Page 87 of Get Undressed With Me

“You doing something there?”

Gus let his eyes trail over to her, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her eyes watery with tears, so happy for her friend. A surge of affection flooded him. Gus nodded.

“I am.”

“Then I’m going to tell you. After you two left, your brother stuck around, throwing a tantrum, saying some dumb shit about how betrayed he felt. Said you two must have been going on behind his back this whole time, that he knew from the jump you had feelings for her but that he thought you would respect him and keep it in your pants.”

Gus’s anger rose. He knew Robbie wasn’t taking it well, but to have a public meltdown like that was too much.

“We didn’t do anything while they were together. I never saw her as anything but Robbie’s girl until this weekend. And he’s the dumb shit that cheated on her for months before she broke it off with him.”

“The point is, he’s playing the victim and writing a story. And he’s a guy with a pretty healthy platform to get that story out into the world.”

Gus snorted. “I’m not on social media. I don’t care what his followers say.”

“You’re not. Brittany is.”

Gus’s heart dropped. Brittany had more followers than Robbie, had been building her channel for a lot longer and acquired very loyal fans. But the internet was vicious and sexist. If Robbie painted her as the villain, trolls would be all too eager to agree and jump on that bandwagon. Gus realized vaguely that he was gripping his glass of water too tightly.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“You need to. If you want this thing with Brittany to go any further than this weekend.”

Just then, a shorter woman in a chef’s coat stormed up to their table and leaned down to Theo, getting in his face. Gus recognized her as one of the audience who caught him and Brittany in the bathroom before, but now with an extremely murderous expression. Theo, however, merely gave her a bored look.

“It is counterproductive of you to move everything in the kitchen after I have reorganized it.” She was practically biting her words through her teeth, radiating anger.

Theo didn’t even flinch. “Your reorganization was impractical. The staff couldn’t find anything and were stumbling to complete the complicated recipes you left for them to prep because nothing was where it should be.”

If anything, the woman seemed to get angrier, and Gus started to wonder if he should step in.

“Why even hire me if you don’t let me do my job? You think I don’t notice you undermining me at every opportunity?”

“If you were doing your job correctly, I wouldn’t have to undermine you.”

Even Gus knew that wasn’t the thing to say. The woman straightened immediately, glaring at Theo for a moment before starting on the buttons of her jacket.

“Chef, consider this my notice. I think we can both agree I’m not a good fit for your restaurant.”

Theo finally blinked. “You’re really going to do this in the middle of a party we’re catering?”

“You’ve left me no choice.”

Her jacket was off, revealing the tank top and her sleeve tattoos she had hidden underneath, her full curves suddenly on display, which was probably part of the reason Theo was sitting up.

“This is unprofessional.”

“Youare unprofessional. I don’t care what an opportunity this is, you have made the situation horrendous and I won’t subject myself to it anymore. Your staff is lovely. You should give them a raise. But you and your Michelin star can fuck off.”

She stormed out, Theo’s eyes tracking her through the crowded restaurant until she was out the door, before relaxing back into his chair, looking both troubled and relieved.

Gus took a sip of his water, feeling awkward.

“It’s for the best,” Theo said. “Her bechamel was sub-par.”

Gus nodded as if he knew what that meant.

“And now she’s left in the middle of her shift. Who does that?”

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