Ryne: Golden Eagles MC, #3

Chapter 1

Ryne

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Finish with the mopping and let’s get the Hell out of here. I’m ready for an ice cold beer and a night of doing nothing, I told the rest of the crew as they scrambled to finish cleaning the kitchen for the night.

The wait staff had finished in the dining room and had already gone home, and the head chef had also called it a night. Most of the line cooks were gone, too. I was left with the two dishwashers and one of the prep crew workers, bossing them around but not doing much to help clean myself.

I had spent plenty of years doing exactly what they were doing now, and it wasn’t my job anymore. Now, it was my job to make sure they were doing their jobs, among other things.

I had spent all night cooking and keeping up with the demands of the dining room, keeping the line cooks in line, and telling the waitresses what to do. It was something that I’d come to love, celebrate even.

As the sous chef at one of the best Italian restaurants in town, I was proud of what I had accomplished in twenty-three years. At nineteen, I had started in the kitchen at the bottom of the totem pole. I was the lowest dishwasher on the crew, and it took me a long time to even reach the next level in that group.

I never wanted to be a dishwasher. I always wanted to be a chef. But, I knew even with schooling it was hard to get hired on as an actual cook in my restaurants such as this, and I didn’t want to cough up the money to go to school when I knew I could fight my way to the top anyway.

So, I did what I had to do.

I applied for the job as a dishwasher. Something that would help me get a start in life. Then, I proceeded to work my ass off. I stayed late, I did a good job, and I made sure things were done right, every time.

It was rare for me to take a day off, even when I was sick. Hell, if I was just washing the dishes what did it matter?

I fought to stay in the game, and when new recruits were hired, I was sure to establish dominance and a pecking order, even among those who were just meant to prepare the food and wash the dishes. It was hard work, but I kept dreaming one day I was going to break off the cleaning line and into the food line itself.

Then, it happened. I eventually managed to graduate to prep cook, where I spent hours a day getting the ingredients ready for the chefs to use that night with dinner. I chopped everything from vegetables and fruits to breads and meats. I would prepare rubs and marinades, and mix the gravy.

By the time the chefs would arrive and the doors were ready to be open, I had everything ready to go. There wasn’t ever a shortage of anything on the dinner line, and I was proud of it.

I knew the sous chef and the head chef at the time both noticed how well I was doing, and they were taking notes. They kept a close watch on the kitchen, and promoted those who were serious about their jobs. The rest were left in the dust – either to live out their careers in the same spot on the line, or to eventually quit because they never made it further in the hierarchy.

When I graduated to line cook I felt on top of the world. By then, I had enough kitchen experience I knew what I was doing, despite the fact I was virtually self-taught. It helped that I was on the line, I was one of seven others who all worked together to make sure the food that went out the doors was pristine and delectable.

The restaurant rose in rankings within Denver, and eventually my hard work paid off there, too. When the head chef moved on to bigger and better things, and our sous chef at the time stepped up into that role, the sous chef position was up for grabs.

And I was eager to apply.

It was a lengthy interview process with both the head chef and the owner of the restaurant, but I knew from the beginning I was going to be one of the top contenders for the spot. By that time I was the senior chef on the line, and though there were others with more training, I was good at what I did, and I had the work ethic to prove it.

Eventually, the decision came down between me and one other guy, but in the end, I prevailed. I was elevated to sous chef, and this was now primarily my kitchen to run. I still had dreams of one day becoming head chef, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

But, I wasn’t going to let the wait get to me. I was going to make the most of the position where I was just as I had throughout the past four years. I was proud of myself, being a sous chef at twenty-three years old, and these were the people I was in charge of.

I kept them there until they had scrubbed the kitchen clean, then one by one I left them go. Each individual station had to be cleaned by the one who worked it, and it had to be done to my standards. If I felt there was something that had to be done over, I wasn’t afraid to stop them and make sure they did it again.

When the last of the dishwashers grabbed their things and headed out the door, I flicked off the last of the kitchen lights and headed out the back, locking the door behind me.

I decided to cut through the alley to get to my bike when I suddenly noticed a guy and a girl a little ways down. They were illuminated with the dim street light at the end of the alley, but I could see them clearly enough to see that the guy had the girl up against the wall of the opposite building, and she looked anything but happy.

In fact, she looked downright scared, and he looked aggressive.

At once, I was pissed. I had always been told I had anger issues. In fact, it was one of the reasons I had been passed around the foster care system my entire life. My parents had lost custody of me when I was very young – too young to really remember anything but the beer bottles laying everywhere and the two of them being chronically passed out on the couch or the floors.

I remembered the people coming and taking me away, and I remembered the long journey of being passed from one home to the next, never really feeling like I belonged to any family and never really being accepted for who I was.

Every time I thought I was getting close to being part of a family, something would happen and I would fly off the handle. Sure, I didn’t do anything at all to hold myself in check, and there were times I would actively embrace the anger that was flowing through me, but either way, it always ended the same.

I was put back in the system for another family to deal with. I was always made another family’s problem and another family’s project.

