Steamed 3 (Steamed #3) by Nella Tyler Page A

human
Valium. He was the one person that could help me, and be there for me if I
needed him.
    “It's all going to work out Gemma, please don't worry about
it.”

 
    Chapter Two

 
    The next afternoon I headed over to Jared's restaurant to
talk to him. I was sure that if he just heard me out that he would forgive me.
I had no intention of ending things with Link, but there was a possibility that
if he heard how innocently things had started between Link and I that he could
see that I wasn't out to hurt him. Fate had brought Link and I together, I
couldn't help but to have fallen in love with him. I needed Jared to forgive me
but I was afraid he never would. What if he didn't forgive me?
    I walked into the restaurant and headed to the back. Marcus
was prepping for the dinner crowd. A couple of the servers were there taking a
break as well. I waved to them and looked at Marcus.
    “Hey Marcus, where is Jared?”
    “No idea. He didn't come in today.”
    “What? Are you serious? You haven't seen him all day? I
don't think he's ever missed a day of working at his restaurant since it
opened.”
    “Nope, and he's been acting really strange lately; I think
something is wrong with him.”
    Dread filled my heart as I looked over at the servers. They
both nodded their heads in agreement.
    “You guys have seen the same thing?” I asked.
    A blonde girl whom I didn't recognize answered, “Yeah, he's
been pretty weird lately.”
    “How has he been acting?”
    “Well paranoid.”
    “Yup, that's the word for it,” Marcus added, “Paranoid and
quick-tempered, it doesn't take much for him to go off the handle. It's not
like him at all. He acts like he should be suspicious of all of us. Like we're
all going to start taking his stuff and moving on. The servers have taken the
brunt of it, because I don't take any of that shit from him.”
    “My god, what is going on around here?” I couldn't have been
more alarmed by the news and to hear that he has been abusing his staff was so
unlike him that I worried that he was unraveling at the seams. But why? What
was going on with Jared? I needed to find him immediately.
    “I'm going to go to his house and see if I can find him.
Call me if he shows up here.”
    “Will do.”

 
 
    I drove to my brother’s place as quickly as I could. I was
worried sick about him. The behavior that his staff suggested was so unlike
Jared that it scared me. What was going on with him these days that he was
starting to fall apart in all aspects of his life? It couldn't possibly be
about that stupid recipe? Would he really let it get to him this badly? It just
didn't make any sense. It seemed that my brother was unraveling at the seams
and I didn't know why. Even if he believed that Link had stolen from him, why
not just let it go? Instead he was letting it destroy him. He was an incredible
chef and he had created many recipes on his own, he didn't need to worry about
one recipe. He had a successful restaurant and he was throwing it away over a
recipe that Link claimed was his from the beginning.
    When I arrived at Jared's place I saw his car parked out in
front of his house. I still couldn't believe he hadn't shown up for work that
day. He was always working hard for his business because he loved being there.
    I got out of my car and ran to the door. I banged on it
while I called out his name. I waited but I didn't hear a sound in the house.
Was he actually just in there ignoring me? What, were we five all over again?
It annoyed me that he was acting this way instead of just hearing me out. I continued
to bang on the door. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to answer I
decided to take matters into my own hands. I knew where he hid the key for his
back door so I headed to the back yard. Underneath a turtle statue was his
spare key. I went up onto the porch and used it to let myself into his back
door. Once inside I went in search of him.
    I went into the living room where I found him passed out