Poly 141 concept
cw: peeping tom (tom's in this case) mature language
Second part😘
Getting fucked by John Price in his office as the rest of the 141 team stand on the otherside of the door tugging at their dicks as your sweet moans leak out from under the gap in the door.
The desk squeaking across the wooden floor boards with each thrust of John's hips. Papers littering the office floor as a result of John sweeping the desk clean before hoisting you up onto it and spreading your legs.
John knew the guys were on the opposite side of the door as they didn’t keep their infatuation with you very secret. He knew they all seeked you out when you came down to the base, wherever you were, the guys were close behind. All of the ogling at you, practically drooling at the sight of you. So, it’s why John made a point of fucking you on his desk, where he knew everyone would be able to here.
Your moans bounced off the office walls as John plowed deep into you, his dick hitting depths deep inside of you. The guys were going mad on the other side of the door, with Johnny most likely being told off for trying to open the door, his excuse being that he just wanted a peak.
Whilst you continue being fucked silly on John’s desk having no idea that theres a group of guys outside the door desperate to join in, desperate to have their hands all over you body grabbing and pinching, whilst their mouths suck and lick all over you. The boys weren’t sure how you’d react to them joining in, which is why they’ve held themselves back from bargaining in and filling your mouth with someone's cock.
It wouldn’t have been the first time they’ve all had sex with a woman at the same time, but it’s not something John had gotten round to talking to you about, and until then they had a strict rule of no joining in.
But they were desperate, they had been chasing you around base for months now in hopes that something would naturally happen between you and the guys but you were loyal to John and only John. And until their intentions were brought forward by John, they believed it would stay that way. Yet they couldn’t help themselves from cracking the door open the tiniest bit, just so they could get a glance at what they all so desperately craved.
From the small gap they were able to see you spread out on their bosses desk, legs spread, tits free, nipples hard and perky, bouncing with every thrust of their captains hips, and your face had the most fucked out expression plastered on it. Just the sight of you had the guys close to finishing in their pants.
John gives the guys a quick smirk with a cheeky wink before planting his grip on your hips and driving into you, desperate to have you finish so he can fill you to the brim with his cum. His grip is bruise inducing as he bends to suck at your nipples, his tongue tracing the pebbled skin, nipping at it gently with his teeth before moving on to the other one to give it the same attention. John was a generous man, what can I say?
Your legs shake around him as his dick hits deep inside of you over and over again, sending you spiralling closer to your orgasm. Locking your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck you let your head hang back as you wait for your approaching orgasm to hit you. It’s only then that you realise the door had been opened and not only that but there were three sets of eyes staring directly at you.
The realisation that people were watching had you clamping down around John’s cock, your orgasm suddenly seeming much more powerful than before. And as John finished deep inside you, you couldn’t help but stare at the men on the other side of the door. The sight of them watching you as their captain fucked you had unlocked something deep inside of you, something you never knew about.
{A/N: Link to prev ch + mini epilogue to the ch where it goes into another character's POV in that ch hehe } :
Chapter 2: Jobless? More like Job-bless
A/N: Link to prev ch + mini epilogue of the chap (where it goes to another character’s pov aside fr
{A/N: I might make this a regular thing 'cause I love character development}
Link below to the 2nd Chapter :DD
Chapter 2: Jobless? More lik
Preface:
So you meet the sons and the soul crashing reality reveal of what you found yourself in the middle of. You thought that getting a job was hard? This circustry of a shit show was on a whole another level, one for which you refuse to involve yourself in adamantly.
Yet that gets swept under the rug as the chores pile on again and this time with a promise of getting your end of the bargain much earlier than you estimated.
But at what cost?
‘At the cost of my life!’ You internally scream, ‘the whole nine yards of it!’
After that bombshell of a reveal, and you losing another a piece of your soul with it— as they (unanimously forced by Nonno) decided to let that sit and stew with you as you got placed into the same room you woke up in.
“Ridiculous!” You cursed yourself, “what are the chances?!”
You wanted to rip your hair out at this point from how skewed your priorities were at the moment.
