﻿Glab Rmid Amab
by Pan



Genre: Mind Control
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29 16:49:00
Updated: 2019-12-18 22:17:27
Packaged: 2020-03-25 15:46:53
Rating: Some Sex
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,472
Publisher: storiesonline.net
Story URL: https://storiesonline.net/s/21374
Author URL: https://storiesonline.net/a/pan
Summary: Carlotta and her workmates keep finding strange messages in pasta.





TABLE OF CONTENTS


Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9



	Chapter 1

Every day, Carlotta Castellano got up at three-thirty in the morning. Sometimes she’d wake up slightly before the alarm and just lay in bed, a huge smile on her face, tingling with anticipation for the day ahead. Sometimes the soft chimes of her phone’s default alarm ringtone would wake her, and she’d stumble out of bed, only really being aware of what she was doing once the warm water of the shower softly met her skin.

When she’d accepted the job, she’d been worried that the hours would start to wear her down. But even now, eight months in, she enjoyed being the only one riding through the quiet streets of Gilliestone of the morning.

In a few hours, the roads would be throbbing with cars - some of them on their way to her cafe, starting their morning with a pastry that she’d just baked. But for now, the streets were hers, and she hummed a little tune as she rode.

Arriving at work, Carlotta unlocked the door, and began prepping the kitchen for the day ahead. Her second-in-command would be along shortly, but for now it was just her. As she prepared for deliveries, the young woman mentally started preparing the day’s menu. It was a Wednesday, which meant that people would be expecting the special to be a pasta dish. Last week had been ravioli, and the week before had been a baked ziti.

Glancing at the list of expected deliveries, she burst out laughing. She couldn’t. Could she? No, she ... Oh, but she knew that she had to.

The cafe offered a children’s menu; chicken nuggets, mini-burgers, a tiny cheese pizza.

And a tiny dish of alphabet pasta with red sauce.

Carlotta’s eyes danced with mischief as she started mentally preparing the recipe. The owner, Paul, wouldn’t mind - he might even find it as amusing as she did.

Yes, Carlotta decided. Today, the Wednesday special would be Alphabetti Spaghetti, served with chicken and red wine sauce.

* * *

“Here,” Carlotta said, flashing a grin at the waitress. “Let me help you with that.”

It was three pm, and the last of the lunch customers were walking out the door. So was Carlotta - her shift had passed in a blur of barking orders, cooking, and then starting to organize the clean-up. Her standard half-hour break for lunch had been squeezed into less than fifteen minutes when she’d realized that they’d been sent pork instead of lamb, and she’d have to re-do the sandwich menu on the fly.

Everything had resolved itself in time for the lunch rush, and Carlotta had been delighted when almost two dozen orders for the alphabet pasta had come in. The cafe’s customers must have enjoyed the idea as much as she had. Even Paul had popped his head in and asked for a bowl, a twinkle in his eye as he had.

Finally, the day was done, and Carlotta was ready to go home, cook herself a simple meal, and have an early night. Getting up at three-thirty in the morning can kill your night-life, but the young chef wouldn’t trade it for anything. Only twenty-three, and already designing the menu of a trendy cafe in a trendy area of Gilliestone; she loved the work, and appreciated the opportunity too much to even consider coming in with a hangover.

On the way out, she’d seen Matilda (the cafe’s sole waitress) struggling to get all the tables cleared, her enormous red mane threatening to burst out of the tiny green hair-tie she’d used to constrain it.

Although they’d never really spent much time together, Carlotta had always liked Matilda, and so although she really wanted to get off her feet, she’d been unable to resist offering the younger girl a hand.

“Thanks,” Matilda had replied, so flushed that her face almost matched the shade of her long pony-tail. She’d rushed back into the kitchen, leaving Carlotta to stack bowls in preparation for the waitress’s next trip.

That’s when she’d noticed it.

Someone had left some of their alphabet pasta in the bowl. This wasn’t unusual in itself, but what caught the young chef’s eye was the way that it had been carefully arranged.

“Glab rmid amab,” Carlotta read aloud. What an odd message to leave with one’s pasta - if it hadn’t been for the exact spacing and perfect line that the letters had been left in, she would have chalked it up to an accident.

She wondered if it was in another language. “Glab rmid amab,” she murmured to herself again. It didn’t sound like any language she’d ever encountered before ... but, of course, Carlotta had spent the last few years working on her career. She’d had no time for travel.

“Glab rmid amab,” she repeated, trying to commit the words to memory so that she could look them up later, maybe see what they meant. Perhaps it was a message of hope, or luck.

Her head suddenly began to swim, and she realized that it really had been a long day on her feet. As Matilda returned from the kitchen, Carlotta stacked the rest of her pile of dishes on top of the pasta bowl with the strange message. Matilda gave her a weary nod of thanks, and Carlotta smiled back.

She was going to have to spend more time with Matilda. But not tonight - tonight, she impulsively decided, she was going to go out. Dating, like travel, had fallen onto the list of activities that were not as important as advancing her career, and Carlotta couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a proper date.

Tonight, she was going to go out - not too late, of course - to a bar, and meet some nice men. Suddenly, she was in the mood.


	Chapter 2

Kvuilmj gambsk gw yo Vmgeuwb kqvvweguek, zlgawqg zawy galk kgweo zwqjx butue amtu puub zelggub.

* * *

It was three forty-five before Carlotta Castellano got out of bed. Her head was throbbing, her mouth was dry, and she wasn’t alone.

Carlotta loved her job. No, more than that - her job was her life. It was always on her mind, whether she was at the store, vegging out in front of the TV, even on a date: her job was always there, tucked away in the corner of her brain.

Except last night.

For some reason, last night she hadn’t thought about work at all. She’d done something that she couldn’t remember doing since she was a teenager - she’d followed a whim. She hadn’t thought about the fact that she had work in the morning, she hadn’t thought about the consequences of going out drinking, and she certainly hadn’t been thinking about work when she’d picked up a stranger and brought him back to her place.

Weirdest of all, she didn’t regret it. In fact, as she slipped out of bed and got dressed (no time for a shower) she peeked over at the man laying in her bed, and wished that she had time to go down on him again.

She didn’t even know his name. After her fifth shot, Carlotta had pulled him into the bathroom at the bar, unzipped his pants, and slowly, lovingly gone down on him until he’d cum in her mouth.

Then she’d invited him back to her place, and gone down on him twice more.

