Hell's Smitten (Gordon Ramsay x Reader)

Chapter 57- My Dinner Service Part 2/2

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Pietro hobbles toward me with New York strips in hand. Now he's the one avoiding my gaze. He drops the pan with a loud clang– Purposeful or not, I let it go.

I touch the top of the steaks. They're under-cooked. I call Pietro back before he reaches his station.

"Pietro, these steaks are raw. A few more minutes in the oven, please!"

When he gets back to the pass he glowers.

"You're full of shit."

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't cut them open. You want me to over cook them so I look bad."

Does Pietro think I'd sabotage him as the head chef? Really?

"I don't have to cut these open to know they're raw, Pietro. Don't argue and put them back in the oven for two minutes." I try to keep calm.

"If these over cook it's your fault." He grabs the tray and heads back to his station.

From beside me, I sense Bella and Gordon watching how I handled Pietro. Maybe I should have cut the steak open, but preserving all the delicious juices of the steak felt more important than proving myself to him. I know for a fact I'm right so wasting time to prove it would only get the entire kitchen behind.

I press on, calling out the next order of entrees for the blue kitchen. The meat orders are piling. Hopefully Pietro can keep up.

Taylor approaches the pass with both of her sea bass, one Arctic char, and Red's Wellington.

"You're doing great, Chef," she praises me as she slides the plate up beside me.

"Thank you, Taylor." I peer into the flaky fish skin with a fork. "The fish is beautiful!"

I slice into Red's Welly and it's cooked perfectly.

"Well done on the Welly, Red!"

"Not a problem, Chef!" She waves her tongs in the air.

I call out the next order for the red team. Pietro arrives at the pass later than I expected.

"I asked for two minutes in the oven. Why did this take so long to come up?"

"You said it was raw, Chef. So I cooked it like it was raw."

Pietro shrugs.

I touch the top of one of the steaks. It feels like a rock.

"Pietro. I told you two minutes and you come up six minutes later with what could pass for a rock. Listen to me," I urge.

Pietro scoffs but doesn't move.

"Well? Do you have replacements ready to go?"

Chef Scott slides his sea bass onto the pass and casts a glance at Pietro. If Pietro doesn't have a spare ready, Chef Scott will have to cook another sea bass as this one has already been dying for a while now.

"Give me three minutes and I'll get you another one." Pietro heads back towards his station.

I give an apologetic look to Scott.

"I'll be ready when he is." Scott shakes his head and takes his sea bass plate, dumping the fish into the trash bin.

The blue kitchen has fallen behind the red kitchen with Pietro holding them back from their first entrees being sent out.

Finally, Pietro brings up his steaks. Chef Scott slides his sea bass next to me with an irked look. I know he's not keen on cooking another perfect sea bass for the bin.