Page 42 of Chaos

It seems that burritos might be on the menu a lot more now.

TWENTY-THREE

SOFIA

The cook squints at me. “Are you sure that’s what they ordered?”

I let out a long sigh, blowing a strand of red hair away from my face. “No, sir. Let me go confirm.”

He always makes me feel like a fuckup, but I know I’m getting better at this waitressing gig.

Dolores told me so when she gave me a small raise at the end of my first week.

When I return from the very cranky family regarding how well to cook their steak, Gigi is dancing excitedly near the register.

“Sofia! You have a table of hotties in booth eighteen!” Her pink pigtails bounce as she hops from foot to foot.

“Oh?” I don’t care, as long as they don’t change their minds ten times regarding how rare they want their meat.

“Girl, their tats barely can cover all of those muscles.” She licks her lips and hands me a stack of menus.

I recognize the laugh before I see him.

Those wild curls and his broad shoulders are a dead giveaway as I arrive behind him.

“Why are you here?” I hope none of my coworkers hear me, but I’m not in the mood for the ‘correct’ welcome.

He leans forward on one elbow and turns to face me, that sinful tongue piercing popping against the back of his teeth.

“I’m here to eat, sweetheart. What are you gonna feed me?” His wide grin flashes as he winks at me.

There are two other huge guys with him, both covered in patterned ink. One even has it up the sides of his head. When he smiles, one silver tooth reflects the dancing lights.

“Jax, I—” What can I say? I can’t kick him out.

I hate how wet my panties are, seeing him.

“Fine,” I huff. “What can I get started for you?” Sugar oozes from my words.

I’ll just kill him with kindness.

“Hold on a sec.” He fiddles with his phone, then holds it up and it makes a snapshot noise.

Anger bubbles in me. “Did you just take my picture?”

He shrugs. “I gotta have something to look at tonight when I think about you. Unless you want to join me and give me the real thing?”

Fuck. I’m tempted.

I can’t stop dreaming about him.

“Funny. How about you? Are you here to give me a hard time, too?” I point the end of my pen at the biggest of the three, sitting silently with a flat expression and his arms crossed across his chest.

“Niet. I want to get the number eleven and a beer.” His heavy Russian accent takes me a moment to decipher.

The leaner one leans back on two legs in his chair. “I’ll have a number one and eleven beers.” He laughs as he throws a piece of his napkin at the quiet man. “Nah, make it just a single for now. Maybe a shot of tequila, too.”

“I like that idea,” Jax says as he hands me back the menus. “A round for all of us. You should be rich enough to pay, since you took all my money the other night.”

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