Page 37 of Dirty Big Sins

When security moved toward him, he walked backwards until he could turn to exit in the direction of the back door. On his way out, he grabbed at one of the saucepans on the stove and flipped it to the floor. Hot red sauce went flying and covered half the staff standing nearby, including me.

“Oh shit,” Julie screeched as everyone in the vicinity of the sauce swatted at their skin. “Do I need to call an ambulance?”

“I’m on it,” Nina yelled over the melee. “We’ve got a small medical team on staff.”

As I wiped the burning liquid from my bare arms and one cheek, I vowed to take this up with the network as soon as humanly possible. This kind of thing went beyond unacceptable. No short-lived television series was worth injury to my staff.

“I could call the police and you could press assault charges.” Gabe offered me a towel. “I think this qualifies.”

That idiot chef could wish the only problem he had coming was a felony charge. I was about to make his ruination my personal mission. Hell may hath no fury like a woman scorned, but trust me, that was nothing compared to the fury of a pissed-off chef. Our tempers were born in hell’s kitchen and served up by the devil himself.

“I’ll take care of it. Let’s just make sure everyone is okay and find out who needs medical attention.”

“What about you?” Julie asked.

“I’m fine.” I barely felt the slight burn on my skin, although I was sure it would leave a temporary mark. Instead I focused on the bloody looking scene before me. Of course the sauce had been red, and of course it looked to be the base for all of our lunchtime specialties. I’d need to start from scratch and we had less than three hours to get this done.

“Listen up.” I raised my voice only enough to be heard above the buzzing chaos. “If you think you need medical assistance, please let Julie know right away. And don’t be wary or shy to ask for that help. What happened here was mean spirited and despicable and will not be tolerated. I am NOT making light of it and your safety and well being are the most important thing. However, we are in a time crunch. If you don’t need medical attention, please meet me in the dining room. We need to regroup and come up with a new plan. Don’t worry, though. No opening night or mock run through can run without a hitch—it’s just the law of nature. Rest assured I’ve got this.” I hesitated, looking at each of their faces. “Together we’ve got this. Now let’s go.”

With that final word, Julie sprang back into action as did Gabe and Nina. My actual sous chef followed me to the dining room along with every other team member. A tiny smile quirked at the corners of my mouth as we turned the page to the next chapter.

Find the right staff. Check.

Get everyone on board. Check. Check.

Plan out the finest menu this town has ever seen. Check. Check. And check.

Make everyone happy. Well, I didn’t know about that one. It was a tall order and a lot of shit still had to come together to make it work. But I’d just lost about two hundred pounds of dead weight and it felt fucking good.

Chapter Seventeen

VINCENT

Exhaustedfrom my latest training session, I picked up my phone to read the text message I’d received from Zia and frowned.

Zia: Have to reschedule dinner. Day went to hell and I’m going to be working late. Sorry.

This morning had felt like a turning point between us, or so I’d thought. This could have been a backslide or simply a bad day that had started out with so much promise. But like Zia, my day had pretty much gone to shit as well.

Still no word from Brian. The recent Hollywood movie offer had been officially rescinded. I’d gotten a video call from the producers attached to the project and they didn’t seem to appreciate the bad boy image I projected as much as the boxing world did. Or to put it more succinctly, they were “concerned” that pictures of me with a woman blindfolded and my hands wrapped around her neck, consensual or not, sent the wrong message in today’s climate.

Well, no shit.

Anyone who looked at that picture out of context was going to get the wrong impression. They weren’t going to see the breathtaking gift of submission that Zia had given me that night. Or the incredible taste of pleasure that had drowned us both.

They would never understand that we lit a spark that night that would never be extinguished. Fuck. I was getting hard just thinking about it. This morning had been a solid reminder that she belonged to me and I felt the need to cement that feeling all over again.

She did that to me. Made me crazy and sane all at the same time.

“I thought you had a date to get to tonight?” Bennie sauntered into the room, picking up towels as he passed them. I liked to call him old man as an affectionate nickname for a man who’d practically raised me. Not that I’d given him much choice. I’d been the ultimate gym rat before I’d been a teenager. He tried to get rid of me and I’d stubbornly kept coming back.

Over the years our roles changed. Thanks to him I got really good at boxing and eventually started making money. Big time money. I’d bought out Bennie, but this place still felt more like his than mine. Only now when I looked at him, I saw thatold manwas more than a silly moniker. He suddenly looked every bit of his sixty-eight years.

“Rescheduled. Rough day all around, I guess.” I shrugged. I still wasn’t comfortable talking about Zia to anyone else. Not that I didn’t trust Bennie, but with those pictures looming over our heads, the less we were connected the better.

“Chasing her away already, huh? Or is she the one holding you at arm’s length?” He disappeared into the shower area and emerged a few minutes later with some more discarded towels.

“I know we have staff to do that. Why don’t you head out? I could close up the place for you tonight.”

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