Page 36 of Moonlight Hearts

“Afraid not.”

I left Elias to mope while I started on his milkshake.I really wanted to send Ant and Levi home, because we didn’t need four people to run this place, but with Elias here, it was probably wise to wait until he had calmed down.With any luck, the cream on the side would do that for him.

The diner was starting to fill up again too.We were just getting into that sweet spot for dinner, which would continue well into Rae’s and my shift.Thaeros was taking care of the corner table, and I caught him saying something that had the guys sitting there breaking out in laughter.They were werewolves, and one of them ran a yoga studio.I felt silly proud of myself for recognizing him, if only because Soyer had shared that information with me a while back.

I ran the blender, picked out one of our milkshake glasses, and poured right in front of Elias, who was still putting his best effort into being a dramatic, pitiable puddle of big eyes and sighs at the counter.

“It’s been such a day, you know?I don’t know how you’re always this calm, but your demeanor soothes me,” he said.“You’re the only one who will listen to me, Amory.Everyone else ignores me.”

“Okay.”I quickly rinsed the blender jug and got the cream from the fridge, the extra plate and toppings too.“So, what, you were forced to work at Simeon’s law firm?I’ve never seen that place.”

The latter was probably not normal, given that Simeon had taken it upon himself to take me on as a client.He’d dropped by our place last month and asked me to sign a few things.I hadn’t been curious about his office then, but now that Elias was here, moping all over the counter, I sort of wanted to see it.

But Elias made a dismissive gesture.“It’s terribly gauche.And there are all these rules, Amory.”

“Uh-huh.”I topped his milkshake with a nice cone that I managed to get very symmetrical—picture perfect.The extra cream on the little saucer was only decent in terms of symmetry, so I made sure to add double extra sprinkles to it.

“There’s all this ugly kitschy stuff there, and I don’t like the furniture.”

I looked at the milkshake, almost sad to put the sprinkles all over it.“Not ergonomic?”

Elias gave me a flat look.“Who cares whether things are ergonomic?Let them be beautiful, Amory.”He patted the free chair next to him.“Like this old barstool.It’s beautiful.”

I sighed and went about sprinkling the milkshake, then dusting it with cocoa and adding the extra cream.“Are you telling me you don’t like our vintage chairs?”

He unleashed the low-grade puppy eyes.“I didn’t say that.Ben, I didn’t say that, did I?”

Ben, who apparently wasn’t safe despite my best efforts, frowned.“I wasn’t listening, sir.”

Elias clicked his tongue.“Benjamin, you’re asked to pay attention.”

I cleared my throat while putting Elias’s milkshake and extra cream in front of him.“He’s not, actually.I made him start work early, so cut him some slack and leave him be.You wanted to tell me about your day anyway?”

He looked at me over the chocolate-dusted vanilla milkshake.

“Oh, yes.Amory, it was quite bad.Quite bad indeed.”

I leaned on the counter.“Tell me all about it, then.”

Chapter Twelve

Elias’sbadday,asfar as I understood it, had consisted of answering the phone in Simeon’s office for a little while before being sent home after Simeon had to take a meeting elsewhere.He strongly suggested that he’d been promised a reward for good work—the kinky kind he was angling to get by making me give him a chocolate milkshake.

He drew the telling of the tale out so much that it was almost an hour before I managed to take Ant and Levi aside by the coffee makers.

“I have to leave?”Ant said, looking past me at where Thaeros was wiping down a table.

“You don’t have to.I’m just offering you time off.”

At the other end of the counter, Ben cleared his throat and mumbled something I didn’t catch.

Ant did though.His face fell.“Yes, boss.And thank you.”

“You sure?You always work late,” Levi said.

I nodded.“I’m sure.Besides, you deserve it.You’ve really been stepping up since you started here, Levi.”

“Uhhh.”He deflated, shoulders coiling inward.“I, uh, I know I messed up a lot, and… Thanks.”