Deceptions (Evie Cortez Book 1)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I didn’t like to be near Caleb Nikolas for any longer than I had to be. Werewolves and vampires didn’t get along, it was in their nature to hate each other, and while I wasn’t the traditional vampire there was still a great deal of tension between us.

Except lately I didn’t want to be near anyone unless I had to, animosity or not. I worked days and nights during the week as a hostess for one of the Winston family owned restaurants. During my free time I ran packages and messages for Michael at a nice fee. I had desperately wanted to escape the Winston family after my break up with Michael but I had made a life around them and I didn’t want to run anymore. When it got too bad being near the man I still loved I reminded myself it was still better than the alterative.

At the young age of fifteen I ran away from home and something about the Celestin City called out to me in a soft loving whisper of belonging my heart ached for. The month prior to settling in I was drifting from town to town.

After picking Celestin to settle down it wasn’t a week later when I met Michael. I applied for a job at the restaurant; La Amour, and landed it although I had lied about my age. My first night there I saw Michael, he came to see his father who liked to double as a chef in the kitchen.

I remembered I stopped breathing as I watched him walk through the doors. His eyes were so green and light, with his dark brown hair they stood out even during that gloomy night. He hadn’t seen me and I was glad because again I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t until he was gone for a good five minutes my breath returned. Later during closing time his father introduced him to the new girl; me. Being a perfect gentleman Michael smiled and said hello.

After a few months of hello and goodbyes we began to talk and got to know each other as friends would. Soon the desire for more grew and grew but Michael vowed he wouldn’t touch me sexually until I turned eighteen. I was so in love and in lust something like age didn’t matter to me. We argued several times over it and in the end we did things his way and remained chaste,

I always knew what he and the whole Winston family were and I knew about the other supernatural beings in town because I could sense them. Knowing Michael was a vampire and deadly never turned me away, I never cared. He was my first crush, my first mate, my first and last love.

One night we went too far, his limits were pushed to the edge, and he bit and changed me. After that his father felt our relationship should end, Michael agreed and said we never should’ve been together in the first place. It broke my heart and I knew he blamed himself for what happened, the turn and the failure of it never full taking. I understood he’s point of view to a point but in the end I didn’t care. He shattered my heart and the love we shared, and deep down I hated him for it.

For a long time I wanted to pack up and escape the heart break by running to another town. I stopped and thought about the life I made for myself outside the shadows of my past and couldn’t do it. I couldn’t run anymore. 

I kept my jobs with the Winston family and vowed to eventually get Michael out of my heart. Five years later I was still trying to do just that.

It was late into the night or early morning considering how you looked at it. I laid in my bedroom wide awake with the day’s events in my head, they were mostly about Michael and when I couldn’t take it anymore I thought to Jamie and Caleb.

Jamie was making a big mistake if she and Ray were more than friends. I was proof a relationship with a vampire couldn’t work.

Caleb moved into town a few months before I was turned, there was a good chance he knew what happened and wanted me to share with Jamie my own trials and errors. I made up my mind to talk to her after work later today. Jamie would be in town for another two months before getting shipped back home with her mom. That was more than enough time for trouble to arise.

Not in the mood to rush I got out of bed earlier than my usual time. It wasn’t like I could sleep much anyway.

After showering I grabbed my work uniform, the styles varied here and there but the outfit was always a modest black dress. Being hostess you had to look nice and match the other wait staff, the waiters wore black with touches of white. I tied my sun streaked brown hair into a pony tail and added a little make up. The last touch was putting my family pendant back on. I ran from home eleven years ago but I couldn’t leave everything behind. I had vivid memories of being barely three years old and my mom explaining the responsibility I had not to lose it, it was a very important part of our family. 

The restaurant was open about twenty hours a day with a strong crowd during all the major dining points of the day; morning, lunch and dinner. If La Amour was open there were customers.

 I went through the back and locked my bag away in my assigned locker. One of the waitresses, Megan, was there doing the same.

“Hey Evie.” She greeted with a smile. “The doors haven’t reopened yet and there’s already folks waiting. The boss’ food is like a drug.”

Dominic Winston was a mastermind in the kitchen and passed down his recipes to his trusted chefs. Being nearly a thousand years old he knew which foods worked and which ones didn’t. His vast experience brought back old culture to his establishments.

Megan continued to talk as we made our way through the restaurant. “Tonight is going be pretty tense, the boss is having a dinner party on the roof deck and you know how he gets for everything to be perfect.”

That meant a business meeting and there was a good chance it had something to do with the proposal I delivered to Caleb. I knew some of the agreements between the shifters and the undead and delivered my fair messages between the two but it was never discussed out right with me. I knew what I knew because I was nosey and asked around. I kept listening as Meg expressed her worry about working a double shift while the boss was so close. She was a big people pleaser who didn’t like to disappoint and didn’t want to seem too tired for the task.

After a quick goodbye I went to my station. The restaurant had an old French Quarter feel, during the day it was bright and shined lots of sunlight through the large doors, at night it was more candle lit and soft, alluring to the crowd, all kinds of them. The front door lead you down a hallway, at the end sat my podium with a reservation book, phone, and two shelves behind the old dark wood.

The doors opened, some had reserved their favorite tables days ahead and others were walk-ins we could sometimes fit. There was always a good chance to get a seat during the day. At night you needed a reservation because the undead came out to play and they frequented La Amour. We sometimes got other supernaturals who didn’t mind putting aside a grudge and enjoying some good food.

I had a smile in place as I showed the guests to their seats. I had perfected what I called my business smile; forced but well faked. I was filling in a new reservation when I noticed someone was standing in front of me. Not someone, Caleb, I knew it was him before I looked up. “Yes?”

He handed me back the envelope I delivered last night. “You can give this back to Michael.”

I placed the envelope on one of my hidden shelves. “Soon?”

“When you can.” He said before giving a curt nod and leaving. I watched him go; he was much tenser than the other times he visited the restaurant. I had a feeling it was business and it wasn’t going well. When business goes bad with dangerous kinds like Caleb, it was safe to keep your eyes very open.