Page 136 of Mother Parker
“Two beers,” I said.
“And two big fat burgers, please!” Hwan added. “Heard about your new chef.”
Maddox huffed and got to work pouring our beers. We exchanged a glance that told me just how happy he was with the “new chef.”
“Oh, Joey is amazing. So talented,” Autumn said.
“Yeah, it takes real talent to grill some burgers,” I muttered.
“Joey? Oh wow, I met him yesterday. I didn’t realize he was the new chef,” Hwan told Autumn and then turned to me. “Why do you hate him so much? What did he do to you?”
“It’s not about what he did to us. It’s about what he did, full stop,” Maddox said.
He placed our beers in front of us, and I snatched mine before it even touched the bartop.
“What did hedo?”
“What’s going on here? Am I paying you to chat shit, or am I paying you to work?” Wyatt said, appearing from the kitchen with a pair of burgers and fries, and damn it, as much as I didn’t want to salivate over anything Joey had made, I was fucking hungry.
Maddox huffed again and turned to another patron, trying to get his attention.
Autumn jumped at the bar and turned around, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. The screen lit her face, and I watched it as it went from curious to grim.
“What?” I asked her.
She scanned the room, and then she glanced at the kitchen door. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who caught her sign because Wyatt followed us into the kitchen along with Ash.
Joey was in there, slotted spatula in hand and a bunch of burger patties sizzling on the grill. He turned as soon as we crowded the kitchen and watched us with scrunched-up eyes, a toothpick in his mouth like a dick.
“What happened?” Wyatt asked Autumn.
Autumn looked from her phone to us and pursed her lips.
“We got a new alert,” she said. “I don’t know if this is a prank or whatever, but I don’t know who else to turn to. I think I’ve uncovered a drug cartel, and I think my life’s in danger. I don’t know if you can help, but I know for a fact the local PD won’t.”
She looked up from her screen.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“We don’t have enough people to take down a cartel,” Wyatt said. “But if what they say is true, we need to protect them.”
“What if it’s a prank? Someone fishing us out?” Ash asked.
I glanced around and noticed Joey Fowler was staring at me. I frowned at him, but that didn’t deter him.
I didn’t know how I felt about sharing all this in front of him. Why would Autumn even read it out to him? Had Wyatt told him about the operation he was running around here?
“We need to investigate it and find out if it is true,” Wyatt said.
“I guess I can check it out,” Ash said.
“I can help. Now that Hwan isn’t in danger,” I added.
“I’ll do it,” Joey said from the grill.
I was pretty sure his burgers were burning—wait, a minute, our burgers!—but I didn’t bother telling him.
“What?” Wyatt asked.