He’d been a bit disappointed when she hadn’t wanted to fuck him, but for whatever reason she wasn’t in the mood. Perhaps this was another callback to her teenage days - in her youth, Carlotta had been ... not exactly “scared” of sex, but unwilling to take that step into adulthood.

And so while she’d been far from a saint as a teenage girl, Carlotta hadn’t actually lost her virginity until she was twenty-one. She’d spent the first half-decade of her sexually active years giving head ... and as a result, she’d gotten spectacularly good at it.

As Carlotta road through the streets, her smile never disappeared. She’d left a note for the man in her house - she’d peeked in his wallet to learn his name, having not actually bothered learning it the previous night.

Along with the instructions on how to lock up behind himself, she’d included her number and an offer to call any time. She didn’t know if he would - Carlotta suspected that men weren’t particularly interested in turning random bar hookups into recurring encounters - but she could only hope.

Arriving at work, Carlotta dove straight into it. The morning passed in a blur - just as she’d not spent any time the previous night thinking about work, she spent the entire first half of her shift that day with her mind firmly on the job.

It wasn’t until her number two came in that her focus was suddenly lost. His name was Jason - they’d been working together for the past six months without issue, but the moment he entered the small kitchen, Carlotta was unable to concentrate.

Instead, she found herself watching him out of the corner of her eye. He was almost half a decade older than her - a lot of men his age would have taken issue with being ordered around by someone younger and less experienced than themselves, but Jason had always respected Carlotta’s position, and their working relationship had always been great as a result.

From the moment he started his shift, Carlotta’s mind kept kept wandering.

Specifically, she kept thinking about his cock.

“Come on girl,” she muttered to herself. “One night of fun and now you’re sex-crazed?”

“What was that, boss?” he asked from the other side of the kitchen, and she shook her head in exasperation.

“Nothing, Jace,” she replied, and was horrified when her eyes flicked down to his pants.

She blushed a furious red and tried to focus on her work for the rest of the shift. But it was like trying not to think of pink elephants - in constantly chiding herself for thinking about her workmate’s dick, his dick was firmly implanted in her mind for the rest of the shift.

On her way out, as a silent apology for her odd behavior, Carlotta decided to clean some dishes for Jason.

“What’s this?” she said, as she reached the bottom of the pile.

“Yesterday’s special,” Jason said, leaning over her shoulder to see what she was pointing at. She wondered if he was as aware as she was that his dick was just inches from her body.

She wondered if it was hard. She wondered if she could make it hard.

She wondered what it would taste like.

“Alphabetti spaghetti?” Carlotta asked, shaking herself out of the dirty thoughts that refused to leave her head.

“Yeah, someone ordered it again.”

“Weird.”

“You’re telling me.”

“No, I mean ... check that out.”

Fourteen pieces of spaghetti had been laid out in a perfectly straight line, evenly spaced.

They read “Yhcsobh sp h khkf.”

Carlotta’s head swam slightly, and as she staggered back she realized that Jason had done the same thing. She grabbed onto him for support, and to her delight, he did the same.

“Are you okay?” she said softly, picturing his body leaning forward, his mouth pressing against hers, his pants coming undone and revealing his thick, hard cock... 

“Yeah,” he frowned, and Carlotta realized that she was practically panting with lust.

God, what had gotten into her? She’d spent so long building up a professional relationship between them, she’d worked so hard to get where she was. Now she was seriously thinking of throwing it all away, for what?

So she could get his cock into her mouth for a few minutes.

“I gotta go,” she gasped, and as she grabbed her jacket and bike helmet, Carlotta realized that she needed to get whatever was happening to her out of her system.

Maybe she’d see if Matilda wanted to hit the town with her that night.


	Chapter 3

Carlotta was proud of herself.

Remembering how hard it had been to get out of bed the previous morning, she’d had a relatively early night. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), Matilda had a date that night, and so Carlotta had gone out alone.

Unlike the previous night, she hadn’t had anything to drink. Instead, she’d treated it as a mission.

The goal: to get all this built-up sexual frustration out of her system.

The first bar she’d gone to had been mostly empty, and so Carlotta had sat and chatted to the bartender. He was short, a little bit dumpy - basically the exact opposite of her type.

But she’d reminded herself that tonight wasn’t about finding true love, and so she’d turned up the charm - the young chef had giggled at all his jokes, batted her eyelids, and after enough time had passed that she didn’t feel like a slut for doing so, asked him to join her out the back for a cigarette.

Carlotta didn’t smoke.

The moment they were outside, she’d pressed her body against his, enjoying the feeling of his hands roaming around her body, the taste and texture of his tongue slipping into her mouth. And then, while he was still reeling from the kiss, she’d slipped to her knees, unbuttoned his pants, and less than five minutes later was joyfully swallowing his seed.

Carlotta had let him get back to his job and moved onto the next bar.

Gilliestone was a trendy area of town, and so there were several bars and clubs in a row. At eleven o’clock, Carlotta had called it a night, going home to sleep soundly after sucking more than a dozen different cocks.

If that didn’t get it out of her system, she knew nothing would.

At work the next day, Jason had kept a safe distance from his boss, and Carlotta had done the same. The strange attraction to her second-in-command was still there, but it wasn’t quite as urgent as it had been the previous day.

She got the impression that he was as embarrassed by their interaction as she’d been, and it occurred to her that he valued their working relationship as much as she did. It was important to maintain it.

Tempting though it was to constantly revisit the image of herself on her knees in front of him.

The shift passed uneventfully, except for the flurry of red hair as Matilda came into the kitchen with a question. Carlotta looked up, excited to chat to the cafe’s resident hottie, but before she could ask what was happening, Jason stepped in.

“What’s wrong, love?” he asked, turning on the charm, and a few minutes later Matilda flounced out again, the issue solved.

“What’d Matilda want?”

“Just checking that we were still doing the alphabet spaghetti.”

“For real?”

For the first time that day, Carlotta was distracted by something other than how hot her coworkers were. It had just been a light-hearted joke, but if it was proving that popular, maybe it was worth adding to the menu permanently. Carlotta made a mental note to suggest it to Paul the next time she saw him.

“I’m gonna ... make sure Matilda is okay,” she muttered. Jason shot her an odd look, but didn’t say anything.

* * *

“Hey!”

“Oh, hey!”

Matilda shot the chef a grateful grin, and without even thinking about it, Carlotta began helping gather plates.

“Aren’t you on for another couple of hours?”

“Oh, yeah. I just wanted to see you...”

Carlotta trailed off. Why had she said that? Why was she blushing, and why was her heart racing? She was just talking to a co-worker ... it wasn’t even like Jason, where she kept wondering what he’d look like while having his cock sucked.

