Page 16 of The Erion Triad

“You’ll have to wash dishes as well.” She didn’t know why she said that, but her mind had gone blank. No one wanted to really work here. It was hard and tiring. Young families tended to make a terrible mess.

“We are skilled at washing dishes. If you point out the meal preparation area, I will wash while my brothers help you out here,” the alpha one said.

“Miss?” a voice called from a nearby table. “May we order dessert?”

She glanced at the tables yet to be served and the plates lining up to be delivered. Things were certainly heating up and Janie was running between tables as much as she was. It was much busier than normal. They were both overworked and if they didn’t get some help tonight, they weren’t going to keep up with the orders.

“Okay,” she said. “Let me speak to Luke.”

It was a short conversation. She’d expected more of a battle, but Luke was run off his feet as well. Any help was readily accepted.

“Just get one of them to help me in here,” he said. “We’ll pay them in cash at the end of the night.”

Turning, she walked into a large chest. She staggered back, and large hands settled on her upper arms. The tallest one of the three towered above her. Larger than life and yet his touch was warm and gentle. Almost familiar. His hands lingered on her shoulders and she couldn’t help the shiver that worked through her body when the pad of his thumb rubbed her skin. Familiar? More like wishful thinking.

It took effort to step back when her instinct was to seek shelter within the comfort of his body. She frowned, not understanding where that impulse came from. She didn’t know them at all, and yet there was some sense of intimacy about them she couldn’t put her finger on. White fog descended in her mind, erasing the feeling.

They were busy. She had to work.

“All right. If you’re so interested in working here, the main tasks are taking meals to tables, picking up dirty dishes, cleaning up messes and basically keeping everyone fed and watered. It’s hard work for not much pay.” When they didn’t utter a word at the mention of hard work, she continued. “Since we’re going to work together, I need to know your names.”

The large alpha man stepped up. He had the strangest color of eyes, a bright blue that could only be colored through contacts...Did they glow?

Contacts. That had to be it. Probably some strange body shaping fetish. Normally she didn’t go for that type of thing, but on him, it washot.

“I am Kyel.” Blue eyes pointed to the man next to him with the mouth-watering tattoos. “This is Zaen and our youngest brother, Juliran.”

“You’re brothers?” She wasn’t as surprised as she thought. It seemed natural. She noticed a familial similarity, the color blue seeming to bind them together. Blue eyes, blue tattoos, and blue hair.

She shouldn’t be lusting afterbrothers. She usually had no desire for anyone else except Grant, albeit most of the time she was an exhausted heap just wanting to come home to sleep, but still, there was something about these brothers she couldn’t quite put her finger on. A compulsion deep inside her that went beyond reasoning, beyond the sub-conscious, something that was inherent within her. And that, in itself, was wrong on so many levels.

She couldn’t imagine what they would think of her if they found out what was in her mind. She’d sunk to a new low. At least her thoughts were private, thank goodness.

“Miss?” A father from a nearby table called out.

She should be working, not feeling like she was on a date. She wasn’t lying when she said she needed this job. Grant was relying on her to pay the bills while he worked on her career. In the long run, a little bit of exhaustion would be worth the effort.

“We’d better get back to work,” she said. “These people won’t get fed on their own.”

Kyel inclined his head in a purely regal gesture. She could imagine him with a crown on his head. A strangely shaped crown to mold around horns.

Now shewasgoing crazy.

“As you wish. Brothers, it is time to help our ma...”

“Lucie. It is time to help, Lucie,” Juliran said.

A faint smile curved Kyel’s full lips. “Of course. Let us begin.”

The rest of the night went past in a blur of clearing tables, serving burgers and generally making sure the customers were watered, fed, and happy. There were the regulars she genuinely liked and she spent a little extra time talking to them all in the name of good customer service.

She was aware of the brothers from the corner of her eye. It seemed several of the female customers also had noticed them, although the guys gave no indication they’d seen the women flirting. She was surprised as a spike of jealousy stabbed her heart. She shouldn’t be jealous at all. She had a boyfriend and these guys had just as much right to happiness as she did, although happiness was not what she’d call things of late. However, she was tired and being like this would color her emotions.

Mentally shaking her head, she steadily worked her way through the rest of the night, ignoring feet that hurt and legs that weighed a ton. She was more tired than usual, but she pushed through it. One thing for sure, she was looking forward to her bed tonight.

Another image of the brothers surrounding her in bed, tending to her every need, scorched her mind. They’d wanted to do everything to her and then do something that was so final even death would not undo it, although what that could possibly be, she had no idea. She took a moment to indulge the daydream this time, wiping the table in front of her with half a mind.

It wasn’t a hard press of the imagination to picture what they would be like. Their bodies would be magnificent. Clothing couldn’t hide perfection like that. Each of them was sculpted in similar ways, and yet their bodies were so different.

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