Page 181 of Dark Endures

“Thanks.” I take the loaf and cut it into nice, thick slices.

“French toast. Good choice. How is she doing?” Fea takes a seat across from where I’m working on the island.

Mindy has more stitches in her body than anyone should ever have in a lifetime. She’s battered, bruised, and probably going to be dealing with this emotionally for months, if not years. “Alive.”

As if she read my mind, Fea says, “Everything else can be dealt with. How are you holding up?”

I want to kill something. Anything. “Mindy’s my priority.”

“That’s not an answer. She went through a lot, but so did you. You thought you lost the woman you loved yesterday.”

“I thought I was going to lose my mind. Last night, all I did was watch her breathe, because I was afraid the next one wasn’t going to come, even though none of her wounds are life-threatening.” The whisk moves rhythmically through the egg wash as I twist my wrist.

“What are you going to do?”

After I kill the men who hurt her then left her to die alone, I’m going to need to find an outlet for this rage. It’ll probably be a punching bag in the gym. “Work.”

“You do a lot of that, and so does she. Maybe you need to figure out something else to do together. Work is calling. I’ll check in on you later.” Fea leaves.

I fry the toast and caramelize some fresh bananas to put on top. A cheerful daisy finishes off the brunch tray table.

Mindy is still asleep. It feels wrong to wake her, but she missed dinner. And they kidnapped her before she got lunch.

This has to be done. I sit down next to her. “Beautiful, it’s time to wake up.”

She blinks and reaches up to brush the hair out of her eyes.

I tuck a lock behind her ear.

“Are you real, or did the rats eat me?”

Those words…I need to be strong for her. “I’m real.”

“Kiss me.”

You don’t have to ask me twice.

I lean down and brush her lips with mine.

“Butterfly kisses. Mmmm.” She closes her eyes.

“You need to open your eyes in order to eat breakfast.”

Her eyes pop open. “Food?”

“Have I told you that you’re cute when you’re hungry?”

“You haven’t seen me hangry yet.”

Her soft smile pierces my heart. It would be wrong to kiss her instead of feeding her. “We'd better feed you, then. How does banana bread french toast sound?”

“Amazing. I need to thank Ace one of these days for his wonderful food.” She scoots up with a grimace.

“Not for this one. I made it.”

“You made it.” Her eyes widen as I set the tray table over her legs.

“French toast isn’t hard.” I grab my tray and join her on the bed, facing her so that I can see her face the entire time.

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