Page 10 of The Ruse

He was supposed to be living his best bachelor life right now. Being responsible for his seventeen-year-old brother probably wasn’t how he envisioned life after college.

Not that I’d planned to be where I was right now, either. But at least I’d deliberately chosen to get involved with Bailee and all of her drama. Owen had gotten stuck with me by default for being my closest relative who wasn’t currently serving time in jail.

“You sure you don’t want to watch the game with us?” Owen asked on his way out.

“Naw, it’s fine,” I said. It was probably pathetic to hang out by myself on the night of Thanksgiving while everyone else was spending time with their families. But I had a room to put together, so I wouldn’t be a burden on my brother and his friends tonight.

“Just let me know if you need anything, okay?” Owen said.

“Will do.”

He left, shutting the door behind him.

Instead of unpacking, I spent the rest of the night going over the lines I needed to memorize for my part inThe Phantom of the Opera. Getting a drama scholarship was my only ticket to a good college since my grades were sub-par. If I was going to impress the scouts Miss Crawley had set up to come watch me in the musical, I needed to put on the performance of a lifetime.

One that was better than the performance I’d been putting on since last year.

4

ASHER

“Table seven’s order is ready,”Rosa, the owner of The Italian Amigos, told me after I’d come back from dropping off drinks at table six.

The Italian Amigos was a one-of-a-kind type of restaurant that served authentic Mexican and Italian cuisine. The owners, Rosa and Lucca, had opened it together, blending both of their cultures into one.

It was one of the busiest places in Eden Falls. People initially came because they were curious why a restaurant would be called The Italian Amigos when the wordamigoswas Spanish and not Italian. But they kept coming back because the food was the best and the atmosphere was something you couldn’t find anywhere else.

I had a job here before I left last spring, mostly working on the weekends so I could set aside some money for college if the theatre scholarship didn’t pan out. I wasn’t an official employee again—not yet, anyway—because I’d be busy focusing on school and the musical for the next few months. But Rosa had heard from Owen that I was coming back to town this week, so she offered to give me a few shifts to keep me busy during the holiday weekend while her regular employees were off visiting family for Thanksgiving.

I took the plate of steaming food to table seven, checked on table five, and then headed back to the kitchen to check on the progress of table four’s orders.

For being the day after Thanksgiving, it sure was a busy night. But I’d guess most people could only handle so many meals of leftover turkey before they wanted their pizza and enchilada fix.

The bell on the entry door rang, and I turned to see who was coming in. If it was a small party, they’d probably get placed in Reagan’s section. But if it was a bigger party, they’d be placed in mine, since the family in the corner booth was getting ready to leave.

The statue of Michelangelo’sDavidwearing a sombrero was blocking my view, but after another second, I saw that the people walking in were none other than the classmates I’d eaten Thanksgiving with the day before.

Oh joy…

Was it too early to take my break?

Maybe I should offer the family at the booth a dessert on my tab just to get them to stay a little longer and force the Hastings’ trio and company into Reagan or Troy’s section.

But when I looked back at the booth, the two dads had already grabbed their to-go boxes and were in the process of corralling their three elementary-aged children down the aisle and toward the exit.

So much for getting out of serving their royal highnesses tonight.

Okay, maybe I was being dramatic. For being the children of the seventh richest man in the U.S., Carter and Cambrielle actually weren’t that bad. They were down-to-earth for the most part and didn’t think the sun shone out their butts like a lot of the other rich kids at our school did.

But Nash…

Well, he might not act like the sun shone out of his butt, either, but he was annoying as heck. And the mere fact that he got the part of the Phantom and was probably going to rub it in my face every chance he got was enough to make me never want to be within ten feet of the guy.

Some people didn’t like each other, and that was just how it was with Nash and me. It had been that way since elementary school, and I’d accepted long ago that it would be that way until we graduated.

Even though our rivalry could be petty at times, it was reliable at least. Everything else in my life could change, but I could always count on Nash to glare at me.

My schoolmates all sat down on the bench in the waiting area. Since it was pointless to put off the inevitable, I got busy cleaning up the mess the family of five had left at the booth. I pocketed my tip, wiped down the table, and then took the stack of dishes to the back so the hostess could seat the new party of six.

---