Page 125 of Until August

I’d propped open the door, and I could hear him from here. He was being an asshole, just like my former boss at Cinque Terre.

When he finished his tirade, I squared my shoulders and went back inside just as he strode down the hall from the kitchen.

I stopped him from leaving by putting my hands on his chest, and I kept my voice low so it was for his ears only. “Hope that was fun for you, but this is the last time you will ever talk to my team like that.” His jaw clenched, and he didn’t say a word.

“Tomorrow, you’ll find a way to make this up to them. You will find a way to build them up again after you tore them down. They need a good leader, not a tyrant. But I think you already know that. So why don’t you go home, lick your wounds, and figure out how to make this better. Because if I’m not mistaken, you’re the one who always says that when you step foot in the kitchen, you leave your baggage outside the door.”

“Are you done?” he gritted out.

I nodded and stepped aside to let him pass. Then I watched him walk straight out the door. I was still staring at the door when Luca joined me.

“What’s eating him?”

I deflected. “Are you okay?”

He gave me a funny look. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I heard him going off on all of you. Just making sure you’re not upset.”

Luca laughed. “Seriously? I’m just surprised it took him this long. Pretty sure Zach is crying in the walk-in,” he said with a snicker. “But everyone else is fine. We’re hitting up Mavericks. Wanna come?”

I stared at him. I couldn’t believe he was just brushing this off. My brother had a temper just like mine. “Why are you so calm about this?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m pissed as hell. But only because he was right. I would have ignored him if he was shit at his job and incompetent in the kitchen. But he’s not. So I owe it to myself to take it on board and improve. No offense, Nic, but I have bigger plans for my future. I’m not going to be stuck on the sauté station for the rest of my life.” He gave me a little pat on the shoulder as if to soothe the sting of his words, and then he gathered the others, waltzed right out the door, and headed for a bar.

Their laughter drifted back to me, and I sagged against the wall, laughing to myself.

August was still an asshole, but my whole kitchen crew respected that asshole.

* * *

I was right. August didn’t apologize. But he called a team meeting which consisted of him telling everyone that his tone might have been overly harsh, but he’d still meant every word he said. He wrapped up the five-minute meeting by pointing out a strength each of them displayed and then told them to return to their prep work.

“Happy?” he asked brusquely after everyone had returned to their stations, and I found him in his office, clipboard in hand, ready to head to the kitchen.

I blocked the door, so he couldn’t leave. My hands were fisted at my sides, and I gritted my teeth. I’d never wanted to punch someone as much as I wanted to punch him at this very minute. It wasn’t the first time I’d wanted to punch him, either. Sometimes he brought out my violent side.

“You know what would make me happy?”

He made a big show of checking the time on his phone before responding. “I don’t have much time, but we can make it a quickie.”

“Your specialty.” I couldn’t resist.

“Oh, baby.” He grasped my jaw and looked at me with hooded eyes before releasing me. “You know I can last all night long.” His smirk was easy, eyes darkening as his gaze roamed over me as if he was considering throwing me down and fucking me on the floor of his office. “But duty calls. I’m working on a new special.”

“Oh, really. What is it? A slice of humble pie with a side of crow?”

He let out a short laugh. “Sorry to disappoint. It’s just another sexy dish. It will be so visually spectacular the customers will weep.”

He was so damn full of himself. I cursed myself when curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s in this dish?”

“Octopus.” His confidence evaporated, and he lowered his head, biting the corner of his mouth, looking more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him.

Octopus. This was all about Sage.

I wanted to tell August that he wouldn’t lose his son and reassure him that everything would be okay, but I didn’t know if it was true. So I didn’t say the words.

“I’ll help with the special. We can work on it together.”