Page 17 of The Cinderella Prince

“On it, Chef,” Ana said.

I couldn’t lie. It felt good to hear that. This was my tribe, and I could only hope to work hard and get to be in this spot by earning it, not just because the real chef had passed out.

A moment of respite came with a flood of thoughts I wasn’t in the mood to unpack. But when Cedric finished with all the dishes, he was no longer confined to the dishwashing room. Rushing back and forth across the kitchen with stacks of plates for Rome to use, refilling the sauce bottles, and sweeping the floors, he was an unavoidable presence.

His presence was even more acute when Mama Viv recruited Roman back to the front. “Tris has it undercontrol, darling, and I could use your experience on the floor.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rome said, saluting, and winked mischievously at me, eager to be busy.

I had put Raj to mix the new bath of burger sauce, which required both skill and intuition, and Ana was the mistress of frying, so I reluctantly lifted my gaze to Cedric’s blue eyes. “Stand there,” I said, pointing next to myself. “I have to teach you how to assemble burgers.”

Cedric seemed more nervous than I would have imagined. Was he nervous because he needed to stand next to me? If so, he could rest assured I wasn’t interested in anything beyond having my burgers assembled.Why does that sound like an innuendo? I wondered distantly. I sure as hell wasn’t going to do something stupid like flirt with him.

He licked his lips, and my resolve rocked. “Okay,” he said in a low voice. “Teach me.”

“Er…well, let me get one ready for that,” I grumbled, flipping over the patty that was about to be served. Just because he was hot as hell and could kiss the soul out of your body, I wouldn’t give Cedric preferential treatment. I recited the instructions as I would have to anyone in this kitchen. “Cut the bun, making sure the bottom half is thicker than the upper half, butter it, put it through the toaster, pour the sauce over the bottom and half as much over the top…” The instructions went on and on, and it was all fairly easy, straightforward stuff. But then we got to the moment when I delivered the patty on the bottom half of the bun, and Cedric panicked.

Holding my breath, I stepped closer to him. He was sweatyand greasy from a day of work, but I could still make out the spicy scent of his cologne.Who are you, Cedric?I wondered. His back was stiffer than anyone’s in this room, his chin held higher, and his gaze more contemptuous, especially when he was insecure. I grabbed his gloved hand and turned it over, palm up, put a wrapping paper into his hand and punched it open, then navigated his other hand to put the upper half of the bun containing all the vegetables onto the meat patty, forced his hand to hold the burger firmly together, and thrust it into the wrapping paper. When it was done, I practically carried his hands with the burger to a clean plate, set the meal down, and punched a skewer through the top. “Now, serve that full cup of fries and add two small saucers of ketchup and mayo. Voilà.”

Cedric nodded in gratitude, but it was stiff and controlled.

“And when that is done, maybe you can tell me what the hell you’re doing here,” I muttered. Raj was mixing a massive container of burger sauce in the furthest corner of the kitchen, and Ana had left the fryer full of items to fetch more from the freezer.

“Gotta earn a living somehow,” Cedric replied. He moved the plate over to where the servers would pick it from, rang the bell, and looked at me. “Next?”

I glanced at the grill. Was he asking for the next burger or the next question? Well, the burgers needed a couple of minutes longer. “I thought your family ran a successful business. Why would you be a dishwasher in a run-down bar?”And why would you disappear without a trace for five days after kissing me?My mouth didn’t ask the question, but my contemptuous sneer very likely did.

“They do,” he stated plainly.

Ana walked in with two bags of frozen onion rings and stuffed them into the small freezer next to the fryer. I lowered my voice. “So why are you here, Cedric?”

“Maybe I’m proving a point,” Cedric said, glancing at the grill.

One of the patties had dripped with grease and now caught fire. I let it burn for an instant before the flames died on their own. “A point?”

“Yeah,” Cedric said. “Maybe that’s why I’m here, assembling your burgers, instead of…” He sighed and turned away from me. “Never mind.”

Instead of chasing an airline contract, I assumed.Or whatever his airline contract really is. “Alright,” I said quietly. “Get ready for a hot one.” I grabbed the piece of paper with the full order and moved it from above the grill to above the station. Soon after, the patty followed. I instructed him on how to butter the bread for a vegetarian burger, as the cheese was somewhat drier than the meat patties, and walked him through everything.

I didn’t have to like it. We only had to work together and make sure Mama Viv didn’t lose her customers. Whatever Cedric’s reasons were for getting a job at the one place I called home, he wouldn’t reveal them to me. Something had happened that ripped a gap between us that was impossible to cross.

Something’s wrong, an old instinct told me. I always listened to this voice. I always followed where it led and meddled when I had no place to meddle.But something is wrong here, it insisted. I couldn’t tell why. I couldn’t tell what it was that felt off aside from the absurdityof someone very clearly rich settling to peel onions whenever I commanded it.

Orders slowed down, and Raj came around to ask if I could spare him so he could prepare the caramelized onion for the next day, which was the kind of initiative I hoped I exhibited when I was the helper in this very kitchen. “Go ahead,” I said resolutely. “I’ll manage everything here.”

Ana offered to start cleaning from the freezers in the hallway so we didn’t have to stay until midnight preparing the kitchen for the morning. Breakfasts were usually another rush hour in Neon Nights, and I wanted Millie to find her kitchen precisely how she would have left it.

A couple of new orders came through, but nothing fancy. I could do them without Cedric’s help. Even so, he lingered at the assembly station and drummed his fingers against the polished stainless steel surface.

I avoided looking at him, but he very clearly faced me as he tapped the inox table.

My lips tightened, and I focused on the two pieces of cheese on the vegetarian grill.

“Tristan,” Cedric said in a low voice that made my skin prickle and hairs on my neck stand as if he could create an electric field around me. “About the other night…”

I turned my cold gaze to his face. “Don’t you have a pile of dishes to wash?”

His mouth remained open for a heartbeat. He closed it quickly and stepped back as if I’d pushed him. With a firm nod and the bravado of a samurai facing gunpowder canons, he turned away from me and marched into the dishwashing room.

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