Now, however, seeing the way this man was treating this woman was enough to make my blood boil. I was about to give full vent to my anger, and I was proud to do it. I had been picked on and made the victim so many times in my life, I wasn’t about to stand by and watch another human being be treated that way.

This guy was going to get what was coming to him, and that was me.

I stormed over, still wearing my chef coat and with my helmet under my arm. I drew myself up to my full height, shoving him as hard as I could as soon as I reached him.

You gotta a problem here, Buddy? I snapped. Because it doesn’t seem to me like she’s enjoying the attention!

I came at him fast and hard, catching him off guard and clearly scaring the shit out of him in the process. He looked at me and stammered, then looked back at the girl against the wall.

Go ahead, try something! I challenged. Try something right now! That’s what I thought. You’d rather pick on someone half your size than face someone who can actually take you.

The guy was backing down, and with the way I had come at him, he clearly didn’t know what to do. He mumbled something to the woman against the wall, then he slunk off into the darkness, leaving her alone with me. I turned back to her, relaxing.

She was small, making herself smaller with the fear she was feeling. She looked at me with wide eyes, but I gave her a warm smile. You’re alright now. Do you have someone you want me to call? Can you get home from here?

I asked the questions simply, but she was shaking and pale, hardly able to speak. Clearly, she hadn’t been in such a situation before, and she didn’t know what to say.

Miss? I prompted. She looked at me with wide eyes, then it was as though she remembered where she was.

Um, I don’t have my phone, she said at last.

That’s alright, I told her. Come on, let’s get back inside the office and you can use the phone in there. Do you have a number you can call? Someone who can come get you?

My brother, she said as she reluctantly followed me into the building. I was struck with her beauty. Thin, gorgeous, curvy. She had auburn hair and green eyes. They were filled with fear now, but I imagined what it would look like if they were happy.

I led her into the back office and gave her the phone, then waited as she made a call. After she hung up we sat together in an awkward silence. I wasn’t sure what to say to her, and she clearly was shaken from the incident and didn’t want to talk to me, either.

Thank you, she said at last. That guy was an asshole.

Yeah he was, I agreed.

I think that’s Nathan, she said at the sound of a car pulling up. She rose and thanked me again for the help, but the goodbye was almost as awkward as waiting for her brother to get there in the first place.

Wait a second, I said. I almost reached out and caught her by the arm, but I refrained. She had been through enough already, I didn’t want to scare her.

What’s your name? I asked.

Natalie, she replied. She didn’t ask me for mine. She didn’t say anything else at all. She just disappeared through the kitchen, and within a few seconds I heard the back door open and close.

Natalie, I muttered with a shake of my head. She was beautiful. Just beautiful.

But now, she was gone.

Chapter 2

Natalie

I can’t believe you went and fucked that up! Do you know how long it took me to set up that date for you? Nathan demanded as we drove back to the dorms.

I know and I’m sorry. I just didn’t like the way he kept touching me like he was. I asked him to stop more than once and he didn’t, then when we got outside he wanted me to get in his car and go with him and I got scared, I told him.

You were supposed to go with him! Nat! How the Hell do you think I’m going to seal any of these deals if you aren’t going to do your part? he demanded.

I sighed. I felt like a prostitute when he talked to me that way, and I wasn’t sure how to reply. I knew my brother was desperate to make money, and he would do just about anything to make it happen.

Unfortunately, his solution these days was to get me to do the dirty work for him. And by dirty work I mean getting down and dirty with whoever he decided to send me on a date with. He didn’t care that I told him more than once I wasn’t interested in dating anyone. He didn’t care that I truly didn’t want to go out.

I wanted to focus on my schooling. I wanted to focus on my life. And I really wanted to date when I was ready to date.

But, Nathan was the only person I had in this world. He had been there for me when our parents died, and though we were twins, I always felt like he was the one who took care of me. Lately, however, he had become more and more infatuated with money scams and making a quick buck.

If you’re going to make money, you need money, he’d tell me. But, he didn’t want to put in the work to get the money he’d use to make money. Instead, he decided the best solution would be to send me on dates with these guys and get me to either convince them to give us money, or to offer a date with me in exchange for pay.

I don’t see why we don’t just get real jobs, I said as I continued to stare out the window.

Natalie, I’m doing this for both of us. If you just play along with this now, you’re going to be happy later, I promise, he told me.

I wasn’t so sure, but I didn’t want to argue with my brother, either. I wasn’t exactly sure what he was in to these days, but I had feeling he was falling in with the wrong crowd.

I’d learned not to ask too many questions with Nathan. Over the past few months he was talking more and more about making millions, and how he just needed to do some investing. I, on the other hand, had a feeling he was more into gambling than he was into anything else.

He never went into any details over what he was investing in, or what he was getting out of them. He just told me to get the money, and he would take care of the rest.

I trusted Nathan, so I didn’t question whether he was making me do something illegal, even if it was just illegal by getting the money for him to use. He had taken care of me for so long, I didn’t want to consider he might be doing something that he