The minute you agreed, once again, to a damn proposal by the old man-- you got yourself fucked in the ass!
'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,'
"Shame on me," you mutter, your pace now slowing down as your distress subsides- thinking of better positives like, how losing a job and being out of it is still way worse! At least they were paying... right?
Oh, for fuck's sake- that money isn't even clean!
Although in times of struggle, you think of which weighs more- your hunger and comfort or your morals....
It was an easy pick, priorities were priorities after all- morals weren't gonna feed you on the street, a job was.
And an opportunity provided you with one!
With its own drawbacks of course, which meant that you were now tied to whatever family mafia this bakery started from. Which makes you question if... Nonno is or was... the big boss, the head muchacho, the el capitano, of the family.
"Cara," a knock sounds at the door, "can you let me in?"
'Speak of the devil...'
"Yeah," you gulped and approached the door, "its your shop, you know?"
The man laughs, as soon as your head peaked through the door to open it for him.
Nonno was quite tall for his age even with his back slightly hunched, but he had no need for a cane-- he still looked as lively as the photo on the pin board, just with salt and pepper colored hairs and it growing out at all of his possible orifices.
He looks like that type of old guy that reads the paper outside of coffee shops that open up in the wee hours of the morning. Kind, lowkey, keeps to himself, offering up a pleasant, "good day!" to whoever passes.
Yet, that gets skewed now with how your perception gets tainted with your previous thoughts of him being... that type of person.
"But your room." He simply counters, slowly entering the room and ending up by sitting by your bed, to which he pats his hand on.
Nodding, you approach him and sat where he signaled you to. Hands on your lap with your back as straight as a trained soldier, it was too easy to notice the uneasiness you were feeling. Which was quite the opposite of the vibe Nonno was exuding at the moment.
"So you want to work here?" Nonno asks, starting it off easy, to which you appreciated and replied in kind.
"I do," and you face him, "if you'd let me."
He smiles this time, gently grabbing your hands with one and patting it with the other.
"You're a good kid." He compliments confidently.
You pout, "that's kinda ironic for what I'm signing up to, isn't?"
He shakes his head, the smile never leaving his face, "so you've heard."
"Nonna said so," you shrugged, "I honestly wouldn't have figured that out if she didn't tell me otherwise."
This time he huffs, as if he couldn't believe his wife did such thing, but you think it might be because of a different reason from how that smile contrasts that far away look in his eyes.
"And you still want to work here?"
He asks after some moments of contemplation and you nod.
"And you're fine with us being affiliated with the mafia?"
You take a pause this time, reading into his wording.
"So," you slowly voiced out your concern, "you and Nonna aren't part of the mafia?"
He pats your cheek, shaking his head.
"Our children are. We just raised them, and naturally," he wistfully reminisces, "we couldn't let them go. 'Family is forever-' a creed that similarly works for them as well."
You took a breath in as you try to ingest the explanation you needed to hear, you wanted to hear more but it looked as if that it was taxing for the man to continue on.
So you gave him space, but he pulled you closer by tugging your hands, silently telling to not leave yet and hear him out more.
"People came and went at this bakery but they never left," he says so softly, his thumbs rubbing your clasped hands, trying to find his own means of comfort- whether you provide it or not.
But you did, and let him.
"and they wouldn't let someone like you left hanging by your own as well."
This time you had to raise at brow at his vague wording.
"But," you try to explain, "I just met them? I'm quite literally a stranger you met not even twenty-four hours ago."
You feel him pull you close, your head under his chin and you don't feel the instinctual urge to pull away at the moment.
"They're soft-hearted kids," you could feel his chest rumble, "they only want to help. We want to help."
You were a bit confounded but nodded anyways, not feeling like denying this right now would end well, so you try... to let it pass.
"You raised that bearded guy right then," you let out a chuckle of your own, "said the same exact thing-- even though it was said through Suds."
He pulls you away for a moment to look at you, asking who the hell is 'Suds' and you explained what happened earlier- making him bellow quite similarly to how Graves was earlier.
You smile at the similarity, now seeing how close these children might be to the old couple.