Matilda was just ... well, gorgeous.

“Okay?”

The red-headed beauty was looking at Carlotta strangely, and she realized that she was standing in the middle of her cafe, gawking at the waitress.

“I mean, uh, after last night.”

“What happened last night?”

“I mean, after we didn’t get a chance to talk last night.”

What the hell was wrong with her? Last night she’d managed to seduce fourteen men without getting tongue-tied once. Now, just a few minutes of chatting to Matilda and she had practically forgotten her own name.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Nothing! Just wanted to, uh...”

Again, Carlotta was lost for words. This time, Matilda took pity on her.

“We should hang out soon, yeah?”

“Yeah! How about tomorrow night?”

“I’ve got an exam. The night after?”

“Yes!”

In truth, Carlotta had no idea what she had on that night, but she would have skipped her own birthday party to spend some time with Matilda.

“I’ll see you then, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Carlotta started heading back to the kitchen. She might be obsessing over Jason’s meaty cock, but at least she could talk to him without embarrassing herself. She couldn’t resist one last peek at Matilda’s long, auburn hair, and was surprised to see a puzzled look on the young beauty’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

Matilda just pointed at the mostly-finished bowl of spaghetti. Nineteen letters had been deliberately placed around the rim of the bowl:

“Xkzqq re pwsz pza bwkx.”

The two girls stared at it, and the room swam for a few minutes, until Carlotta forced herself to snap out of it.

“That’s so weird,” she muttered, and when she turned to face Matilda, was once again almost overwhelmed by her friend’s good looks. She pressed on.

“I saw a message like that, uh, tomorrow. Yesterday. And the day before. Isn’t that weird?”

“Yeah...” Matilda said, her voice slightly shaky.

“Anyway!” Carlotta yelped, far too loudly, “I’ll see you tomorrow. The next day! I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”

“You’ll probably see me tomorrow, as well,” Matilda smiled, and Carlotta laughed until she once more felt light-headed.


	Chapter 4

As she cycled to work the next morning, Carlotta cursed her choices of the previous night.

She’d been so calm at work all day - except for when talking to Matilda, of course - that she’d thought her hormones must have calmed down again, and so she’d decided to do something else she basically never did.

She’d decided to go shopping.

A first-year head chef in a small Gilliestone cafe doesn’t make a **lot** of money, but Carlotta had always been sensible with her spending, and so she had a reasonable amount of money tucked away for a rainy day.

Now, she barely had enough for a short sun shower.

It had been well worth it, she’d decided. She had bought what was basically a whole new wardrobe - her old clothes had a certain look to them. Cute, frilly outfits - pastel sundresses and polkadot skirts.

Time for a new look.

Lately she’d been feeling so much more ... adult. Sexual. It was starting to affect her professional life, and so obviously the best way to nip it in the bud was to express it in safe ways.

She couldn’t suck Jason’s cock in the middle of a shift. She couldn’t spend every break they shared on her knees, lovingly taking his member into his mouth, looking up at him with lust as his eyes fluttered with pleasure.

As hot as it would be, Carlotta couldn’t slowly slide his thickness past her lips, swirling her tongue around his head, enjoying the sensation of a man using her mouth for his pleasure, both of them getting off at the total decimation of their working relationship, the reversal of power... 

No. No, that would be inappropriate.

But what she **could** do was the next best thing - she could show a little more skin, dress a little more scandalously. She couldn’t suggest that he let her gag on his cock until there were tears in her eyes ... not in words, anyway.

Instead, she could wear an outfit that screamed all of the above, while still being totally appropriate for a workplace environment.

After all, she’d have an apron over it. How could anyone be offended if she was wearing an apron?

A few hours into her shift, Carlotta was beginning to regret some of her fashion choices. The four-inch heels had seemed so sexy and alluring on the shelf, but kitchen floors often got slippery, and a few times now she’d only just managed to stop herself from falling over while carrying a tray of ingredients.

And while the sleeveless T-shirt (with no bra underneath) did an amazing job of showing off her tits and hard nipples, she was starting to remember why chefs typically wore sleeves - four times now she’d had to run an arm under cold water after being hit by a splatter of grease.

Fortunately, the apron was long enough that her short shorts weren’t causing an issue. She couldn’t wait until Jason - or Matilda - came in, and saw her endlessly long legs mincing around the kitchen, perfectly accentuated by the heels.

As soon as Jason entered, however, all of her regrets disappeared. His eyes boggled at the sight of her, and she was secretly thrilled when she noticed that he wasn’t able to take his eyes off her.

She seized every opportunity she could to bend down in front of him, or stretch and show off her assets as best she could. And at the end of the day, when her shift was complete, she took off her apron and spent almost a full hour flirting with him.

It was clear that his eyes were struggling to look anywhere but her tits, and as they chatted, she moved closer and closer to him, casually touching his arm as he cooked, running one hand up and down his back, enjoying the way he was getting more and more orders wrong as their discussion became increasingly sexual.

Finally, Jason sent out the final lunch order of the day, and Carlotta made her move. In that moment, she forgot that the point of her slutty outfit had been to make her **less** likely to sacrifice their professional relationship, she forgot that she wanted to continue working with Jason for years to come, she forgot that what she was doing could make her lose her job entirely.

All she cared about was Jason’s lust for her, the erection that she’d caused in his pants, and how amazing it would feel to wrap her wet lips around it and bring him to pleasure... 

Reaching under his chef’s cap, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head down until his lips were touching his. She squealed with delight as his huge hands roughly cupped her ass-cheeks, and his tongue entered her mouth.

And then she squealed again, this time in shock, as he pulled back.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped.

“What?” she said, stunned.

“I ... I can’t...”

“Why not?”

“Tonight, I...”

Carlotta gaped at him as he struggled for words, his eyes still glazed over with lust.

“I ... I have a date with Matilda.”

The young woman’s eyes widened, and she stumbled back.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “I ... I should have known.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated back to her.

Her vision blurred with tears, and before she knew what she was doing, she stumbled into the cafe. Almost all the customers were gone, and Matilda was cleaning up the last few plates. Her thick red hair was down for once, and she was wearing a short pleated skirt and a white blouse that exposed her entire midriff. The end of her long hair rested on her plentiful cleavage, and she gasped with shock as the scantily-clad chef embraced her.

“I’m sorry,” Carlotta sobbed into Matilda’s shoulder. “I didn’t know!”

