Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
You never would have found me hiding in the kitchen from the fun before. I would be right out there in the pool with everyone else.
But there I was.
Chopping carrots.
Wondering how long it could be before I slunk away to my room, locked the door, found my pictures of Jade, and rubbed one out like some fucking teenager or something.
I was still kicking myself for not getting her damn number. And while she had mine, I guess she was busy. Or didn’t want to seem needy by reaching out to me first.
Even if I was checking my phone fifty times a day in the hopes that she had texted.
“She got you all strung up, huh?” Eddie asked, tone completely devoid of judgment as he drained and rinsed several cans of beans.
“Guess so,” I admitted.
“Lucky, man,” he said, glancing over at me. “Just waiting for a hunnie who gets her claws all up in me. Dunno why these fuckers,” he said, waving a spatula toward the back door where the other prospects were all partying, “seem to think it’s the worst thing that could happen.”
“Dunno. Guess I was one of them a few weeks ago too,” I told him. As much as I liked seeing my friends, especially Seeley and Cato, happy with their women, some part of me just didn’t understand it.
That whole ‘why eat one meal when you can sample the whole menu’ mindset that I’d been carrying with me for years.
Guess everyone neglected to tell me that your mind changed and your tastes developed when you’d feasted on the best meal of your life.
Figuratively.
Though, yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting some eating done with Jade again… literally.
“Which one of ‘em you think is next?” he asked as a chorus of male laughter came drifting into the kitchen.
“I don’t know. I can’t see Coast settling down.”
“No? With how good he is with kids? I can see it. But maybe not next.”
“York is the oldest,” I said.
“Which might matter if love had an expiration date,” Eddie said as he started to scoop beans, rice, cheese, and beef into tortillas.
“Velle is the most… in touch with emotional shit.”
“Yeah, call me crazy, man, but I think that might work against him when it comes to finding a hunnie,” he said. “Besides, that guy has demons, even if he ain’t talking about ‘em.”
All of that seemed true when I thought about it.
“That leaves Kylo,” I said. “Or you.”
“Hey, man. Your lips to God’s ears,” Eddie said, crossing himself and looking up toward the sky. “So, when am I gonna meet this girl of yours?” he asked.
“Good question,” I said, resisting the urge to check my phone again. It was sitting on the damn counter beside me. I would have seen or heard a text coming in. “Wish I had an answer. Eventually, I hope.”
I was going to stop being such a pussy and just ask for her damn number the next time I went to visit my uncle. And got some more naked alone time with her.
“What’s her favorite food? Gotta brush up on my skills if it isn’t one of my specialties.”
“Everything is your specialty.” I mean, the man had cooked at least once a day for all that time I’d been at the club. I’d yet to eat a bad meal. “I know she likes cinnamon and raisin bagels and pizza. That’s as far as I’ve gotten on that front.”
“Hey!” a female voice called, a little too loud from the liquor and having to speak over the loud music out back. “I’m supposed to ask how long on the burritos,” she said, standing in the doorway dripping from her hot pink bathing suit.
“Burritos are ready,” Eddie said, holding a tray out to her. “The rest’ll be coming in an hour or so.”
“Don’t you ever get sick of cooking?” I asked when she was gone again. “I mean, it’s ten at night. You worked all day. And you’re here cooking again.”
“Nah, man. I love it. Keeps me calm. Feels good to put this kinda love into the club and these people,” he said as he took my carrots and set them on the tray along with potatoes, onions, peppers, brussels sprouts, and broccoli, then started to drizzle oil and some seasoning before slipping the tray into the oven.
“Figure, one day, I might have me a family to cook for, and I won’t be able to do as much around here. So I’m happy to do it while I can,” he added as he started to pull the marinated chicken out of a bag in the fridge and lay it out on another sheet pan.
“Can’t imagine the club without you cooking,” I admitted.
“It was a lot of takeout back then,” Eddie said, shaking his head at the prospect. “That your hunnie?” he asked as my phone beeped on the counter.