Page 16 of Lake
“Or that.” I gave another little shrug and walked off in the direction of the huge, stainless steel refrigerator in the corner. I opened the freezer and pulled out a bag of peas, surprised that there was actually some in there.
“Let me get you—”
“I got it,” I said cutting Abigail off and breaking up the clumps in the bag. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but it came out that way.
“The fuck! Ouch!” Lake said with a jerk as I slapped the bag against his face.
“Stop being a baby and hold that. You said there were leftovers?”
“In the fridge. Can’t miss it.” Lake walked over to the closest table and plopped down in one of the chairs. I noticed he didn’t take his good eye off of me and I wondered if it was because he didn’t trust me or was terrified to look away for fear that I’d get his other eye.
“Okay, then. Goodnight,” Abigail said then all but ran out of the room like her ass was on fire.
I hoped I wasn’t stepping on any toes. And I honestly wasn’t trying to come off like a bitch, I was just tired, hungry, and agitated about life right now. I figured I’d apologize to her later. If there was a later.
I rooted around until I found the leftovers and a plate to put them on with no help from him. I was so hungry that I didn’t bother heating it up.
I took the seat next to him at the end of the table.
“I’m sorry,” I said killing the silence that lingered between us while I practically inhaled half of my food. “Let me see.”
He said nothing as I pulled the bag away from his eye and softly ran my finger around the socket to make sure I hadn’t hurt him worse than I thought.
“I didn’t break anything,” I said cutting my focus up to look into his eyes.
“It hurts but I’m not mad,” he said as he blinked then winced.
“Well, you shouldn’t be anyway. You did point a gun at me.”
“Fair enough.” He got up and put the peas back into the freezer, then picked up my plate and took it to the sink.
I said nothing as he rinsed it off and placed it into the dishwasher. I felt awkward for so many reasons. One of them being that I could have done that myself, and I really should have. But it was too late now.
“Come on. I’ll take you to my room.”
For some reason, I felt like those words should have sounded a lot sexier than they did, but the tone he used was way too casual. I imagined that if the situation were different it might have. But then again, this Lake guy didn’t exactly strike me as the smooth talker type.
But whatever. That wasn’t the point.
Wordlessly, I got up, grabbed my stuff and followed him back outside where he took a set of stairs to the left. He unlocked a door and stepped inside, turning on the light in the middle of the process.
The room itself wasn’t bad. It felt a little weird being in his space, almost like I was a stranger setting foot into someones home for the first time. As I looked around, that feeling became stronger, because I got the sense that this wasn’t just a crash pad for him. This place looked well lived in and not in a messy way. It was actually pretty tidy except for the pair of boxers in the middle of the floor and the three empty beer bottles sitting on the table next to the bed.
I shuffled inside and set my stuff on top of the small desk in the corner while he rushed in and snatched up the boxers on the way to the closet on the far side of the room. He dropped the boxers in a basket full of dirty clothes before reaching up and pulling down what I assumed was a clean set of folded sheets.
“I can do that,” I said snapping to attention and crossing the room.
“No, really, it’s okay. Tomorrow is Thursday, the day I usually change my sheets anyway.” He pulled the pillowcase off and I rounded the bed to do the other one. “There’s a bathroom and clean towels are in the in the top of the closet.”
“Thanks,” I said. There was a beat of silence. “This is weird. Right?”
“A little, I guess.” He shrugged but didn’t stop stripping the bed. “I mean, it’s clear that you can take care of yourself, but if it’s a choice between you sleeping in your car or sleeping in my room, I’d rather you be here.”
His eyes looked up to me after he spoke. I swallowed hard for some unknown reason.
“Well, thank you.” I gave him a small smile. “Wait, where are you going to sleep?”
“I’ll go down to the lounge.”
I didn’t miss how he skipped over the sleeping part. I maybe thought a beat too long about that.
Somehow I had helped him remake the bed with the clean sheets completely moving on autopilot.
“The door locks, but you don’t have anything to worry about with us. I’ll look at your car in the morning and see what’s going on with it.”
I nodded because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Sweet dreams, Bridget,” he said softly then he was gone, closing the door behind him without me saying anything else.
This night had been strange but I was too tired to over analyze it. Besides, I needed sleep if I was going to be on my A-game tomorrow. There was other shit that needed my attention more than randomly crashing at a biker clubhouse.
