Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?” I ask with a laugh as I pour their coffees. “Taking pictures? Are you for real?”
“Don’t judge me,” she says as she snaps away. “I’ll send you a copy.”
“Don’t bother,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?!?” Debbie gasps. “No!”
I jump and she makes me spill some of the coffee on my hand.
“What is it?”
She’s staring out the window and my pulse starts to pick up when I turn and see what she’s looking at. There’s a firetruck in the parking lot and two firemen are getting out.
I’ve heard rumors about the five hot firemen of Blackcloud Point, Montana, but I haven’t seen them yet. I’ve only been here for just under a month and they haven’t come into the diner.
“This is so not fair,” she says as she watches them approach. “Blake and Ethan. The one afternoon I take off and there’s a hot guy convention in the diner. This is so typical.”
She’s shaking her head until they walk in and then her grimace turns into a wide smile.
“Hello, boys!” she says with a big welcoming grin.
Their eyes dart right past us to the two men in the back. Their faces tighten and their bodies look tense.
Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity are staring back at them and the diner fills with a charge of something as they stare each other down. The tiny hairs on my arms raise as I watch with uneasiness.
“Grab a seat,” Debbie says. She’s completely oblivious to the tension in the air. “I have a dentist appointment, so I’m leaving, but our new waitress Kimberly is going to take good care of you.”
The older-looking one, who is incredibly gorgeous, breaks the tense eye contact first and smiles tightly at me. “Nice to meet you, Kimberly. I’m Blake. This is Ethan.”
“Hi,” Ethan grunts.
They grab two menus and sit at the booth by the door. I notice that the two pairs of guys keep looking at each other every so often.
“I’ll be with you guys in a second,” I say as I take the coffees over to Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity.
They welcome me with their usual cold sterile blank faces. “Are you guys ready to order? Were you able to make the impossible decision between cold runny eggs and cold soggy pancakes? Which one is it going to be?”
“Eggs,” Mr. Frowny Face says.
“Pancakes,” Mr. Snooty in a Suity adds.
“Great,” I say as I put down the coffees. “And here is your swill.”
Mr. Frowny Face grabs my wrist and my eyes dart over to him.
“Anyone come in here named Aylwin?” he asks as his fierce eyes lock onto mine.
“I’m not sure. Aylwin? Was he dressed like a Lord of the Rings elf?”
They’re not fans of my humor. Can’t blame them there… most people aren’t.
His grip on my wrist tightens and a little whimper escapes from my throat.
“He’s our brother and he’s gone missing,” he says in a low voice that’s not fucking around. “We’d really like to find him. His office building caught on fire a few weeks ago.”
“Oh,” I say as I yank my wrist back. He lets me have it. “Well, those guys are the firemen. Why don’t you ask them?”
Their eery green eyes dart past me and land back on Blake and Ethan.
They both sniff the air, which is really weird because it does not smell good in this diner.
“Bears,” Mr. Snooty in a Suity mumbles.
“Yup,” his brother says.
“Okay,” I say as I slowly back away from the table. “I’ll get your breakfast now.”
I call out the order to the chef and then head over to the firemen. They’re both hot and a lot friendlier than my last table. I can see why Debbie likes them.
“Who are those guys?” Ethan asks after we chit chat for a bit. He nods to the two suits in the back.
“I think they fell out of the Matrix,” I whisper. “They’re looking for some dude. Aylwin, I think? It’s their brother.”
Blake and Ethan look at each other with a tense look, and I can see there’s something going on that’s going right over my head.
“So, do you guys want shitty waffles or an even shittier omelet?”
They look at each other for a long moment and then get up.
“Actually, we’re going to pass on the breakfast,” Blake says as he glances over to the guys in the back of the diner.
“Yeah, we have to get back to the fire station,” Ethan adds. They both look uneasy as they head toward the door.
“I get it,” I say as I watch them with a raised eyebrow. “They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I don’t think that’s fair to cigarettes and beer. They’re pretty important too.”
The bell over the door rings as they leave.
“What happened?” Debbie says as she returns from the back. “Where did they go?”