“Didn’t know what?” Matilda replied, baffled, and when Carlotta went totally silent, the redheaded waitress turned to see what her colleague was suddenly so transfixed by.

On the table behind the spot that Carlotta had unexpectedly tackled the waitress was a bowl of alphabet spaghetti, with letters carefully arranged to spell out a message.

“Kjrt vjsk ae ujt wilpertl.”


	Chapter 5

Carlotta woke up with a soft sigh of pleasure. She’d gone out again the previous night, but instead of running a train on the local clubs, she’d found the first guy who seemed interested and brought him home.

It hadn’t been difficult to convince him. She was wearing one of her new outfits; a short, purple dress which exposed one shoulder, her midriff, and most of her legs. If she hadn’t been constantly tugging at the hem, it would also have exposed the fact that she wasn’t wearing panties.

After a few seconds of chatting, she’d moved his hands to her body. After that, he’d agreed to everything she suggested - coming home with her, letting her suck his cock, allowing her to ride him until the early hours of the morning... 

She’d only managed half an hour of sleep, but she wasn’t bothered. What she’d been doing last night - that was what she was built for. Carlotta loved her job, but something about the stranger’s eyes feasting on her body as she brought both of them to orgasm after orgasm... 

It was more satisfying than anything she’d ever accomplished professionally. It felt so **right**.

Even now, she was tempted to go down on him before she left - the one thing that she’d foolishly failed to do the previous night - but it was a big brunch day, and she didn’t want to be late.

Before she left, she used the stranger’s phone to take a few candid shots of her naked body - and one of her work outfit, a short denim skirt and a sleeveless, strapless white top. She took one smiling selfie, and then an up-skirt photo.

Carlotta hoped her mystery lover would continue to enjoy her body, even when she wasn’t there.

It wasn’t until the sun had risen before Carlotta noticed the tiredness starting to hit her. Even coffee has its limits, and it had been almost a week since she’d had a full night’s sleep - she’d have to go home and nap before her “girl’s night out” with Matilda.

Just the thought of getting to spend some more time with the babe-ilicious waitress was enough to perk Carlotta up for a few more hours. She didn’t know exactly what they were going to do out together, but she definitely had a wish-list.

The next day was Monday, too, so they could stay out **all night** without issue... 

Jason stumbled through the door almost fifteen minutes late, bleary-eyed and obviously just as sleep-deprived as his boss. Any other week, Carlotta would have given him a severe tongue-lashing ... but after her last few nights, what kind of a hypocrite would that make her?

Besides, she was fairly sure she knew why he hadn’t slept. Last night had been his date with Matilda - Jason was a hot-blooded male, and Matilda was all woman. Who could blame him for not wanting to waste his time with the gorgeous waitress with paltry matters like sleeping?

And so instead of scolding him for his tardiness and obvious exhaustion, Carlotta decided to cut her sole subordinate some slack. She greeted him with a huge smile, offered to make him a cup of coffee, and threw in a wink for good measure.

Despite fighting off exhaustion herself, Carlotta found herself throwing Jason a bone and taking on the day’s most challenging tasks herself. She left him in charge of dishes, some basic prep, and - of course - checking in with Matilda to make sure that everything was going well on the floor.

She felt like it was the least she could do. It certainly wasn’t what she most **wanted** to do - kneel in front of him, free his cock from his trousers, and suck a load or two out of his meaty snake... 

Alas, Carlotta reasoned, Matilda had probably taken care of that - and more - the night before. Still, if he’d even thrown a hint of interest her way, she would have stripped down within seconds and let him take her anywhere he pleased: the food prep bench, the pantry, against the door where the customers could see... 

Halfway through the shift, another order came in for the Alphabetti Spaghetti. Carlotta had meant to ask Matilda who kept ordering it; whether it was the same person each day, or if a few different customers were enjoying the novelty dish. Her hectic day meant that her question had to go unanswered once more, however - she barely had enough energy to juggle her duties and most of Jason’s, let alone inquire about customer tastes.

By the time her shift was complete, Jason was looking much better - she’d let him take a quick nap on a bag of flour in the pantry - and after he assured her that he’d be able to take care of the rest of the day’s work, she slipped into the main cafe to say hi to Matilda.

At the sight of the red-headed beauty, Carlotta again lost all words. She just stood there for a few minutes, staring happily as the waitress flitted between tables. Matilda was wearing a black halter top and a skirt shorter than Carlotta’s. It was obvious that she wasn’t wearing a bra, but even after ten minutes of staring, Carlotta couldn’t figure out whether or not she was wearing underwear.

“Hi!” she said brightly, after finally noticing Carlotta’s attention from the corner of the room. Up close, Carlotta could see that she had likely gone without much sleep as well - she was wearing some thick makeup to mask the bags under her eyes, and she swayed slightly as she spoke.

It didn’t stop her from looking absolutely stunning.

“Hi,” Carlotta replied, wishing desperately that she didn’t lose all language as soon as Matilda started talking to her.

“We still on for tonight?”

“Yup!”

“Great! I finish here in about an hour - want to go back to mine from here and get ready?”

“Uh huh.”

“Great! Oh, and hey - can you take this into the kitchen for me?”

“Uh huh!”

“Awesome,” Matilda said, and shot Carlotta a smile that made her swoon.

When Carlotta returned to the kitchen, Jason was staring into space, a stunned look on his face.

“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

“Of course!” he replied, seeming to snap out of it. He was holding the mostly-empty bowl of alphabet spaghetti that had been served earlier that day, but before she could take a closer looked, he filled the bowl with water.

“What did it say?” Carlotta asked, suddenly intensely curious.

“It was just nonsense,” he replied.

“Yeah, but ... what did it say?”

“Ay ehky theforon,” Jason murmured, a thoughtful look on his face. “Ay ehky theforon.”


	Chapter 6

Carlotta woke up with a smile, minutes before her alarm was due to start blaring.

She’d had **such** a wonderful day off.

As planned, she’d gone home to nap. The young chef had been so full of nervous energy, however, that she couldn’t even get a wink of sleep - instead, she’d resorted to laying on her bed, trembling with excitement.

Matilda.

She was going to get to spend the night with **Matilda**.

Carlotta didn’t doze, not even for a moment. Instead, she lay in bed, thinking of the young waitress, wishing she knew more about her. When did she start working for the cafe? How long had they been in each other’s life?

Had she ever mentioned having a girlfriend?

When Carlotta’s alarm went off, she was already up, rifling through her wardrobe, trying to find the perfect outfit. An outfit that said “Yes, of course I want to fuck you” but also “of course, if you’re not into that, this is just a hangout with friends.”

