Page 69 of Heat Hesitation

Leftovers get rearranged from oldest to newest, front to back. It's a ritual of hers, and though I never had anything but stale bread and old cheese in my fridge, I like her efficiency.

Red strolls into the kitchen behind me.

"Oh, you handsome devil, you," Greta coos, taking his face in her hands and kissing his cheek. She's thoroughly charmed by all the alphas in my life. I think she secretly likes to picture Red's face in her romance book heroes; he is quite devastating. Not that I've noticed. I'm too mad.

"Nice to see you too, Greta."

"You eating enough? Are you hungry? Here, the boys are spoiled enough; why don't you take this home to your pack," Greta shoves a container in his hands. A moment later, stacking three more on top of it. Red's grinning ear to ear.

Leaning on the counter, I sip my juice, giving Red a look that says, seriously, you don't even like chicken casserole. His look in return says shut up and let the hot old lady feed me.

When Greta's done loading his arms up, he gives her a side hug goodbye before turning to me. "Come on Phe, we're gonna be late."

I debate arguing. I could steal one of the guy's car keys, but I don't have my license. I could pretend to stay mad at Red. In the end that all just sounds like too much effort, so I follow him out of the house, opening the door for him so he can set the stack of prepared meals on the truck bed seat between us and climb in.

"So what's this about anyway," I droll.

"Janey's meeting us with Roxy and Dr. Rubens from the OFA and someone from the mayor's public relations office."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

A thought occurs to me. "Where are we meeting?"

Red gives me a cheeky grin, "Queenie's."

I burst out a laugh. "Wow, how'd you pull that off?"

"It was Roxy's idea, actually. Jess will be there with her, too. But we didn't give them much choice to refuse. Where else we gonna meet in South Loop? Besides, the mayor and the good doctor wanted to see how the other half lives."

I nod. "Well, I'm happy I get to set foot in Queenie's again, since you fired me."

"You quit."

"I gave two weeks' notice! You told me not to come back!"

"You know I love you, Phe, but you're a terrible waitress. And honestly, there are other people that need a paycheck more than you these days. I don't mean to be harsh, but…"

"Yeah, yeah," I grumble. Of course, he's right. He's absolutely right, and since I've accepted my pack completely, though I've only bonded half, I've also accepted my role as Ophelia Constantine, hence this meeting we're headed to.

I changed the subject because, even though he's right, I'll really miss working at Queenie's. Wish I'd gotten a proper goodbye. I'll just have to get my license so I can drive down and hang out on occasion.

"Have you told the staff about it?"

Red scratches his scruffy jaw. Sometimes, he shaves clean; sometimes, he gets lazy and lets it grow for a few weeks. His hair is straight and dark as night, a bright contrast against his pale skin.

"Yeah, we had a meeting a few days ago. Some are nervous and don't want to be involved. Franky's excited, but Zach less so. Roxy obviously is on board."

"So what are you going to do?" I ask. The backdrop changes as we slowly emerge from the mountains toward downtown. Red's vintage truck sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all these High Hills sleek, expensive cars.

"I want Queenie's to stay a refuge. We can just keep the guise that we sponsor from behind the scenes and support omegas rights without saying we offer protection. I don't want a bunch of High Hills alphas to come sniffing around. And if the bouncers have to start keeping people out at the door based on an assumption of where they're from, we might start to lose business."

"So, not much will change."

"Not much will change officially."

"Is Zach doing okay?" I ask. He's the only male omega at Queenie's, and though I don't know much about his past, I do know omega men don't always have the easiest life. They’re rare, making their experience with alphas either amazing—treasured and adored—or the opposite. Given his reticence and general distrust of alphas, I can only guess what he’s been through.

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