Chicago

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Chai always thought of what she would say if and when she ran into Saint again. She imagined their conversation to be casual and completely natural—a few minutes dedicated to catching up and getting to know each other all over again.

She was in for a rude awakening as she stood there soiled in food. Her chest was heating up by the second as hot honey sauce trickled down her shirt and into the nook of her cleavage. She was speechless as she tried to grasp the fact that Saint was standing right in front of her.

"Shit, Chai. I'm so sorry," Saint panicked as he scanned the kitchen to find a rag that he could soak in cold water. Luckily for him, the other employees in the kitchen were already on it as they handed Chai a damp rag to cool her chest with.

Saint didn't think much about his next conversation with Chai. He tried his best not to think about her since she clearly wanted nothing to do with him. He understood she needed to get her life in order but he was counting on her to be there for him during his time of need and not leave him drowning in his own defeat. To add insult to injury, she hadn't checked on him at all since their last encounter. Saint wasn't even a thought to her so he trained himself to not think about her either.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have even been in here," Chai admitted as she used the rag to rub off some of the residue from the wings.

Saint had to hurry and get a new batch of wings started if he wanted to keep his flow going. He had tons of back orders and his biggest order had yet to be fulfilled. He was falling behind and he knew if he engaged in Chai, he would have to look for a new job first thing in the morning.

"I didn't know you worked here," Chai tried to start up small talk as she watched Saint pour an entire bag of frozen wings onto a baking tray. He spread them out evenly on the tray before tossing it in the oven to heat up. While he waited, he coated a large bowl in Kane's special honey wing sauce so he could toss the wings as soon as they were done heating up.

"Yeah,"

Chai felt the coldness in his voice as she realized he wasn't very interested in catching up with her. She felt rejected and it wasn't a good feeling at all, especially when it's from someone you truly care about. She knew Saint was mad at her but she couldn't apologize for putting herself first. It was something he would have to understand and if he didn't, perhaps they weren't meant to mess with each other.

"How did that happen? Are things at the shop okay?

Saint grew annoyed as he caught on to what she was trying to do. She wanted small talk and Saint didn't have the time or patience for it,

"With all due respect Chai, I really don't feel like talking about personal shit on the job. I'm sorry about the accident but I have to work now."

Chai was shocked at how emotionless he was towards her. She knew she wasn't his favorite person on the planet but she never thought he'd be rude to her,

"Oh okay, sorry."

Chai took her last ounce of pride and walked out of the kitchen and back into the busy floor that was settling down from the buzz of Black Bunny's performance. She fanned her chest as she tried to move through the crowd and to the locker room so she could change her uniform. The last thing she needed was for Kane to realize her flawed appearance and bark about how she was "ruining his image."

She ran inside the locker room and went straight to the vanity table to see how bad her chest looked after the accident. She was disgusted to see the red discoloration on her skin accompanied by tiny heat bumps. This night is a mess, she told herself as she went over to her locker to grab a fresh shirt. Once she changed out of her soiled shirt, she left the locker room and tried to salvage the rest of her night.