Soaring Free Read online

  “Great job, Julie. The potato casserole is divine.”

  “Thanks, Brent,” Julie replied.

  Joni sniffed and wiped her face on both of her shoulders. The onion fumes were starting to get to her and she didn’t want any of her tears landing on the food.

  “What about fresh seafood platters?”

  “We already offer seafood platters.” Brent turned to look at her with a frown.

  “Yes, and no doubt they taste wonderful, but most of it is fried. What if you offered oysters Kilpatrick or au naturale? Smoked oysters, salmon, crayfish, and fresh prawns? You could up the price and make more of a profit.”

  “You know, that’s not such a bad idea, but how will we get the people inside? Most people who come here know the menu never changes.”

  “I will buy one of those easel-type double blackboards, write the specials on it and the price of each dish. That way people can decide if they want to pay a little more for better quality, healthier food and hopefully it will entice more people to enter.”

  Brent had been frowning at her but a slow smile spread across his face. “I like you, Joni Meeks. You have a good head for business.”

  “Thanks, I used to work at Gerrard’s Restaurant.”

  “I know the place and I know Gerrard. Not very well, of course, but he seems nice enough. I had just finished my apprenticeship when he opened up. I was a couple of weeks too late to apply for a job there, but he struggled for a few years to gain a reputation.” Brent looked at her speculatively. “When did you start working there?”

  “Five years ago.”

  “That explains everything.”

  “What does?” Joni asked.

  “That place started picking up all of a sudden, and if my guess is correct it was approximately five years ago. Am I right?”

  Joni smiled and nodded. She wasn’t being boastful but knew her suggestions and management had headed Gerrard’s Restaurant in the right direction. She’d been studying all about the hospitality industry when she was working and had applied everything she’d learned, and to her surprise it had worked.

  “Why did you leave?” Brent asked.

  “Gerrard fired me?”

  “What the fuck for?” Brent yelled.

  “He wanted to hire his nephew because he’d just finished college.”

  “What an ass! Don’t take it to heart, Joni. From what I’ve heard around the traps, his sister owns just over half of that place.”

  “So you think she tugged on the cash strings?”

  “She did,” Tom said.

  Joni glanced over her shoulder and looked through moisture-filled eyes at Tom. He frowned and then hurried over until he was standing beside her.

  “No wonder you’re crying. Did you peel and chop all those onions?”

  Joni wiped her cheeks on her shoulder again and sniffed before nodding. She chopped the last onion and after getting rid of the peels, took the chopping board and knife to the sink to rinse them. She removed the gloves, dumped them in the trash, and washed her hands.

  “Don’t give me that look.” Brent held his hands up in a supplicatory gesture. “She offered to help.”

  “I did, so get that look off your face right now, Tom.” Joni planted her hands on her hips, but her nose started to run so she had to spin away and grab some tissues from the shelf to blow it. She hated that she turned away from him when she was standing up for Brent and herself, but she didn’t want snot running down her face. She threw the tissues in the trash, washed her hands once more, and, after she dried them on a paper towel, turned to face Tom again.

  She was surprised to see him looking at her with a goofy smile on his face, but it was the heat in his eyes that gave her pause. At first she thought she was imagining things but when he ran his gaze up and down her body before meeting her eyes again, she couldn’t refute what was right in front of her face.

  “You are so sexy when you’re obstinate.”

  “Huh…”

  Brent burst out laughing. “You should see your face, Joni. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.”

  Joni turned her glare on Brent, but with him smiling at her that way she couldn’t hold her ire or a straight face and ended up smiling again. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled with anyone other than Kara, and now it seemed her bosses could illicit such from her with just a few words of praise, and Brent’s laughter was just downright contagious.

  “Yeah, yeah, everyone’s a comedian,” she muttered and then pointed to the large bowl of diced onions. “I’ll leave you and your minions to deal with that. I need to check out the bar.”

  “Thanks Joni,” Brent called. “I’ll have a specials menu to you tomorrow and we can start implementing it as soon as possible.”

  “Okay.”

  Joni hurried toward the bar and was pleasantly surprised to see the place was filling up. There were a couple of EMTs in uniform standing at the bar, sipping on beers while talking to Nic and Gabe as they continued to serve. She didn’t want to get in their way but she needed to make sure the BOM matched the inventory. She’d already taken the time to copy files over to her tablet so she could check things off her list and then she needed to look in the cellar or storage room, whatever the case may be.

  The smiles Gabe and Nic gave her made her warm inside and even though she didn’t want to, she found herself smiling back. When she realized she stood behind the bar staring at them all, she gave herself a mental shake and got back to work.

  By the time she was done and made sure that the inventory matched the list, the place was full. Tom worked behind the bar with his friends and since they were so busy, Joni decided to search for their storage room by herself.

  She walked along the hall toward the office and noticed a door farther along from the kitchen but before the back door exit. She turned the knob and sighed with relief when it opened. She didn’t want to have to go back and ask for a key when the others were so busy. Because it was so dark she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and used the illumination from it to find a light switch. She was very glad she had because there were about five stairs leading into a basement-type cellar room. She spent the next few hours checking everything off her list and when she was done, she sighed with tiredness. When she glanced at the time on her tablet she noticed it was already after 10 p.m. No wonder she was so tired. She’d been here for over twelve hours.