Maybe the reality you were in wasn't so bad. The five men you've met so far have been decent to you, and haven't quite attempted anything that made you consider them dangerous of the sort.
Maybe you can't take their words and actions as it is at the present, but you knew you could with Nonna and Nonno.
You had your own intuition, a personal vibe check of people you meet and you unconsciously do it with everyone; so you were quite sure that, if you had to work here and had to rely on someone-- they would be your best bet every time.
So you let the moment happen, accepting that if life had led you to this moment, it must be for a reason right? You could only that it was a good one at that.
After clearing up that murky air in your room, you offered Nonno your genuine appreciation.
"Though," you added on after a couple of giggles from the story you told him, "you shouldn't feel forced to help me. I'm happy to work the hours and for the meals you and Nonna have given me so far."
He huffs, standing up from your seated positions on the bed.
"To think that you have the audacity to assume that we're being forced to do anything at our age?"
You kinda had to laugh at that statement, it was quite excessive but truthful all the same.
"Just want to let you know that I'll still help around here if you need me to."
You both share a grin and a nod of agreement, understanding the feelings underneath all the words exchanged.
"Then let's put you to work!"
Nevermind.
You wished you hadn't let that moment happen.
Fate simply likes to toy with you and your existence apparently.
Right when you thought you could be on the same page with someone, they slap you with a dose of reality that your list of chores is unending and it needs to be worked on now.
After your chat with Nonno, he asked you to go and pick-up groceries for him.
In which you find yourself trapped between two men, where you could say that they could quite easily and thoughtlessly break you neck with their biceps and thighs alone.
"A'int no way Nonno would let someone pick up his groceries for 'im."
The man, standing intimidatingly hot in front of you, had a deep frown on his face- arms crossed in a wide legged stance that made it impossible for you to escape at any angle you tried to even attempt to wriggle through.
Especially not with his, stern and cute, buddy that held the same position but with a more stone-cold look on his face.
"Look," you sigh, "I don't know who you are but I'm just running errands for him."
You see them share a look, whispers of 'spanish?' you think that you picked up on but drop it when they turn to you again.
"Hard to believe that he would, pendejo."
You gave him an offended look but grunted, arms shaking from the amount of plastic and paper bags you had in your hands.
You find yourself in quite a predicament, all because you mentioned who the groceries were for when you entered a couple shops around the market district of the city.
The list, in of itself, was quite lengthy and all the more of the things you had to carry.
You only regretted now that you rescinded your acceptance of Ghost's assistance in shopping once he dropped you off here.
Maybe he would've warded off these weirdos with his presence alone, or slap a brand right in front of his jacket stating he was part of the mafia-- whichever way that could be easier and less humuliating than the moment where you're in right now.
Arms struggling to juggle the bags, legs shaky from all the walking you had to do, and just simply overly exhausted from the life you stumbled into not even 48 hours in since you had left your own city.
"What else do you want me to say then?" you grumble, wanting to get over with this so you could just catch the next bus already-- which was coming in quite close with a few minutes to spare.
"Proof," the more clean faced guy answers, hand held out as if you were going to something.
You aren't even able to hand them ANYTHING!
Though you were tired, tired of the conversation, and tired of them hustling you so you nodded, saying that the list Nonno wrote himself is in your jacket pocket.
The more scuffed bearded man nods, letting the other check your pocket and grab the paper hanging out of your pocket.
He opens it up and his eyes widen, offering it to the other guy who you noticed had cursed under his breath.
"Believe me now?" you ask sassily, although a bit out of breath at this point and they nod.
"Apologies chiquit@," the second guy apologies, a more welcoming grin on his face, "can't be too safe around this place, you know?" {A/N: spanish for little one}
"Uhuh..." you agree, eyes narrowing. "Can I leave now, then?"
They both shook their heads, which made your mouth open in complaint until they grabbed all the stuff from you- ruffling your feathers even more.
Like you didn't have enough problems in the world-!
"We're gonna get ya' back to the bakery," the second one explains and you let them, quite relieved that they got the stuff from you but you still had your guard up. "you were gonna catch the bus right? We can just bring you there."
