Page 37 of Married into the Mob
“I’m a frozen meal chef extraordinaire.”
“Pfft. Those meals have too much oil, salt, and sugar. Don’t you have a stove where you live?” All that privilege and he bought supermarket crap.
“I do. The kitchen is stunning, but I do little except boil water.”
“No one ever taught you to cook?”
“Uncle Arnie tried, but I wasn’t interested. Also, I manage the club. La Luna Noir. So I’m often in the office with Flint and Ranger during the day and at the club until late. Too tired to cook.”
“For us, it was too expensive to buy prepared meals.” We dashed to the supermarket when we could just as they discounted food at the end of the day. A memory hit me of us sitting around the table on December 25.
“Our Christmas Day meal was based on whatever fresh food was left in the supermarket on Christmas Eve, an hour before they closed.”
Hunter’s cheeks blanched and he took a step, brushing against me. I didn’t hate him being so close, and my skin prickled with something like desire. But that couldn’t be. I wouldn’t let it
“I’m so sorry. You’ll never have to go without food again.”
The room was cold as he’d just turned on the heat, and the warmth of his body distracted me.
“Ummm, no… no, it wasn’t like that. We made it into a game. One of us would go into the grocery store earlier in the day and check out the fruit, vegetables, and meat. And Aunt Louisa and I would race in later. We never knew what the meal would look like until then.”
Sometimes we had ham, others duck, and others barbecue chicken and sometimes fish.
“It sounds kinda fun. Maybe we could start that tradition in our family.”
I scoffed at the suggestion. “Hunter, your madcap family tearing around the grocery store on Christmas Eve would… I don’t know… set off the fire alarms, and then the sprinklers would turn on and ruin everything.”
But I pictured a scene with Hunter’s lot and him and me sprinting about a grocery store late on Christmas Eve. It wasn’tbonkers but felt just right. I captured the images and stored them in my memory because it would never happen.
Hunter tilted his head to the side, those green eyes fixed on me. “You’re probably right. They’re an eccentric lot. Instead of the whole family, let’s keep it a secret, and it’ll just be us two.”
“What?” I turned on my heel, the warmth I’d experienced toward him for whisking me and my family out of danger forgotten. The pictures in my head were torn up and an irrational anger at him and his damned family bubbled up. What the fucking fuck? Did he really think we were going to play happy families?
Shit, I was angry at him for saying out loud what I’d been not accepting but gravitating toward. This was so messed up. My head needed a reset, similar to a mechanic getting under the hood of a car and reattaching whatever they did under there.
“I’ve lost my appetite.” I grabbed the bag of clothes Flint had packed for me and flung myself into the bathroom. Damn. I’d hoped this was the bedroom. I could shower, but then I’d have to face him when I stalked from here to the bedroom. My “wedding ring” snagged on my shirt. Shit! Should have taken it off.
“Way to ruin a less-than-perfect day, Hunter.”
FIFTEEN
HUNTER
Odell stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door.
This was complete chaos. Not only did my mate hate me, but we were no closer to solving whatever the shit was going on with Draven and the Silverback pack. Once that was behind us, we could concentrate on getting to know one another. Unless he walked out of my life saying he never wanted to see me.
That can’t happen. My wolf was adamant, but he didn’t get to choose. Odell did.
The only thing I knew about Odell other than what he’d told me was that he was my mate and I adored him. He could be a thief, an assassin, or a spy, but I loved him and had marked him.
Damn, I hadn’t called his aunt as I’d promised.
Racing out to the car, I scrambled for the phone my brother had left me.
“What’s happening?” He picked up and didn’t use my name. Smart Alpha.
“He wants to speak to his aunt. It’s been rough.”