It was a thin line, but finally Carlotta felt like she’d found the perfect item of clothing. A red sundress, with a strap over each shoulder. No bra, no panties, but the material was thick enough that her nipples wouldn’t be clearly visible.

She just hoped Matilda would like it.

Carlotta arrived at the bar more than twenty minutes early. As she sat there, sipping at her water, several men recognized her from her escapades from the previous few nights. With great reluctance, Carlotta turned down their advances - tonight, she was here for Matilda. Gorgeous, stunning, incredibly sexy Matilda.

Just as friends. If that was what Matilda wanted.

With a shiver of pleasure, Carlotta realized she’d do most anything Matilda wanted.

Five minutes after their scheduled meeting time, Matilda walked in, and Carlotta’s jaw dropped at the sight of the redheaded waitress waltzing through the door.

Her dress looked like it was made of a few pieces of loose cloth, casually draped over her perfect body. With every step, the cloth shifted and flowed, threatening to expose more hidden freckles than Carlotta had ever dreamed of seeing.

Matilda’s face lit up with a bright smile at the sight of the nervous chef, and greeted her with a hug.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, but Carlotta couldn’t find the words for a coherent response. “Were you waiting long?”

When she didn’t get a response, she continued.

“Anyway, to make up for it - first round is on me. You like bloody marys, yeah?”

The last time Carlotta had ordered a bloody mary, she’d thrown it out after two sips, but she was horrified to find herself nodding dumbly in response, and worse - gulping the horrid concoction down when it arrived.

The alcohol served to loosen her tongue, and soon she and her waitress friend were giggling as they swapped horror stories about the service industry, and Carlotta found herself ordering another round of the tomato-based beverage.

“So,” Matilda said pointedly as Carlotta sipped at the drink, trying to stop her nose from screwing up from the taste. “Are you single?”

“Well...”

Before she could work out how to describe her past week, Matilda had already continued, a pointed look on her face.

“You can’t be serious,” she said firmly. “With a body like yours? You could have any man here!”

Carlotta’s cheeks burned at the compliment, and her entire body froze as Matilda’s hand landed on her knee. The redhead didn’t seem to notice as she pointed to a man sitting alone at the end of the bar.

“Him,” she said decisively.

“Hmm?”

“You could have any man here. I’ve decided you’re going to have him.”

“I’m ... I’m going to...”

“Right now,” Matilda said, and although her freckle-covered face was split with a grin, Carlotta could tell that she wasn’t kidding around.

The waitress’s hand slid higher up Carlotta’s dress, and her pink lips moved to the chef’s ear.

“Come on,” she whispered. “It’ll be fun.”

Before Carlotta’s thoughts could fight their way through the alcohol and lust, she found herself planting her pert behind next to the strange man.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “Buy a girl a drink?”

* * *

“Oh my god,” Matilda slurred. “I couldn’t believe it when you grabbed the bouncer’s crotch.”

“You told me to!” Carlotta said, stumbling slightly as she followed the red hair down the dark lane.

“I know,” Matilda said with a happy sigh. “But I can’t believe you **did** it. He could have kicked you out!”

“But he didn’t,” Carlotta smiled. “He took his break, instead.”

“Was he big? I bet he was big.”

“He was so big. It tasted so good.”

“Good. This one’s mine.”

“Oh,” Carlotta said, glad that the darkness hid her blush. “Well, I had a ... um ... thanks for...”

“Don’t be silly,” Matilda said, grabbing Carlotta’s behind and pulling their bodies together. “You’re coming in.”

“I’m coming in,” Carlotta echoed softly. They were naked before they hit the bedroom.

* * *

The next afternoon, she’d finally gone home and gotten a full night’s sleep. The pair had attempted to nap briefly that morning, but found themselves unable to keep their hands and mouths off each other. Everything about Matilda turned Carlotta on, and she had been amazed and delighted when she’d found that the redheaded babe shared the sentiment.

The waitress had left her with a few instructions before leaving. What to wear to work the next day - she’d been **very** specific - and what to do with Jason. Just as she was approaching orgasm, Matilda had asked Carlotta what she thought of her assistant chef, and the young woman had pantingly told her the truth.

“Good,” Matilda had said with a smile, using two fingers to take Carlotta over the edge. “I had hoped you’d say that.”

And so it was with a spring in her step and a hint of nervousness in her heart that Carlotta had awoken, prepared for work, and dressed in accordance with the ginger’s demands.


	Chapter 7

Jlij miyj zliqjvk tvwj dw i sdccvkvwj sdkvzjdrw jliw D vfqvzjvs. D hmigv Okvayzkdhhmvk, qvkyrwimma.

Carlotta heard Jason walking up the drive, and quickly got into position. When the assistant chef walked through the door, she smiled over her shoulder.

“Morning, Jason!”

The assistant chef froze in the doorway. His jaw dropped. Carlotta, to her credit, continued whipping cream as if nothing was amiss. After a few seconds, Jason followed her lead, dropping his bag under the counter and putting on his apron.

“How was your day off?”

“Uh...”

Jason’s hesitation was brief.

“Good.”

Carlotta turned to hand him the cream, fresh-faced, and acting as if she wasn’t topless.

“That’s great! What did you get up to?”

“I met some women,” Jason said cautiously. “How was, uh...”

“Mine?”

Carlotta beamed, thinking of the hours she’d spent with Matilda’s head buried between her legs.

“ **Amazing.** “

Jason put the bowl of cream down, and slowly stepped towards his boss. She froze in place, her heart racing, blood pumping furiously throughout her veins. His hands moved up and cupped both of her breasts, and his head slowly dipped down to meet hers.

As per Matilda’s instructions, Carlotta was wearing a pair of short shorts; they were black-and-white checked, like traditional chef pants, but so tight that they barely hid anything.

They especially failed to hide the wet patch on the front of her shorts; the wet patch that Jason reached down and unceremoniously began to stroke.

“Oh, god...”

Carlotta’s knees buckled. Jason caught her, but instead of lifting her back up, slowly lowered her until she was kneeling before him. Her mouth filled with saliva as he unbuckled his pants, and pulled out his hard cock - the thick, meaty cock that she’d been daydreaming about for almost a week now.

“Jason...”

“Suck it,” he said authoritatively, and before Carlotta could object, or point out that they had work to do, or that maybe they shouldn’t, he’d parted her lips and his thickness was halfway down her throat.

“Mmmf!”