You shook your head at that proposal. You- alone with two strangers that literally was one click away from ending your guts just because you knew someone called Nonno?
"I don't even know you people!" You accused, "If you ask me, don't you look strange for knowing Nonno and asking a stranger if they knew who he was?!"
They both looked at each other before cracking up in laughter, making you toss your hands up in frustration, furiously rubbing at your face as the blood started rushing to your cheeks.
"You really don't know huh?"
The less bearded guy asks, wiping an invisible tear from his eyes ad you nastily remarked back a, "i don't fucking know- so what?!" to which makes him cackle again by throwing his head back.
"I'm Alejandro," the other introduces, finally coming down from his own set of his giggles, but you could still see his chest stutter.
He slaps his other friend on the back, making him sputter but eventually introduce himself as "Rodolfo, my boss' right hand man," and he pats Alejandro on his shoulder, making them both grin.
And you stare.
And stare.
And...stare...
"Oh shit!"
You facepalmed.
This was the guy you were going to ask Nonna about in the photo at the pin board. You couldn't believe this guy existed in the flesh--
"You look so different from your picture!" You pointed at Alejandro who slightly tilts his head in confusion, "the one at the pin board at the kitchen!"
He nods and chortles, "well I was quite young then," realizing what photo you were referring to.
Your shoulders drop at this, that photo looked recent from how colorized and clean it was!
"Ah sorry," you apologized, "for my comment and not realizing you were Nonno's sons."
They waved their hands, a more easy-going pace exuding from them as the tenseness from the air dissipates.
"It's all good," Rodolfo reassures, "we we're just alarmed that Nonno allowed someone asides from himself to get his ingredients."
"We weren't even allowed to do it," Alejandro rolls his eyes, "that uptight viejo." {A/N: spanish for old man}
You nod in understanding... well only a bit because you didn't quite relate to that notion but agreed nonetheless.
"So," Alejandro smirks to you, "let's ride?"
Surprisingly, the ride wasn't even half bad, nor getting to know the two and their own mafia called Los Vaqueros.
The ride was quite long from the traffic so that gave you enough time to explain your situation and what you knew to them. You thought that, if they were Nonna and Nonno's sons anyways, you'll eventually meet them down the line while working at their place. You were bound to meet them one way or another, even though first meetings aren't your best first impressions.
By the time you got back, it was nightfall and the time to close up shop. Which meant, you were also clocked out for the day--
"once I get this all sorted, I swear I'll sleep so soundly tonight."
Your grumble made the two laugh.
Alejandro and Rodolfo stayed to help with sorting all the groceries after having a quick chat with Nonno- who you overheard had scolded them and got a TV remote slapped to the you think.
You could only assume from the buttons you could press on Rodolfo's cheeks really.
Either way, you were quite grateful for their help, even when they offered you a ride back to your co-worker's apartment.
You thanked the old couple profusely, and they could only roll their eyes in response, saying that it was not a problem and just go (even though they were the ones tightening their arms around you.)
"You take care kid." Nonno pats your head and bids you farewell kindly.
"Don't forget to come in early tomorrow!" Nonna reminds and bids you farewell not so kindly because of it.
Poking fun at your expression, the two were just so amused by how quickly both you and their parents had become so attached.
"Still can't believe your co-worker would put you in this damn place chiquit@." Rodolfo comments from the hood of the car, as he leans backwards to eye the rundown building that was in front of you three.
You shrugged, pulling closer your purse to look for the keys he gave you with the note.
Right... you couldn't find the note.
Oh, well- you guessed that you lost it in the rain that night.
"Well I had no choice, need a bed to sleep in and a place to call home y'know?"
They both frown at this but made no moves to stop you as you step into the building and ascend the stairs to the apartment.
"Thanks a lot Alejandro, Rodolfo." You smile, giving a little wave while they do the same.
"Just call us if you need anything!" Alejandro shouts and you grin, giving up a thumbs up before leaving their line of sight.
Leaving them to their thoughts.
"This is too suspicious," Rudy mutters, "smells like something is brewing."
Alejandro nods, "and we need to find out just what, amigo."
