Page 63 of Together We Burn
Way to fucking go, Stevie. Now you sound like a stage five clinger.
Groaning, I scrubbed my hands through my rat’s nest of bedhead, flinching as my fingers tangled in some knots. “I mean, you’ve barely slept.”
He placed the plate in front of me and kissed my temple.
“I appreciate the concern, but fucking you all night long is worth being sleep deprived the next day. Now eat up.” Handing me a knife and fork, he walked back to the stove and started clearing away the mess.
“Are you not eating?” I asked between bites of crispy bacon and the most perfect fried egg I’d ever eaten. I never had time to cook; I didn’t really care since Alex was our designated chef at home. But the one thing he just couldn’t get right was a well-cooked egg of any kind. Poached, scrambled, fried, they all tasted like shit.
Closing the dishwasher, he checked his watch. “No, I’ll grab a granola bar or something on the way to work.”
“So you just cooked this for me? Trying to fatten me up?” I dipped some bacon into the yolk and groaned as the sweet, almost buttery, flavour from the egg combined with the salty, smoky taste from the bacon lit up every single taste bud on my tongue.
Jake came to stand next to me, resting his hip against the side of the barstool, his blue eyes glued to my mouth as I chewed.
“You could balloon up or shrink down, and I’d still think you’re beautiful. But…” he drawled, his fingers plucking the last piece of bacon from my plate and chomping down before I could stab him with my fork. “If I can get you to moan like that with my cooking, I might just have to make you breakfast every morning. Right after I fuck you on the counter or in the shower. Your choice.”
“One-track mind,” I sighed with a shake of my head and put my knife and fork on the empty plate.
“With you, baby, always.”
Collecting his car keys up from the counter, he slipped them into his pocket before taking my plate and putting it in the sink.
“Okay, got to go,” he said, scratching Rocky’s head as he walked passed him into the hallway. Collecting his briefcase from the floor, he pressed the call button on the elevator. “I’ve fed Rocky and let him out to pee. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to the communal garden before.”
“You did all that? For me?”
Calm down, heart. It’s not a big deal.
“Of course,” he said, stopping before me and taking my hip in his hand. His eyes perused my body again as his gaze darkened. “Have I told you how sexy you look dressed in my clothes?”
His lips met mine with a kiss that was quickly interrupted by thedingas the metallic elevator doors slid open. But it was filled with dirty promises of things to come later.
Grabbing Rocky by the collar, he whined as he watched Jake enter the elevator and tried to follow after his new best mate.
“Oh, Alex will be over in a few hours,” he called out as the doors began to shut. My eyes bugged out, jaw dropped, and a string of profanities flooded my head. “You two need to talk. Just hear him out.”
Then the doors closed, and it was just Rocky and I alone in his big apartment.
True to his word, Alex arrived two hours later.
I’d taken a long soak in Jake’s bathtub, washed and braided my hair, and snooped around his closet. The man was meticulous with his closet. Multiple colours of the same designer shirt hung crisp wrinkle-free with a line of suit pants underneath. Several belts, ties, and cuff links sat in little cubbies, and his shoe collection rivalled mine.
Rummaging through his drawers, I was surprised to find a Heckler and Koch P30L handgun stuffed next to his paired black dress socks and two magazines. Putting it back where I found it, I couldn’t help the impressed feeling swelling deep in my stomach. Finding out more about Jake was pleasantly surprising.
Thedingof the elevator and happy barking signalled Alex’s arrival as I finished the last button on the shirt I'd borrowed, along with a pair of boxers, tucking it into the same sweatpants from last night.
Inhaling, I braced myself to listen to whatever my “best friend” had to say about my dad’s letter.
“How’s my good boy?” Alex crooned, getting down to his haunches and letting Rocky lick the side of his face as his big paws tried to jump onto his shoulders. “I missed you, big guy. You take care of your mommy for me?”
“It was one day, Alex,” I deadpanned, placing my hands on my hips as I took in his dishevelled form. Dark circles lined his eyes, the scruff he called a beard was untamed, and he had a cut on the side of his mouth, similar to Jake’s.
Standing, Alex reached back to the side table and grabbed a to-go cup.
“I brought you this,” he said, holding it out. Taking it from him, I turned and walked to the sofa, sitting down and curling my legs under me as I removed the plastic lid and blew on the hazelnut latte.
“You look good,” he said, coming to sit on the opposite side of the sofa, his face looking almost apprehensive.
