Call Me Fire

CHAPTER 28

"LET'S GET ONE THING STRAIGHT. You were late because?"

Tonya's hand stopped from tying her apron when Lizzie's frowning face popped into her view. It was a hot two in the afternoon in Klaire City, and her co-worker's temper sure was matching it.

Their shop, Brews, was choking with people coming in and out. The chimes hadn't stopped clanging since she stepped in. And the air hadn't rested from smelling heavily of coffee and carrot cake.

"I've been spilled on. I feel like I've been abused by the four horsemen while serving coffee all around this place. And I... haven't even gotten myself a single bio break!" Lizzie thumped her palm against the counter without tearing her eyes off Tonya. "Where have you been, and why were you late?"

'Well... Fire and I ended up going back into his room after breakfast to do what we're so good at doing together. I am a bit dizzy. I'm swollen down there because we argued somewhere in between thrusting, moaning, and talking about our issues. He took my idea in a very negative way. I still can't feel myself between my legs and can't even tell where in Klaire City his mansion was located. I fainted suspended in the air, barely a hundred feet from the ground, so I never got the chance to check!'

Tonya wanted to explode those words into Lizzie's face. More than anything, she was sure that venting about what happened earlier inside the brute's mansion would make her feel better.

Her frustrations were already layering thickly on top of one another while starting her half-day shift. Kristoff looked like he was experiencing a near-death experience while brewing in front of a dozen empty cups. On the other hand, Lizzie was close to getting admitted to one of Klaire City's asylums.

'This is your fault, Fire. This is all your freaking fault—'

"You two princesses need to move faster." It was the sound of a coffee cup getting dropped on the counter that pulled Lizzie and Tonya out of their snappy banter. Kristoff was sweating like a pig when his exhausted gaze bounced back and forth between the two women. "Table six has been waiting for more than fifteen minutes. One of you has to sprint."

"I'll do it." Lizzie cut off the guy, grabbed the cup, and quickly walked away. On the other hand, Tonya was left with no choice but to go straight to the brewing machines next to Kristoff.

"Damn. Busy day."

"I can't agree more." She shrugged her co-worker's complaint off by turning the grinder on. A complete hour after Tonya left Fire's place, she still wasn't ready for any extravagant headaches. Certainly not after failing to make Fire concede to what she wanted even after a mind-blowing sex.

"Where the hell had you been anyway? It's still weekdays, madam."

"Kristoff... Just shut it, please." She raised a hand to gesture to her co-worker to stop talking. Quickly, she grabbed the canister from the guy's hand and turned to the grinder again. She could see the chaos on the counter—cups, order slips, canisters dumped here and there, and every space possible. She knew what was going on, and she wasn't a diva, but... 'Oh fuck!'

"Hey, Kristoff. Can you check this for me? I think this is spoiled."

"That's vanilla, Tony." The guy rolled his eyes while pouring creamer into one of the cups. "You've been working here for more than two years. You should have known that that doesn't spoil."

"It smells different," she insisted, sniffing at the open canister in her hand. Making sure that it wasn't just her senses tricking her, she placed the canister closer to her nose and tried to smell it again. "It does smell different."