"That note," Price lifts said paper up and slides onto the middle of the table, "had the logo of a lamb's horn it."
The three men stand in shock, hands slamming on the table.
"Ya' mean..."
"Its him."
"Any other leads?" Gaz asks, now pacing around the room.
"This is the lead," Price points at the paper, "gave up finding the bastard and he willingly shows up." He mutters to himself, hand stroking his beard in thought.
"Boss," Ghost starts, "we need to interrogate her now."
"Oi," Soap counters, "not so fast sir."
"Why not?" Ghost growls.
"'Cause she's a bystander." Price explains, hands both faced down on the table.
"How are you so sure of that?"
"Ghost watch your tone," Gaz warns but backs down with the raised hand of Price.
"Why don't you test her then?" Price turns to Ghost- a knowing grin on his face, "see if you can squeeze out anything for us, hm?"
Ghost nods while Soap protests, but was silenced by both his superiors.
"I'll leave it to you then."
A/N: And that is ch 3 with more to look forwards to in the epilogue! I kinda imagined Alejandro and Rudy to be the more in-tuned characters with the reader, acting as your close friends of sorts while the story progresses so expect to see you interact with them a lot!
Many much extra scenes to discuss on that so the update might take longer for that part <//3 Thank you for reading and giving my work some love hehe
Rose has some issues, but fortunately, Soap is here to help! And Ghost shows up, possibly just to annoy Soap.
Warnings: Swearing, mention of stealing, bad employee, bad work ethic, Rose is Very Tired.
Word count: 2.2k
By Monday morning, Rose was exhausted. It had been a long time since she’d had to work so many days in a row, and she hated it.
Especially since Carmen hadn’t actually called in sick this weekend. Carmen just hadn’t come in. Or responded to texts or calls.
Rose had a feeling she wouldn’t be seeing Carmen again.
The usual Monday morning rush was hard. She was pretty sure her smile wavered a few times, the dark circles under her eyes visible. But nobody complained and she got everyone taken care of just a fraction slower than usual.
It could have been much worse.
She still made herself a coffee, adding some vanilla and hazelnut to it. She needed the pick-me-up today.
“Mornin’, Rose!” Soap sauntered up to the counter, grin in place. He didn’t dim even as his gaze darted across her face, and Rose just knew he was cataloging the circles and the way her hair was fairly limp. “Long night?”
It was an easy out, and for a moment, she was tempted to take it. But he was also the first person to ask all day.
“Not exactly,” she admitted on a sigh. “Carmen’s vanished on me.”
“What?” He straightened a little, looking surprised. Then he hopped over the counter, ignoring her yelp. “No no, hen, you sit. I can handle making tea.”
“You’re really not supposed to be back here.” Rose didn’t move, torn between letting him help and planting her feet.
“Won’t touch anything but the tea, I promise.” Soap lifted the counter, flapping one hand at her.
Rose wavered for a moment and then gave in with a sigh. The lure of the chair was too strong to resist. So she plopped herself in the nearest chair, rubbing her forehead briefly. This was a terrible idea if anybody else walked in, but it just… sounded nice to let someone else do this for her. Just this once.
“Did you work this weekend?” Soap asked as he pulled down two mugs and the tea. He moved without hesitation, and Rose warmed at the realization that he’d definitely watched her go through the motions more than once.
“And last weekend.” Rose groaned softly, squeezing the back of her neck to try and release some tension there.
“Hen, how many days in a row have you worked?” Soap paused in his motions to look at her, concern clear.
Rose had to actually stop and think about that, counting backwards. “Today is 15.”
“Go home.”
“Not a chance.” Rose crossed her arms over her chest, chin tilting stubbornly.
Soap was silent for a minute as he brought the milk over to the table. “At least close up early.”
Rose huffed. “You’re not my boss.”
He sighed and hopped back behind the counter to grab their teas. For a moment, Rose thought she saw him on his phone, but she couldn’t tell what he was doing. “I’m not trying to boss you around, I’m trying to help you.”
Rose eyed him carefully as he set a mug in front of her. “Why?” In her experience, people wanted something in exchange. Well, most people. Family just butted in and did it because they could. (And also because they could hold it over your head for years.)