  Joni hurried up the stairs and headed back to the bar. Since it was Friday night there were still a lot of patrons and she wondered what time they closed the door. If she was lucky, she would be able to leave in another two hours. If not, maybe another three. It depended on their liquor license.

  As she slid onto a vacant stool near the end of the bar, Nic approached and, from the look on his face, he wasn’t happy. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been searching all over for you and thought you’d left.”

  “I was in the cellar room checking off the stock against the BOM.”

  “Why didn’t you let one of us know where you were?” Nic asked angrily.

  “Because you were busy and I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “First rule, you let us know where you are at all times.” Nic glared at her, shifted on his feet, and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Joni didn’t like his attitude or the way he was acting like a father and treating her like a child.

  “Get over yourself, Nic.”

  Gabe must have heard what both of them had said because he hurried over and placed a restraining hand on Nic’s shoulder, who then uncrossed his arms and leaned on the bar, which brought him close to her. “Both of you need to back off. This isn’t the time for heated discussions. You can wait until we close.”

  Joni sighed with guilt. She didn’t usually jump down someone’s throat without thinking first, but she was tired and she had been nursing a headache for the last hour and it seemed to be getting worse with each second that passed. She glanced from Gabe to Nic and t
hen offered a tentative smile. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually snap like that.”

  Nic pushed up straight, his gaze scrutinizing her face and then he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  She looked to the side and was pleased that all the clients who’d been waiting for drinks had had their orders filled and had moved away from the bar. Tom walked over to stand beside Gabe and she was disconcerted with the way all three of them were staring at her so intently. Although she tried to keep her desire under wraps, it didn't seem to make a difference. Her body didn’t take one damn bit of notice of her brain. She wanted all three of them but that was never going to happen. She would make sure of that. But how was she going to continue hiding how horny they made her?

  She drew in a breath, raised her arms, and crossed them over her breasts, trying to hide her hard, aching nipples from view. When her arms brushed against the sensitive tips she had to bite her lip and swallow back a moan of hunger.

  “You’re exhausted,” Tom said, drawing her gaze. “I think you should call it a night.”

  Gabe glanced at his wristwatch and winced. “Fuck! I had no idea what the damn time was. You’ve been here for over twelve fucking hours.”

  “Shit!” Nic threaded his fingers through his hair. “No wonder you’re looking so pale. Are you sure you’re just tired? You don’t look so great, baby.”

  Joni was starting to feel like crap warmed up, but she wasn’t about to show weakness in front of these three authoritative, confident, dominant men. She had a feeling if she gave an inch they’d run roughshod right over the top of her, and she’d never get any ground back. “I’m fine.”

  Gabe frowned at her and she decided she would take them up on finishing up. The more her head ached, the more her stomach roiled. Joni hoped she was coming down with something, because although she got the occasional headache she was lucky enough to not suffer migraines. But the headache she had now was like a drum pounding on the inside of her skull and she felt a little achy and light-headed. She slid from the stool and gripped the edge of the bar when her world tilted slightly. She blinked a couple of times and sighed with relief when her vision came back. When she straightened up she met three pairs of very concerned eyes.

  “There is no way in hell you’re driving home,” Gabe stated emphatically. “You’re about ready to pass out.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Joni replied as she began to make her way toward the office where she’d left her purse and cardigan. She shivered as the air from the vent above her head washed over her body. Goose bumps raced over her skin and she shuddered, feeling a bone-deep coldness. She didn’t get more than five feet before she slammed into a hard muscular body.

  Hands grasped her hips and steadied her and it hurt her head and neck when she looked up to meet Nic’s concerned gaze. “I’ll drive you home, Joni.”

  “But—ˮ She didn’t get to say anything else because he interrupted her.

  “No arguing. There is no way I’m letting you drive home in your state. You could have a car accident and I couldn’t live with my conscience if you ended up in a car wreck.”

  Joni was too tired to argue, plus she agreed with him. The way she was feeling it would be a miracle if she got home. “Thank you.”

  He shifted away and then gripped her elbow, guiding her down the hallway and into the office. After she retrieved her things, she let him guide her back out to the front and, after saying good-bye to Gabe and Tom, he led her to his car.

  “Where do you live, baby?”

  Joni rolled her head on the headrest and squinted at him before rattling off her address. She hated that he would see the dump of a building she lived in, but he wouldn’t get to see the small space she leased because she had no intentions of asking him in for coffee. Although now that that thought had rolled across her mind, it was on the tip of her tongue to do just that, but she sighed and closed her eyes instead.

  She hoped that if she was getting sick it passed quickly because she couldn’t afford to take anytime off when she’d just started. Oh well, it didn’t really matter how she felt. She’d gone to work sick plenty of times. As long as she dosed herself up with flu medication or whatever she needed she would be fine. It didn’t matter if she were tired, she’d gotten by on little-to-no sleep plenty of times.