“Suck it,” he repeated in a moan, and his boss obeyed, using every piece of cock-sucking knowledge that she’d accumulated (and enthusiastically practiced in the past week).

Within a few minutes, Jason was filling the young chef’s mouth up with his own special brand of cream. She swallowed it down dutifully, and stood up uneasily.

“Jason,” she said, a quiver in her voice. “We really should...”

“Turn around,” Jason grunted, and Carlotta obeyed before the command even registered. She squealed with shock and delight as her subordinate ripped her shorts from her body, and then cried out in pain as the flat of his hand came down firmly on her exposed behind.

“Oh!”

“Count them,” he said, and Carlotta wondered why Matilda hadn’t warned her of Jason’s dominant side.

“One!”

His hand came down again, with a mighty smack.

“Two!”

There was a pause, and Carlotta turned to see what was happening.

Bad idea. Jason grabbed her hair, and forced her to face the front.

“Bad girl,” he said, and she shivered at the words.

“THREE!” she yelped. That one hadn’t been his big, meaty hand - it had been one of the various kitchen utensils lying around. A wooden spoon, she guessed, but it wasn’t exactly something... -

“FOUR!”

The pain was just as intense the second time.

“Five!!”

Jason’s strikes were careful, precise, and incredibly powerful. Aside from some light swats the previous night, Carlotta had never partaken in spanking before. She was starting to... 

“Six!”

... like it.

“Seven!”

A lot.

“Eight! Oh, god, yes. Nine!”

“Get ready,” Jason hissed into her ear, and Carlotta braced herself. Her mind raced - what else was in her kitchen? What else could be used to... -

“OHHHHH.”

Without warning, the entire length of Jason’s hard-again cock slid into her soaking wet pussy. If she hadn’t already been bent over the prep station, she would have collapsed onto the floor with surprise and arousal. She could feel his coarse pubic hair resting against her entrance, and just as she was starting to get used to his size, his hand landed squarely on her ass.

“Oh! Ten! Ten...”

Jason began thrusting firmly into his boss’s slick pussy. Her body was almost totally limp, as she tried to adjust to the sizeable intruder between her thighs. She was wet, and tight, and his spanking had left her with no tension left in her body.

He knew he could get used to this.

* * *

Matilda spoke loudly, trying to drown out the sounds that could be heard from the kitchen.

It wasn’t working. Fortunately, this early in the morning, the cafe was hardly packed - the only customers were a pair of college boys, who weren’t fooled by her attempts to mask what was clearly two people loudly copulating in the next room.

“And our **special**...”

“Shh,” one of the boys said, and Matilda sighed. She knew exactly what was happening in the kitchen - until the customers had entered, she’d been watching through the window in the door. It had all gone as she’d planned, although the spanking had been a surprise.

It was clear that she wasn’t going to distract the two men from the goings-on. If they insisted on going back there - or worse, took photos - they could tell the hygiene board, and the whole place would be shut down.

She had to do something.

She had to do something now.

Sticking out her chest and throwing back her red hair, Matilda managed to win back the attention of the two boys.

“So,” she said, flipping the cafe sign to ‘closed’. “Have you two ever seen an, uh, manager’s office?”

“No?” one of the boys offered.

Matilda fluttered her eyes.

“Would you like to?”

* * *

“Matilda wants you.”

“What do you mean?” Carlotta said, flustered. After he’d unloaded inside her, Jason had refused to let her get dressed again. She’d spent the next half hour trying not to drip his cum anywhere, and - when she’d failed - the rest of her shift trying not to slip on it. “I can’t go out there like ... like this.”

With a grin, Jason took his shirt off and threw it at the naked chef. He’d taken over any duties which involved heat or oil; Carlotta had spent most of the shift cutting up vegetables and doing the washing up.

“That’ll do.”

Carlotta sighed, and put his shirt on. It almost went down to her knees. It made her look like a small child playing dress-up ... but it did hide up her privates.

Hoping no one would notice her bare feet, Carlotta went into the main room of the cafe. To her relief, there were no customers... 

“Hey,” she said shyly. Matilda replied by pressing her lips against the young chef’s, and soon they were breathing heavily, their tongues dancing as they passionately made out where anyone could see.

“You wanted me?”

“Always.”

“No, I mean, Jason said...”

“I wanted you,” Matilda said significantly, and Carlotta’s eyes opened wide.

“Here? Now?”

“Always.”

Carlotta blushed furiously.

“I ... what about Paul’s office?”

“Sure,” Matilda said with a grin. “I already used it earlier today.”

“You didn’t!” Carlotta said, somehow shocked. “Who?”

“Does it matter?”

As she followed the redhead into the small room used by the owner, Carlotta had to admit that it didn’t.

“Where’s the boss?”

“He stepped out.”

“What if any customers come?”

“We’ll be quick.”

Out of arguments, Carlotta let the waitress slowly begin unbuttoning the oversized shirt that she was wearing. Before she could completely strip, something caught her eye.

“What’s that?” she said, pointing to a white bowl on the edge of the desk.

“Paul’s lunch. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up later.”

“But...”

Matilda paused, and followed Carlotta’s eyes.

“What does it say?” the half-naked chef asked, as if in a trance. Matilda leaned in close, and read aloud the words formed by the fifteen discrete pieces of spaghetti.

“Tfx esr enqetg qrm...” she said, and the two paused briefly to reflect on the strange words, before the room stopped spinning and they resumed their lovemaking, more passionately than before.


	Chapter 8

The rest of Carlotta’s shift passed in a blur. She spent most of it hopping around the kitchen as Jason barked commands at her, so aroused by his masculine presence that she literally found her juices literally onto the floor.

When Jason noticed, he made her lick it up. That only served to create a fresh wave of juices, which further caused issue when he unloaded inside her once more.

“Wait here,” he said thoughtfully, and came back a few minutes later with a pair of warm panties.

Carlotta didn’t ask where he got them.

As soon as her shift was over, Carlotta made her way to the pantry, intending to nap.

Instead, she got herself off twice; the thrill of running around the kitchen naked, of obeying her assistant chef ... after her second body-shaking orgasm, she closed her eyes for some sleep, but before she could even drift off, she heard the sound of Matilda’s voice, and was immediately wide awake.

“Matilda, we don’t close for another forty minutes.”

“There’s no one out there,” she pleaded. “And ... oh my god, I need it. I’m dripping.”

Carlotta peeked out of the pantry door; Matilda was bending over the prep table, lifting her skirt to show that she was telling the truth.

She was telling the truth.

Jason smiled, and unbuckled his pants.