He held her gaze for long moments, completely still. “Because it’s the right thing to do. ‘Sides, your smiles get me through the day.”
Rose couldn’t see any deception or lies in his expression, so she nodded slowly. “I’ll see how this afternoon goes, see if I can close up early.”
“Thank you.” Soap finally relaxed, sprawling back in his chair and lifting his cup for a sip. “How can I help you today, hen?”
Rose added milk and sugar to her tea to give herself time to think. She was… very bad at asking for help. Had been since she was a kid. Added to the fact that she tried to keep her work separated from her friends, and this became… messy. Not that Soap was a friend, really. He was just one of the nice men that worked upstairs and kept her entertained and provided her lots of eye candy and–
Okay. Nope. Putting a pin in that for now, before she got completely distracted.
“Let me think about it,” she hedged, gaze focused on her tea.
“The rest of my day is free,” Soap told her, leaning forward. Under the table, his foot nudged hers, drawing her gaze up to his gentle smile. “C’mon, hen, put me to work, I can handle it.”
Rose chuffed a sort-of laugh, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t, really.”
“What, you think I can’t handle a few orders?” He rolled his eyes, hands spreading wide in exaggerated offense. “Ex-military, I can listen to orders.” He paused for a moment. “Mostly.”
Rose snorted. “Well that makes one of us.” She sipped her tea, frowning a little. “I can’t pull you away from your actual work, Soap.”
“You can, Price already cleared it. I’m not mission critical today.” Soap shrugged, leaning forward. “If you don’t give me things to do, I’ll start finding things to do.”
That… sounded like a threat. She narrowed her eyes at him, and his grin widened to shit-eating proportions. Definitely a threat. “Fine,” she huffed. “Since you insist. But don’t complain to me if you don’t like it.”
Which is how, twenty minutes later, Rose found herself teaching him how the espresso machine worked and how to use the milk frother. True to his word, he did listen to orders, and he picked it up pretty quickly.
But Rose still kept a close eye on him through the lunch rush. He did better than she expected, honestly, and his energy helped her own.
She was even humming along softly by the time the last person left, leaving the two of them behind the counter.
“Close up early,” Soap suggested, tone a little wheedling even as he bumped his shoulder into hers companionably. “Lemme take you to lunch.”
Rose sighed. “I dunno, I hardly ever close early.” She frowned down at the counter.
“Won’t hurt to close early one day.” He was definitely wheedling, staying in her space, warmth bleeding off into the air between them.
“Took one last week.” But Rose was just pointing it out to be stubborn, and she knew it.
Soap caught her hand, ducking his head to hold her gaze. “You need some time to yourself and a good meal,” he pointed out gently. “You’ll feel better.”
“Do I have to worry about you caveman-carrying me out if I refuse?” She kept her voice dry, though her lips twitched with humor.
“Nah. That’s more LT’s style.” His grin was full of mischief.
“LT?” One eyebrow raised at him as she finished wiping down the counter.
“Ghost.” Soap shrugged, looking a little abashed. “Old habits.”
“If I ask, are you allowed to tell me how you all know each other?” Rose stepped around him to clean the espresso machine.
“We all worked together.”
Rose nodded, accepting that. “And now you still work together, just in a different way.”
“More or less.” Soap shrugged, going to do the few dishes that had accumulated.
Rose sighed. “Let me count out the till and we can go.”
They got as far as the front door before Ghost joined them. Rose could have sworn there was nobody else on that floor, but she turned around from locking up and jumped at least a foot, because he was right there.
“LT,” Soap greeted cheerfully enough, though he eyed the other man in a way that Rose hadn’t seen before.
“Leaving already?” Ghost sounded faintly amused.
“Going for some grub.”
“Good plan.” Ghost waited until Rose started walking to fall into step next to her. Perplexed, she looked at Soap, who huffed but apparently decided not to argue.
“Any thoughts, hen?” Soap held the building door open for her.
