Page 128 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Sid is quiet. I set down the spoon and pick up the whisk, stirring and blending the egg whites and the yolk. I glance at the stove and see there’s not even a pan there yet to cook the eggs. No butter set out, no serving plates. As awkward as I feel in the Malikov mansion, I don’t think Sid feels anymore at home inside her own kitchen.
I ignore her silence as I set down the whisk and pull open a drawer beneath me, searching for a pan. On the third try, I find one. I grab the handle and set it on the stove, then turn around and head for the matte black fridge.
“It’s nice of you to cook for them.” I keep talking because my temper is spiking with her silence but so are my nerves. “They could make their own food.”It’sreallynice considering you don’t know how to fucking cook at all.
I pull out the butter dish in the door, eyeing the prepackaged salads, the formula pitcher, fruits and veggies and milk. No bacon, no meats at all. No cheese, or else I could make a casserole. But I don’t see any potatoes, either, in the fridge or on the cabinet.
They can survive on eggs.
I nudge the fridge door closed with my hip, then pluck out a butter knife and a spatula from the silverware drawer before I return to the stove. I pull out seven plates from a high cabinet, setting the weight of them down on the counter. “Are we feeding him too?” I don’t expect an answer so I keep talking. “Do you have any pancake mix?” I start to scramble all the eggs because I’m not taking five individual orders from the boys. “I could make some—”
“Sevryn.” Sid says it quietly, and I turn to look at her over my shoulder. She’s dressed in a black hoodie and shorts; her hair is messy and smudges are beneath her gray eyes as she stares at me. She glances up at the vaulted ceiling as the scent of the food makes my stomach growl. “The initiate. His name is Sevryn.”
Interesting name,but I don’t say that out loud, considering she’s the wife ofLucifer.I turn my attention back to the eggs, using the spatula to stir them. I push the memory of Atlas’s call aside. His warning. He’s said nothing else about it since we all arrived here. Then again, it’s not like we’ve been together alone.
“You’ve met him?” I ask.
“Just now.” There’s something a little haunted about the way she says it.
“And?” Heat rises to my cheeks as I press her. Our conversations are always awkward, not to mention I’m annoyed Mavy hasn’t told me aboutSevryn,or introduced me. I assume that’s where they were all coming from this morning, down the stairs. He’s probably locked up in his room like that chick Mavy locked in the basement.
The hunger pangs seem to vanish and I grit my teeth, grabbing the handle of the pan, then doling out seven servings of eggs in the center of each black plate. I don’t know how many eggs Sid cracked, but she must understand the appetite of the Unsaints, because there’s more than enough.
“I don’t trust him. I don’t want him here.” Her words are low, but unwavering.
My mind flickers to Atlas.Good. Don’t trust him.
I turn around, stepping by her as I put the pan and the spatula in the sink, then flick on the hot water to rinse it. I pluck up her dishwashing soap—lavender scented—and drizzle some over the pan, watching the bubbles rise up as I turn off the water and put the soap down, my fingertips coming to the ledge of the sink.
“How long is he staying?”
“Until Halloween.”
Almost three weeks. “What’s the point?”
There’s a moment of silence. Then, “I don’t know. Has Mav said anything?”
I clench my teeth, hearing another round of laughter from the boys. I flick my eyes up, to the hallway leading to the back deck. I can’t see anything, with the angle I’m at. “He doesn’t tell me anything.”
“What about Atlas? Does he whisper secrets in your ear?”
I whip around, my hands clenched into fists at my side as I stare down at Sid. Her chin is lifted, and she glares defiantly back, her arms crossed and lips pressed together.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Sid curves a dark brow, and I notice the scar above it, paler than her light olive skin. “Maverick didn’t attack him for nothing.”
“Heattackedhim because he has a short temper and he doesn’t know how to talk to me and—”
Sid narrows her eyes. “He’s looking out for you. He wants to keep you,everyone,safe.”
My chest is heaving. How dare she try to get into the middle ofmyrelationship? It has nothing to do with her. Neither does my friendship with Atlas. Besides that, if she only knew what her husband is forcing me to do, maybe she’d take her attitude down a notch.
“Yeah,” I say, digging my nails into my palms. “Is that what you were doing when Jeremiah was whispering secrets inyourear? Keeping everyone safe, Sid?”
Her brows pull together as she grits her teeth, turning to face me fully, like she might try to swing at me.Be my guest.
“Or what about when Maverick called you the other night, around four in the morning? You two keeping us safe then?”
