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Stress Cooking

Chapter Nineteen – Stress Cooking

"Look who it is. I thought you'd died."

"Shut up, Dev," I muttered, throwing my purse into a corner. She sauntered over to me as I clocked in. When I went to move, she boxed me in.

"What's going on between you and the banger?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Jules," she said, raising her pierced brow. "You've barely spoken to me in days. And now, you come in here all blushy and you're glowing. So, spill."

"Glowing," I scoffed, shoving past her. "You're delusional."

"Whatever, don't tell me." I could all but hear her rolling her eyes at me. "It's fine."

The one thing I always appreciated about Devyn, was that ninety-nine percent of the time, she let things go when I wasn't ready to talk about them. She didn't question my apparent 'glow' for the rest of the night. However, that may have been in part because Vincent had been right. We were absolutely slammed. Devyn and I barely had time to breathe, let alone talk about my love life.

* * * * *

"Jesus Christ," Devyn exclaimed once the final patron had been herded out the front door. "That was insane."

"I'll say," I muttered, grabbing the tip jar and hopping onto the bar. I could feel Dante's glare, and as usual I didn't bother acknowledging it. I upended the jar onto the bar and began to count the money. I kept an eye on Devyn as I did. I knew that since the storm had passed, it was only a matter of time before she descended upon me.

It took about three minutes.

"You in a talking mood yet?"

"No."

She pouted. "Fine. Then since tomorrow is Saturday and we're both off, let's go out. I'll get some liquor in you and then get you to talk."

"Telling me your plan beforehand isn't very smart," I told her, a smile breaking out across my face. She was impossible.

"Pfft, I got this."

My eyes rolled as I refocused on splitting the tips. It was quiet for a time as Devyn continued to break the bar down. I knew that she had a shit-ton of questions bubbling just beneath the surface, but I was glad she kept them to herself. I didn't even know the answers to anything that she was liable to ask. Once the money was split – we had both made more than double what we normally did – I slid Devyn her cut. Dante meandered his way out of the back as I slid off the bar.

"How'd you all do?" he asked, flicking my forehead. I rubbed the point of assault and shot a glare at him.

"Really good," Devyn chimed in as she began to count out her part.

"Good. You all did an amazing job tonight. Thank you," Dante said, pulling both of us in for a hug.

"What do you want?" we chorused. While Dante was always appreciative of all of us, this kind of display always lead to a favor.

He chuckled before releasing us. His eyes slid to me before he began talking. "We have a party reservation for next weekend. I would like to put you two on the schedule for it."

"I'm down," I said, automatically. Party reservations were always big money.

"Count me in, too," Devyn agreed. "Why did you think we wouldn't want it?"