“Okay,” he growled. “But we have to be quick.”

Carlotta lay onto the sack of flour that Jason had napped on just a few days ago, and got herself off once more, the sound of her workmates copulating all the stimulation she needed. Immediately after she came, her eyes closed, and she immediately began to doze.

* * *

Just as she’d gone to sleep to the sound of Jason and Matilda making love, it was the same sound that woke her almost two hours later. She staggered out of the small pantry just in time to see Jason unload into Matilda’s ass, as the sexy redhead shook and shouted with orgasm.

“Hey guys,” she said blearily, and couldn’t help but smile at the two loving smiles that met her words. “Whose house is closest?”

* * *

It turned out to be Matilda’s, just a few blocks away from the cafe. The three of them piled onto the enthusiastic waitress’s bed; Jason, despite the girls’ best efforts, had only a few rounds left in him, but after he fell into a deep slumber, the two young women pleasured each other for what seemed like half the night.

When they were finally spent, they held hands, and cuddled up to the sleeping assistant chef to chat.

“You’re amazing,” Carlotta whispered.

“ **You’re** amazing,” Matilda replied.

“No,” the blonde chef said, wrinkling her nose slightly. “I mean, you’re **really** amazing.”

“You’re both amazing,” Jason grunted. “Now get some fucking sleep.”

With that, the two girls fell into fits of giggles and did as their man instructed.

* * *

The next day, the three arrived at work at the same time. Carlotta’s waitress and head chef amused each other in Paul’s office (he never arrived before ten) while she got everything set up for the day, reflecting on how happy she was.

She was in love, she realized. Not just with one person, but with two. And, best of all, there was no chance of jealousy - they were in love with each other as well.

Love. What a powerful word.

As she prepped the meals and set the menu for the day, she let the word swim around her head. Love. Love!

Love.

Jason entered the kitchen twenty minutes before his shift was due to start, and spent most of that twenty minutes entering Carlotta as she kneaded dough and shaped the day’s pastries. If she was going to make this work, she told herself, she couldn’t let their love-making interfere with their careers.

She timed her orgasm to meet his, spent a few minutes cleaning up the resultant mess, spent a few more minutes kissing him passionately, and then insisted that they start for the day. He raised his eyebrow at her firm tone, but didn’t question it.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. She only let Jason feel her up through her chef’s outfit for a few minutes every half-hour, and she only stopped to suck his cock twice before her shift ended. Matilda, for her part, didn’t even come back into the kitchen for the rest of the day - Carlotta went and collected dishes herself, not trusting the waitress to resist spending too much time in the kitchen and making everyone suspicious.

Of course, she lost a few minutes every time she entered the dining area. Watching Matilda work was such a gift - her ginger mane drew every eye in the room whenever it moved, although those eyes quickly moved down to her low-cut top and her short denim skirt.

Carlotta’s spent more time looking at her lover’s legs and bust than collecting plates. At one point, she wondered if it was possible for her arousal to become visible through her panties, shorts, **and** apron.

When her shift finally entered, the young chef popped into Paul’s office to say hello. It was unusual for her to go more than a few days without seeing her boss, but she couldn’t remember taking to him since he’d expressed approval at alphabetti spaghetti being added to the menu.

To her disappointment, he again wasn’t there - but again, he’d left a plate on his desk. Her shift was over, but Carlotta didn’t want to cause her new lover any more work than she had to - she picked it up, vowing that she was going to return it to the kitchen **without** being distracted by Jason ... or his endlessly suckable cock ... She glanced into the bowl, and there they were again; eleven small pieces of pasta, carefully lined up.

They read, simply, “Qpo whb w aroy.”


	Chapter 9

Carlotta awoke at three am - she’d set her alarm earlier than normal, because she had further to travel.

After work the previous day, she’d considered going back to Matilda’s for another night of fun. She knew she’d be welcome ... but for some reason, she’d wanted something else.

Something more.

Jason was a great guy - and he had a **great** cock. But even after her brief dizzy spell, after she’d returned her boss’s bowl to the kitchen and let the chef spend a few minutes feeling her up, she’d decided that Matilda could have him all to herself that night (she was such a babe).

No, Carlotta decided to go on the prowl again.

She could have returned to the string of clubs and bars that she was getting increasingly familiar with, but again, she wanted something more than that. She wanted a place where she could really let loose.

And so the young chef had gotten in contact with a few of her old high-school friends, two boys who she knew had just started their second year of college.

Carlotta had gotten a few recommendations from them, and proceeded to head to the rowdiest college party that she could find. It was a few miles away, but she knew it would be worth the travel.

She was right.

The twenty-three-year old had dressed in her skimpiest new outfit: a blue top (with no bra underneath, of course) showing off her midriff and hard nipples, and a skirt that was begging for an excuse to show off her thong underwear.

Carlotta found the party, entered the most crowded room she could find, and made her way to the college boys playing beer pong.

Within two minutes, she was topless. Within five, she was naked. And less than ten minutes after she’d entered the party, she was splayed out on a bed, one cock in her mouth and one making its way deep into her ass.

In the two years since she’d lost her virginity, Carlotta had never found the time or inclination to attempt anal sex. She wouldn’t even have thought to suggest it, except for the first college boy she’d dared to lick beer off her tits had made a few comments about her “perfect, pert ass”, and she didn’t see any reason to stop him from doing what he wanted with it.

Fortunately for them both, he knew exactly what he was doing. Half an hour after arriving at the party, Carlotta’s pussy was dripping onto the stranger’s bed as she matched her orgasm with his.

The sight of the naked, nubile young woman cumming with a cock up her ass was all that was required to make her other new friend cum, and soon Carlotta was enthusiastically swallowing his seed down.

As they awkwardly stepped back, she flipped over, delighted to see that a crowd had formed.

“Who’s next?” she asked with a huge grin, and threw her hands up with excitement as the group of men all began advancing upon her.

* * *

After arriving at work, Carlotta was surprised to see that she wasn’t the first one there. Matilda and Jason started their shifts well after she did, and considering what she suspected they’d been up to the previous night, there was no way they’d be coming into work a minute earlier than they had to.

“Hello?” she called out, opening the unlocked door.

There was no answer.

“Hello?” she repeated. The lights were on, and she knew that no matter **how** distracted they were, Matilda and Jason would never forget to lock up - or turn off the lights at the end of a shift.

Picking up a frying-pan, Carlotta made her way into the main cafe.

“Hello?” she said again.

“Carlotta?”

