me, stopping only when there’s a foot of space between us. Naturally, my body goes rigid being so close to the enemy.
Among the many things I take note of within the first few seconds of laying eyes on him is his hair. The unruly, loose curls are tame tonight, wet and darker than normal. The wifebeater beneath his white tee is visible, highlighting the breadth of his shoulders. A scent permeates from him and I hate that I enjoy it so much. It’s clean and crisp, not at all overpowering.
West’s height gives him an advantage and he uses it, staring down on me like he loves to do. And like always, I can barely breathe in his presence, doing my best not to show any sign of weakness.
“You have to go.” The words are biting, and every bit as scathing as I intend for them to be. “Two of our servers called in sick, so we’re understaffed. There’s no way we can wait on all of you.”
His head cocks to the side and his eyes dim. “And here I was, thinking you’d be honored to serve me, Southside.” The tip of his tongue slides between his lips, wetting them, and my attention goes there before meeting his gaze again.
“Sounds like you’ve confused me with one of your groupies.”
After speaking, I nod toward the handful who followed the team in tonight. The train of sickeningly feminine perfection that filed through the door with them.
They’re all from the dance squad, I imagine, but the only three I recognize are Joss, Ariana, and Heidi. Parker’s fall turned out to be worse than anyone thought. The sprained ankle she sustained would keep her on the sidelines at least a few weeks.
Whoops. My bad.
On cue, bubbly laughter flutters from their pink, glossed lips and I prop both hands on my hips.
The motion grabs West’s attention and his gaze slithers down my body, inch by inch. Realizing he’s checking me out, I swallow hard, feeling an unexpected degree of tension explode between us. It swirls in the air like a hot, thick fog.
It isn’t lost on me that he’s hot as sin, but it’s easy to overlook when he’s calling for his minions to make my life a living hell.
Suddenly coming to himself again, his gaze flashes toward mine.
“I think we’ll stick around,” he declares. “And I expect you to be on your best behavior, Southside. Wouldn’t want anybody to cause a scene, now would we?”
Chapter 12
BLUE
“Blue-Jay?”
My eyes fall shut when Uncle Dusty approaches from behind.
Well, there goes keeping West out of my business. Didn’t exactly want him to know the diner belongs to a relative. In fact, the less this dick knows about me, the better. An enemy should never know your vulnerabilities, the chinks in your armor.
In my case, those vulnerable spots are my family.
“This one of your new friends, sweetheart?” Dusty steps closer, wiping his hands on the towel draped over his shoulder.
“Yes, sir. Name’s West.”
Hearing him answer for me, I shoot him a look. One I wish could kill his ass in real life. We’re nothing even remotely close to friends.
“Nice of you to stop by, Son. What brings you kids in tonight?”
Son? What type of upside-down dimension am I living in right now?
“Cypress Prep played South Cypress tonight,” West answers, doing his best to charm the pants off my uncle. “We just stopped in for a bite to eat.”
“Ah, Friday night football. Good memories.” Nostalgia marks my uncle’s gruff voice. “Hope you didn’t put too bad a whoopin’ on our boys, though?”
The two laugh together, and I throw up in my mouth.
“Only enough to pull out a win, sir,” West answers, being all sweet. “It was a close game, but we turned things around in the last quarter.”
“Good for you. And no offense but, as nice a kid as you seem to be, I’m still hoping we can give you boys hell this season.”
Another fake laugh from West has me wanting to sprint out into oncoming traffic.
“May the best team win,” he answers with a grin.
“Absolutely,” Dusty agrees, peering around West to glance at the rest of the team. “I see you brought a few friends with you.”
Continuing with the good guy act, West chuckles. “Yeah, a few. I hope it’s okay that we stopped in. Blue just