“For lunch?” Rose hesitated. There was a really good deli not far, but it was very much a Jewish deli. That could be a good soft test, actually, to see if they said anything. Plenty of people didn’t care, especially not in this day and age, but… She’d seen vitriol before and she had no desire to see it again. “Actually, there’s a really good place not far from here…”
“Lead the way, then.” Soap winked at her. “You’re still in charge.”
“I doubt that,” Rose muttered, more to herself than anything. “Come on, then.”
The walk wasn’t too long, and they’d missed the lunch rush so were able to be seated immediately. Rose let Ghost take the spot with better lines of sight, and was somehow completely unsurprised when Soap nudged her into the booth between the two men.
“Nice place,” Soap commented, looking around with interest. It was decorated with celebrity photos and neighborhood photos, newspaper clippings from past community events, community awards, and pictures of the owner’s extensive family.
“They’ve got great kreplach here.”
“Kreplach?” Soap nearly stumbled over the unfamiliar word.
Rose paused, glancing between the two. “Please don’t tell me you’ve never been to a Jewish deli before.”
“Oh, been plenty of times,” Soap assured her, and her shoulders relaxed. “Matzo ball soup is my go-to.”
“Good man,” Rose agreed immediately. “Kreplach is a type of dumpling, it’s pretty good. They use the same base for the kreplach soup as they do the matzo ball soup here. Hmm, what else… The latkes are huge and tasty. Anything with the brisket is good, although they lean towards the barbeque end of the brisket, which is fine.”
Soap laughed quietly. “Been here once or twice then, aye?”
Rose blushed, ducking her head. “A few times,” she agreed. “It’s a favorite place of mine.”
Ghost pressed his knee to hers under the table in silent support.
The waitress stopped by to get their drink orders before whisking away again.
“It all looks good,” Soap grumbled. “I can’t decide.”
Rose laughed. “Yeah, I know the feeling. It’s all good.” She nudged Ghost. “You know what you want?”
He shook his head slightly. “Not hungry.”
She eyed him for a moment but nodded and let it go. “Soap? You know yet?”
He made a pained face but nodded, causing Rose to slap a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles.
“Honestly, it’s not like you can never come back here,” she pointed out, still grinning.
He just pouted, sending her into a fresh fit of giggles.
But they ordered without fuss when the waitress came back, and then Rose leaned back into the booth with a little sigh. She already felt better just being away from the shop. The long days were hard.
“You could stay closed tomorrow.” Ghost offered the solution neutrally, without judgment.
“No, weekdays are better for me than weekends.” She sighed, long and slow. “Just need to find someone to replace Carmen.” She paused. “And decide if I want to trust them with the cash or not.”
“What do you mean?” Soap sat up a little straighter.
“I didn’t mention earlier?” Rose drummed her fingers on the tabletop, looking away from the two men. “She took off with a few hundred dollars, looks like.”
Soap blew out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your doing.” Rose waved him off. “Just have to decide what I want to do going forward.”
Soap and Ghost exchanged looks over her head, having an entire conversation in facial expressions and subtle hand motions.
“That sounds like a tomorrow problem,” Soap decided, nudging her side with two fingers. “You still owe me knitting demonstration, hen.”
She barked out a laugh. “Seriously? You and Gaz, I swear. I don’t understand why you’re so curious.”
Soap shrugged. “Never had a chance to watch anybody making something.”
Rose rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Well, since you’re that curious, I’ll bring some in this week for sure. You’ll get bored within the first few minutes, guaranteed.”
“We’ll see about that.” Soap grinned at the challenge.
Their late lunch passed easily. Soap was easy to talk to, and Ghost was surprisingly good company, even if he didn’t talk much. Rose felt more relaxed by the time they left.
At least until she saw the rain pounding the pavement outside.
“Hell.” She pouted at the rain and then up at the sky, shuffling outside and to the edge of the awning.
“We could get a cab?”
“That will take at least twice as long as walking will.” Rose shook her head, pulling her hood up. “I’m just gonna walk it.”
“We can walk you home,” Soap was quick to offer.
Rose smiled up at him, reaching over to pat his arm. “You’re sweet, but no thanks. I’m good. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She tucked her purse under her jacket and then took off at a brisk walk, head ducked against the rain.
