Chapter 1
1455 Words
Jamie placed the steaming cup of coffee in front of the customer, forcing herself not to snarl at the females ogling him. She knew she wasn’t being reasonable. She’d been hearing stories about the gray-eyed, six foot three blonde God from the moment she’d been hired, but seeing him was entirely different.
From the moment she’d woken up, she had been on edge, as if anticipating something. And now she had an idea of why. She had no concrete evidence, but her gut feelings were telling her that it had something to do with the man who had walked into the restaurant, flashed her a smile, and walked straight to her side of the room. She wasn’t entirely sure the feeling had come from her gut either. It could as well have come from her nether regions, which had started tingling at the sight of the man.
When she had spent enough time puttering behind the counter - she had no plan to look like the others who were fluttering their lashes and exposing themselves subtly in the hope that the man would notice them - she walked back to him.
“Would you like to place your order now, sir?” She was fairly certain she had sounded pretty normal, so it came as a shock to her when Adonis’ eyes zeroed in on her neck, where her pulse was beating, before trailing down her dress to her chest region, where her n*****s were getting hard. She swallowed hard.
“Sure, Jamie.” God, his voice was like thick honey. And then she heard what he had said.
She unconsciously stumbled back but he grabbed her arm, “Steady, Love”
“How do you know my name?” she forced the question out even though what she really wanted was to swoon into those arms.
He chuckled, and his eyes took that path again. He settled on her chest before looking back in her eyes, “It’s staring me in the eyes”
“What,” she asked stupidly before she realized. Her name tag, the clip on plastic the restaurant insisted every server wear on their uniforms. Her cheeks flushed hotly with the realization that he hadn’t been checking out her boobs after all, his attention had been on the useless clip attached to her shirt pocket.
She removed her arms from his and took another step back before she cleared the hot shame from her throat, “What would you like to order, Sir?” she asked firmly.
The man picked up his menu from the table and perused it briefly before he met her gaze with an amused smile stretching his lips, “Depends, sweetheart. Are you on the menu?”
All of her froze. Well, except her mouth. That part of her anatomy dropped down in shock before ignoring all the filters in place and blurting out, “Wait, is it just me or are you flirting with me, Sir?”
He laughed out loud at that, and her cheeks flushed hotter. The other servers were staring angrily at them and she just wanted to find a table to hide under.
“You’re cute. For now, why don’t I order the special for this morning? You’ll bring the bill when I’m done eating, won’t you?”
She nodded, and he smirked. “Then run along, sweetheart. I’ll be waiting”
She nodded again mutely before she made her way back to the counter. She could feel eyes following her step till she was no longer in view. In the safety of the kitchen, she staggered and exhaled sharply. But her relief was short-lived, her worst nemesis, Kaycee and Brianna followed her, Andrew, her closest friend right at their heels.
“What were you talking about?” Brianna wasted no time in asking.
Fear thumped through her but she narrowed her eyes at them, “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t act dumb you slut” Kaycee retorted. “You’re trying to steal him from us, aren’t you?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but it failed her so she just stared at them, trying not to cower.
“You…” Brianna started, coming closer but Andrew finally made his presence known.
“Okay, ladies. That’s enough. Jamie, don’t you have an order to fulfill?”
She took the cue, turning to the closest kitchen server who looked disappointed, “One plate of today’s special, please”
When she turned back, Brianna was in her face, “Stay away from Lucas, or the next time we see you, you won’t have someone to hide behind” she hissed in her ears, grabbing her wrists a little too hard. Then they both turned as one, smiled sweetly at Andrew before strutting away. She waited until she was out of the kitchen before she collapsed against the door.
Andrew’s hand caught her arm and she leaned into him. “Thanks” she whispered, straightening up and reducing the urge to just depend on him. What was it with guys and catching her arms today?
He released her arm, but leaned down to examine her wrists, “You really need to do something about the girls, Jamie. Can’t you stand up to them or something?”
She laughed bitterly, “What a bright idea, standing up to a bunch of werewolves. There’s no way that could go wrong”
“Oh,” he whispered, “Sorry, I forgot”
“That I’m not a shifter. No problem,” then she sighed and looked up into his face, “Sorry I’m jumping at you. I just need some time, that’s all”
He winked at her, “To obsess over our legendary Greek God in there?”
“Oh my God, you saw?”
“Everyone saw, darling. Now raise your chin up and go serve him his meal. It’s practically the first time he’s spoken to anyone in the restaurant”
“Really?”
He pushed her cheeks together, “Really. Now go”
He pushed her towards the kitchen door just in time for the meal to be ready. Taking a deep breath, she collected the plate and headed back into the restaurant.
***************
Jamie kept herself busy with the other customers till the guy finished wolfing down his meal. Not wanting to be waylaid by the other waiters sending her dirty looks, she made sure never to remain in one spot for longer than a few seconds.
As a non-shifter in a werewolf territory, her situation was already precarious enough. Without the presence of Andrew who had stuck with her since she stumbled into the town three months ago, she’d have been attacked several times. And her body physiology wasn’t doing her any good. No matter the effort she put in, she just couldn’t put on weight or build more strength. The more she tried, the faster she lost it. She was even convinced that she had an anatomical problem, but broke and without parents, there was nothing she could do about it. The weakest person could take her down in a fight, and the fact that she had grown up with terror and fear as her close friends didn’t make her any confident for it.
She was both physically and mentally weak, so she’d learned to make an art of running and hiding.
She was clearing an empty table on her side when she saw Brianna headed towards her. A quick glance showed that Andrew wasn’t around. Her heart jackknifed in her chest. They were in the restaurant, shifter laws stated that Brianna couldn’t lay a hand on her without provocation. But even that knowledge did not stop her knees from shaking when Brianna got to her side.
“Wh…” she cleared her throat and tried again, "What?” she asked calmly. From the look in her eyes, her pretense couldn’t completely hide the scent of her terror but she had to try.
“Lucas is asking for his bill” was all Brianna said.
“Who?” she asked, and Brianna laughed as if they were discussing something amusing.
“The alpha, Lucas”
That only made her more confused, until she followed Brainna’s gaze to the guy she’d been calling Adonis in her head. So, he was Lucas and he was the alpha. Her head flushed hot and cold, she hadn’t known he was the alpha but that changed things. No matter what her guts or fantasies said, he couldn’t be hers, because trying to compete for him - with the way both the young and old fawned whenever his title was mentioned, was an automatic death sentence. The others would kill her.
- Writer