  Although she didn’t go to sleep, she had her eyes closed and sort of drifted while Nic drove. It was only when she no longer heard the tires on the road or engine noise that she realized they had stopped. When she opened her eyes, it was to find Nic’s eyes running over her face as if he was tracing every one of her features until he got to her eyes.

  Her heart stuttered in her chest and her breath hitched in her throat at the lust she saw in his gaze. Joni blinked and sat up, pushing the few strands of hair which had escaped her bun back, and reached for the door handle. Nic clasped her other wrist and she turned back to face him.

  “Stay right where you are, Joni,” he commanded. “I’ll help you out.”

  If she hadn’t been feeling under the weather she may have argued, but she just didn’t have the energy. He released her wrist, got out, hurried around to her side of the car, and helped her out. When she stood, instead of stepping back, he wrapped an arm around her waist, sidestepped her a couple of paces, and then closed and locked the door before guiding her to the door of her ground floor one-bedroom apartment.

  She cringed when she saw a couple of garbage bags off the sidewalk and when she looked up at the dilapidated building she felt embarrassed. She hadn’t really cared what others thought about where she lived, but for some reason having Nic see her rundown apartment made her feel bad.

  The path lights were out and when she squinted through the couple of bushes near her front door, she saw that her external entrance light was out, too. At first she thought there may have been a power outage but when she looked toward the apartments on either side of hers and saw light on each side of the drawn curtains, and blinds, she knew she was wrong. There was always something needing to be fixed and she knew from experience that the so-called caretaker of maintenance wouldn’t get off his lazy, fat ass to do anything.

  If she wanted to be able to see her keyhole she was going to have to get a new light globe and change it out herself. The closer they got to her place the more she shivered and it wasn’t because she wasn’t feeling up to par. She felt like she was being watched and didn’t like the way the feeling creeped her out. After glancing about, she couldn’t see anyone lurking in the shadows but she couldn’t shake the sensation of eyes watching her every move. She sighed with relief when she and Nic got to her door and, after fumbling with the key in the lock, she managed to get it in and opened the door.

  Joni felt along the wall for the light switch and when the room illuminated she stood in shock as her eyes swept the room. The secondhand sofa she’d managed to recover was slashed to ribbons with stuffing sticking out and spilling onto the floor. The wooden coffee table she’d made and painted with her own hands was in pieces and the small collection of ex-rental DVDs she splurged on were scattered about in shiny shards. She heard Nic growl beside her and even though she wanted to turn and look at him, she couldn’t.

  It took her a few moments to realize she was shaking and that was why everything seemed to be moving slightly and just as she was about to rush across the debris littering the floor, Nic cupped her face in his hands and met her eyes.

  “Take a deep breath, baby.” His quiet command helped calm some of the panic rushing through her system and she was able to take the first deep breath since the moment she’d walked in the door. “Good girl, that’s it, Joni. Keep breathing with me.”

  How long they stood there as he talked her from the anxiety rushing through her she had no idea, but finally her racing heart came back to a nearly normal pace and she was no longer panting as if she’d just run her heart out.

  “Come on,” Nic murmured as he released her face and took hold of one of her hands. “You need to si
t in the truck.”

  “No.” Joni shook her head and pulled away from him and the wall she’d been leaning on. She ignored him and hurried across the small living area to her bedroom.

  “Joni!” Nic’s voice was harsh but again she didn’t take any notice. She needed to see her bedroom. She had no idea why the compunction drove her, but she couldn’t ignore it.

  She turned the light on and her stomach muscles heaved when she saw what was left of her bed and clothes. Absolutely nothing had survived the onslaught of destruction. The mattress had been ripped to shreds and the springs had been half pulled out. Her clothes were in pieces or slashed. Even the two other pairs of shoes she had hadn’t avoided ruination. When she caught movement from the corner of her eye, fear skittered up her spine, but she exhaled as she saw that it was the curtains fluttering in the breeze. That was when she saw her bedroom window was no more. It had been broken and glass was lying on the floor.

  “Do you have any idea who would do this?” Nic asked in an angry voice.

  Joni had been so caught up in staring in shock she hadn’t been aware that he’d followed her. She glanced at him and shook her head and then she started picking her way through the destruction. She picked up the lace white shawl that had belonged to her mother and a knot of grief and pain formed in her chest. Although it was still one piece, it had been cut several times and would need to be thrown away. She dropped it back on the floor and covered her mouth to hold in the sobs building in her chest.

  She had no idea why anyone would to this and didn’t think she had upset anyone to cause such hatred and anger. As far as she knew, she had no enemies and wondered if this was just a random attack for someone to get their jollies.

  “You can’t stay here, Joni. You can stay with us.” Nic rubbed her shoulder and even though she felt his touch, it was like she was experiencing things from a long way off. Nothing seemed real. How could any of this be real when she’d never crossed anyone? She’d always been polite no matter what. Her momma had brought her up to be nice to everyone, no matter how pissed off they made her. She’d even held her tongue when Gerrard had fired her after making his business what it was today, just so he could employ his nephew.