Page 2 of Accept Me (Fate’s Choice #4)

STAR

My clothes were soaked through as I cut diagonally across the darkening street, heading toward a restaurant called Dinosaur’s Lair.

It might have been May, but the rain had me shivering, my wet T-shirt clinging to my body, so I hunched my shoulders, trying to shield myself from the chill that crept right into my bones.

This was the last stop on my list, close to campus, exactly the kind of location I was hoping for. But it was nothing like the greasy little diners scattered around campus that I’d tried earlier today, whose owners had turned me down.

Dinosaur’s Lair was a real restaurant, with polished tables and more upscale service, far removed from those dives run by short-order cooks. They might have taken a chance on a guy whose only kitchen experience came from two years in juvie, but this place? I knew better than to expect much.

I slowed as I passed the big front window, peering inside at people leaning toward each other over dinner.

Bread came on trays shaped like dinosaur eggs, and the dim interior glowed like the belly of some ancient dragon’s cave.

Judging by their looks, the customers weren’t students, which was no surprise, since the prices here had to be far beyond a typical student’s reach.

I hesitated on the sidewalk, water dripping from my hair into my eyes. My chances were slim from the start, but now I was more like a stray cat dragged out of a storm drain.

Feeling discouraged, I was about to move on when I spotted a waiter weaving through the tables, heading toward a side door. He slipped outside into a small covered patio, maybe to clear a table after customers had just left.

It was a perfect chance, and there was no harm in asking, right?

So I walked toward him, and he flinched a little at the sight of me emerging from the shadows.

I must have looked half-dead, my hair plastered in wet strands to my forehead, my lips blue, my skin pale, my whole body shivering hard enough to make my teeth click.

"Hi, sorry to startle you, but I was wondering if there was any chance you were hiring, even just dishwashing or helping out in the kitchen?" My voice trailed off at the end, and I hated how it made me sound.

He gave me a slow once-over. "Not that I’ve heard. We’ve had the same chef for the past two years, and he handles everything. Dino hasn’t mentioned needing extra help."

I nodded. "Got it, okay," I started to step back, but he stopped me mid-stride.

"Are you a student? Sometimes we hire students as servers, but probably not until September. We’re basically at the end of the school year now."

"Right, makes sense. I’ll check back in September," I muttered, my knees starting to feel weak.

Great, a whole week of job hunting, burning through my cash… I knew that without work I had almost no shot of making it through my first year. The money I’d scraped together over the past two years barely covered my first tuition payment. There was nothing left for rent, nothing for food.

The waiter scratched his chin. "You know what, maybe you should ask Dino now. September gets crazy, tons of people asking about jobs. Better to lock something in early."

"Uh, okay," I said, though I wasn’t sure I could afford to wait that long. The truth was, I needed work through the summer just to have a chance at next year, but I gave him a polite nod anyway.

He turned toward the dining room. "Hang on, I’ll get him. You two can talk."

There was no backing out now. I watched him cross the floor to the far corner of the room, then edged closer to the window to get a better look at the man he approached.

At a round table crowded with laughing alphas glued to a televised game, a man stood with his back to me, gesturing toward the screen.

The second my eyes landed on him, a cold jolt shot through me. From behind, he looked alarmingly like my stepfather. He had that same thick-around-the-middle build, the same thinning dark hair, and even his clothes were eerily similar.

My chest tightened. I dug my inhaler from my pocket, took a quick puff from it, and held it before letting it out in a shaky exhale. For a few moments, I stood there, breathing slowly, trying to keep the asthma from closing in on me.

When the man finally turned toward the waiter, something in the angle of his head and the lines in his face slammed me straight back into the memories I’d fought for years to bury, memories of the man who ended my childhood, who took the person I loved most from me, who was the reason I ended up in juvie.

I leaned against the wall, trembling, telling myself it wasn’t him, that he was just a random stranger, and that I had to get a grip.

While I was still wrestling with the panic, the man stepped outside, glanced around, and spotted me half-hidden in the shadows.

He smiled wide, maybe too wide, and strode over with his hand outstretched.

His eyes were sharp, scanning my face, then sliding down my frame like he was taking my measure.

"Hey there, I’m Dino. I hear you’re looking for work?" he said, his tone light and friendly.

"Y-yeah," I managed.

"A student?"

"I start next semester, so I’m trying to find something close to ca-ca-campus. Gotta pay my own way," I said, stumbling over the words.

He raised his eyebrows and spread his arms slightly. "Ah! One of those kids who works their way through school. Respect. That’s rare these days. Most of them just coast on their parents’ dime, entitled brats. But you’re different. I like that."

I swallowed hard. Maybe I’d been wrong. He was just a decent guy, and my past was making me see shadows where there weren’t any.

"Listen," he said, tilting his head while keeping his gaze locked on me, "I’ve actually been thinking about getting my chef some help. We do big events during the season, especially for game finals, and the kitchen gets slammed. I could use an extra set of hands."

I straightened up a little. "I’ve got experience. Two years as a kitchen assistant." I tried to sound proud of it.

"Well, that’s perfect," Dino said, clasping his hands together. "No point hiring someone completely green. Come on inside. We’ll talk details. You look cold. I’ll have someone bring you some hot tea, warm you up a bit.

" His tone was meant to sound caring, maybe even protective, but it didn’t sit right in my ears.

I hesitated, nervously blinking for a moment. He kept watching me, patient, his smile unchanging. Every instinct in me screamed not to go in, but he hadn’t done anything wrong; he’d been polite, welcoming even.

I pushed down the memories, forcing myself to lock away the alarms going off in my head; Dino was someone else, not that bastard I left behind. I was fine; I needed the job, and I couldn’t afford to let fear cost me the only lead I had.

Pull it together, I told myself, and followed him inside.

That rainy May day, I walked straight into the lair of the beast.

One year and one month later, on another rainy day, I would be running away with nothing but my life, double broken compared to the day I walked in, carrying almost no hope that things would ever change.