Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Eliana:

It had been three or four days since the scary man had come in and gotten his coffee, but I had almost forgotten about him completely until I saw the blonde hair and suit walk back in the door. Like I said, we had plenty of people in professional attire, but rarely were they so young... or attractive. However intimidating he might seem, I had to admit he had a nice build and facial structure. Not like I could talk to anyone about that sort of thing, since my last female friend had been years past and Ezrah would probably just tease me about it. His wife had left him a few years back, before he was even sick, in order to run off with another man, but he hadn't been dating again anyways. Neither of us really had room to chastise the other on our relationship statuses.

The blonde boy did look a little worse for wear than he did before. Still handsome, but with bags under his eyes and a slight sag in his shoulders and gait.

"Good morning," I tried to sound chipper without being annoying, but he just nodded in return. "How are you doing?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug in return, and I offered, "Long day already?"

It was only eight in the morning, but I had some of those days before and I knew how unpleasant they could be. He didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, so I just got to work when he muttered something about five black coffees again.

I liked the idea of brightening people's days when it was possible, but sometimes it was better if you could tell that they weren't in the mood. This seemed to be one of those instances. I didn't know if he was on his way to stressful meeting or if something was wrong, but he obviously needed a pick-me-up.

He paid and I set all of the cups into a carrier for him, but as he was about to leave I called after him, "One second, sir."

He stopped and turned with his eyebrows raised, but I just grabbed something from under the counter and reaching out to him. He saw the wrapping, "I didn't order-"

"On the house," I urged, holding it in my open palm. "I had some mixture left over this morning and I made extra. I hope your day gets better."

He paused, holding it in his hand and staring at it like he was in shock. He obviously wasn't expecting that to be a factor in his day, but it seemed to be not quite enough to make him smile, but enough to make his frown a little less severe and the creases by his eyes to be a little less deep. "Thank you, Eliana."

"Stay warm out there, there's a cold front coming through today!"

He nodded and headed out the door, when he swung it open the windy day came in through the door a little. I loved weather like this, the cold and rain, but mostly when I could be inside, warm and cozy. If I wasn't working so much, I'd be doing homework by my dining room window under a warm blanket with hot chocolate at that moment.

Ezrah came up next to me, "How's it going up here?"

"The same as always. Was that you I heard coughing? If so, you can take register and I'll take the grill-"

"You know I don't violate any health protocols when I'm cooking, and I'm not working the kitchen today, I called in Mike."

"I know you were coughing," I muttered under my breath.

"So what? I'm just recovering from my last cold."

I gave him a disbelieving look, but he only grinned at me with faux innocence. It was always like this between the two of us. Ezrah and I were all that each other had, even though he was old enough to be my father, which he often acted like he was, I had to mother him in order to get him to care for himself as well. We kept each other in check, it was a very symbiotic relationship. "Why don't you go back to the doctor, make sure that it wasn't anything more than a normal cold? You've had it for a few weeks now and it got really severe."