The next two and a half hours went by fast, and thankfully Starla arrived for her shift. By the time her phone vibrated in her apron, alerting her to the time, she was ready to sit down.
She removed her apron, hung it in the breakroom, and grabbed her purse. Out the back door of the diner, she looked around for Romeo and found him parked in front of one of the motel rooms.
A woman stood beside his motorcycle. She waited by the diner, not wanting to intrude.
Feminine laughter floated in the air. Timber leaned against the building, irritated at the delay. All she wanted to do was get off her feet, relax, eat—damnit. She exhaled heavily. When was she supposed to find time to buy groceries?
Without a car and relying on Romeo to get her to and from work, she wouldn't ask him to stop at the store. Opening the door, she went back into the diner and stepped into the kitchen.
Burt moved around the counter and held out a Styrofoam container. Her palms warmed, holding the to-go package.
The cook went back to the stove. She hesitated over thanking him. He was busy, and she wouldn't want to bother him.
Burt glanced over his shoulder and winked before turning his attention to the meat sizzling on the grill. Her stomach growled, and she smiled at Burt's back, having no idea how he would know she was starving and would need something to eat tonight at Romeo's house.
Counting her blessings, she walked out of the diner in time to meet Romeo, pulling to a stop. Obviously, he'd finished talking to the woman because she was no longer in sight.
"Ready?" he asked.
She nodded, looking down at the container holding her dinner. She hadn't thought beyond her hunger. How was she going to get the food back to the house?
Romeo took the container from her and placed it between his legs. She glanced at his crotch, an inch away from the Styrofoam.
Hmm. She looked up to see if he was aware of the heat radiating from the container and found him gazing at her. Her bottom lip slipped out from between her teeth, and she scrambled to get on behind him. She needed no warm container to feel the heat from the amusement lighting his eyes.
Romeo seemed to read her mind. She needed to remember that.
Unlike the first time riding behind him on the motorcycle, she looked forward to the ride. The air and gliding over the road relaxed her. By the time they arrived at the house, she'd grown comfortable straddling the seat and leaning against his broad back.
"Hop off."
She inhaled deeply and slid off the back of the seat. Putting her hands out, she took the Styrofoam container from him.
"Chicken," he said.
"Huh?"
He pointed to her dinner. "Chicken."
Realizing he talked about the food, she shrugged. "I'm not sure what's inside the container. Burt handed it to me, and I never took the time to find out."
"No, I'm telling you it's fried chicken." He walked up to the door with her. "Burt makes the best fried chicken I've ever had. You'll like it."
Uncomfortable eating take-out in front of the others, if they were home, she planned to hide out in the bedroom until she was due at the diner tomorrow. She stepped inside.
Voices came from the kitchen at the back of the house. Before she could make her escape, Romeo put his hand on her back and led her into the room with the others.
"Sit." He left her at the table.
There were only two chairs vacant, and she took the one nearest her. Brody sat to her right, and Turner sat to her left. Sander and Axel—who she couldn't tell apart—manned the stove and counter.
Romeo brought her a fork. "Eat."
"I was going to go up to—"
"You can't eat in the rooms." Turner leaned back in his chair.
His flannel shirt was open, showing off a broad chest with a spatter of dark hair in the center. Not too much and not too little. She forced herself to look him in the eyes.
Apparently, Romeo hadn't informed her of all the rules. "Okay."
"Don't let him boss you around." Brody grinned, showing a slight gap between his two front teeth that gave his rough appearance a boyish quality. "Romeo forced us to eat at the table growing up."
"It was the only thing keeping them from becoming savages and eating off the floor." Romeo dragged a chair from the corner of the room and planted it beside her. "Dinner is family time if we're home. It doesn't always happen, but I like to get everyone together at the end of the day."
She looked around the table, trying to figure out who was missing. Caleb.
"How do you like working at the diner?" Axel, or maybe it was Sander, carried a pan full of rice to the table and plunked it down in the middle.
"It's an easy job but busy." She downplayed the waitressing and used the fork's prongs to rake the potatoes piled into the corner of the container.
Growing up, she always had meals by herself. She wouldn't even call them meals. Whenever she got hungry, she would find whatever was available in the fridge or cupboard and eat.
Her mom was always out or away. She was lucky if her mom came home before she went to bed each night. By the time she was twelve years old, she had stopped wishing her life was different and started counting the days when she could live on her own.
Six months ago, her mom had taken off. She'd stayed in the rental house by herself until the landlord put the eviction notice on the door. The rent was too much on her wages, working part-time at the Waffle House. Knowing she had to move, she decided to take her whole check and finance her way by hitchhiking across the state.
It wasn't as if she put no thought behind the move. She'd looked online at the cost of living, and it was much cheaper to live on the east side of the state than in Seattle.
"You don't talk much." Brody passed plates around the table.
She shrugged. Life was easier when she kept to herself.
"She's probably hungry," said Sander.
Ah, ha. It was Sander because he had a tattoo peeking over the collar of his T-shirt and she remembered Axel had a bare neck. She wasn't sure what the tattoo was, but she was sure Axel didn't have a tattoo there. Though they both had sleeves on their left arm.
Axel pointed toward her. "Then why isn't she eating?"
"Are you going to eat the chicken?" asked Turner.
"Leave her alone." Romeo dug into the rice dish, piling it high on his plate. "She doesn't need you assholes bothering her."
"Hell, I'll trade you my plate for the chicken. That's the best thing that comes out of the diner." Turner patted his stomach. "Best around Spokane."
She glanced at Romeo. He ignored everyone else. She took her cue from him and broke apart some of the meat from the bone.
Having never had siblings, she failed to understand the dynamics. She was pretty good at knowing when someone teased her or came across as sarcastic. People got used to her being around, even though she never participated in conversations or activities.
But the Muel brothers were a different breed. They attacked from all sides.
They had years of experience living together and coping with each other's personalities. They knew how to speak over each other and be seen.
She'd had twenty-four hours with them. Less than that, because she spent most of the time sleeping and then working away from the house.