With a start, she dropped the frying-pan. It hit the floor with a loud clatter.

“Paul! You scared the life out of me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing his bald head. “I didn’t ... I mean...”

“What on earth are you doing in this early?”

“I, uh...”

Her boss looked more nervous than she’d ever seen him.

“Well, I, uh ... I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

Paul gestured for her to sit. She took a stool, and leaned back against the bench where people sat to drink coffee and stare out of the window.

“Look, I hate to ask, but ... did you go into my office yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Carlotta answered. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, no, it’s just ... I just ... well, I left a little note.”

“I didn’t see any notes,” she said with a smile. He really seemed to be freaked out by something.

“Yes, it wasn’t really a normal sort of note. And it wasn’t meant for you. It was meant for Matilda.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. You see, I’ve ... well, did you see anything unusual?”

The young woman crinkled her nose as she thought.

“Not that I can think of,” she said. “I just grabbed the bowl of spaghetti... -”

She was interrupted by a shocked yelp from her boss.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Did you, um, did you happen to look at it?”

“I did...”

“Oh dear. Oh deary dear. I’m so sorry. This is ... well, this is all my fault.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. I...”

Paul sighed.

“I suppose I owe it to you to explain.”

Carlotta sat back as her boss poured his heart out. He explained that it had been months since his wife and he had made love. He explained that when she’d suggested the new pasta dish, he’d seen it as an opportunity. He’d invited her in for lunch, but she hadn’t seen it - she’d stormed out after another fight, and after he returned from following her, the plate had been gone.

“And that’s ... well look, I don’t like to admit it, but that’s when something cracked. I’d seen her every day, you understand, and she’s so pretty. That hair ... I knew that a girl like her could never go for a man like me. And I thought that since my wife hadn’t been receptive, maybe...”

He’d invited his wife in for another bowl - this time she’d seen the message, but instead of taking it in the spirit that he’d intended, she’d become furious and jealous.

“She left me, you see. And at that point I thought, well, why not? In for a penny, in for a pound.”

But her unexpected reaction had confirmed that it worked, and so for the next few days Paul had left messages for Matilda. He saw that they were taking effect, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to make a move.

“And so I thought ... well, I thought I’d try to leave a message for myself. But it didn’t work, and so I took it into the kitchen to make sure that no one else saw it. But Jason did, I know he did. I know he saw it.”

“Paul, I don’t...”

“I just ... I knew that if I made it easier, if I made sure that she wouldn’t say no, I’d ... well, I’d finally be able to make a move. Right? So I left some more. Messages. In my office, where only she would see them.

“And then yesterday, I finally did it. I finally got the courage to ask her out, and she ... well, she was very nice, but she explained that she was seeing someone. Two people. Only two, I asked, and she said yes. And that’s when ... well, that’s when I realized.”

“Realized what?”

Carlotta wasn’t sure whether to give her boss a hug or call a psychiatrist. He was getting so worked up and he was clearly so upset, but his story made no sense.

“I realized that **you** must have seen it.”

“Seen what?”

“My message!”

Carlotta tilted her head to the side.

“Paul, I promise, I didn’t look at the notes on your desk or anything. I didn’t see any message.”

“Yes, but you ... well, you...”

Paul sighed.

“You think I’m crazy.”

“No,” Carlotta lied.

He sighed again.

“I’m not crazy. I ... here, let me show you.”

Carlotta’s heart broke a little at the sad look in his face when she flinched.

“Show me,” she said gently, reaching out and laying his hand on his. He didn’t seem dangerous, just ... unsettled.

Carlotta followed her boss into the kitchen as he put a pot of water on the stove to boil. She sat on the bench closest to the door as he poured pasta into the boiling water. She kept an eye on him, making sure he didn’t go near any knives as he stirred the red sauce. And she didn’t say a word as he served it up in a dish and started to eat.

He was almost done when a noise made her jump, before she realized it was her workmates arriving - together, as she’d expected.

Matilda and Jason entered the kitchen holding hands, and jumped apart when they saw Paul.

“Hello,” he said wearily. For the first time, Carlotta noticed the look of hunger in his eyes as he glanced at Matilda.

“Paul,” Jason said, his confusion apparent in his voice. “You’re here early?”

“Yes. I, um, wanted to show Carlotta something.”

There was a pause, and Paul returned his attention to the bowl of pasta. To Carlotta’s surprise, he began poking at it with his fork. Matilda took advantage of his distracted state to waggle her eyebrows meaningfully in Carlotta’s direction.

Carlotta shook her head, and Matilda rolled her eyes.

“There we go,” Paul said, unknowingly breaking up the silent conversation. “This is what I’m talking about.”

The young chef jumped down from her bench, and all three of them crowded around and peered into the small bowl. Paul had carefully taken twelve letters, and arranged them into five nonsensical words:

“Ge bw Z vqll jem.”

Carlotta staggered back, and was surprised to see her colleagues do the same.

“All right,” Paul said after they’d all recovered. “That should, uh, make things a bit easier.”

The young chef tilted her head to the side, confused.

“Matilda, could you um, come with me. Please?”

“Yes, Paul,” she said politely.

“Carlotta, Jason - you’re going to have to work extra hard today, to make up for the time we’ve lost so far this morning.”

“Yes, Paul,” the chefs chorused in unison.

“And, um, from now on, you’re ... well, you’re all going to work for no pay. I mean, at least, as little pay as you can afford.”

“Yes, Paul,” the three of them said at once.

“And Matilda...”

“Yes, boss?” she said perkily. Carlotta noticed her boss’s eyes darkening slightly at her enthusiastic reaction.

“Come talk with me in my office before we open.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Okay. Great. Jason and Carlotta, uh, I’ll talk to you later. Yes, this ... well, it wasn’t exactly what I intended, but it seems to have worked out for the best.”

Jason and Carlotta smiled at their boss as he left, Matilda a few steps behind, then turned to each other and shrugged.

“That was weird.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Want to...”

Carlotta knew exactly what he was talking about, and she definitely did, but her boss’s words were still ringing in her ears.

“Soon as we’re ahead?”

“Perfect,” Jason said with a grin.

Carlotta took a deep breath, and prepared for the day’s work. As she began rolling out the dough for the day, she mentally began plotting out the rest of her life. She would probably be able to move in with Matilda and Jason - if they were all sharing a bed, that would save on rent. And if she could start to spread her reputation for putting out, she was sure that there’d be no shortage of guys who would buy her dinner.

Yes, it was just like Paul said. This had all worked out for the best.

Ebs Sot.


End file.
