Chapter 14 #2
“Now you know,” was all I managed to say.
“Oh, I have questions. I thought of them in my dreams. We need to have a serious discussion about Chucky.”
I grimaced.
“I knew it,” he exclaimed in triumph. “You said you were afraid of dolls. I knew that meant Chucky too.”
“I’m not afraid of them. I just don’t like them.”
“Yeah, we’ll talk. A conversation about Chucky will lead to talk of Annabelle, so prepare yourself.”
I did not want to have that conversation. Apparently, he wasn’t taking requests, however.
“We should get ready,” he said.
He was still right next to me, still so warm, soft, and somehow hard at the same time. I didn’t want to leave this bed, but it had to happen.
“I’m starving,” he continued, “and we need to figure out what we’re going to do with our day.”
“No readers yet.” Something I was thankful for. “What do you think our options are going to be?”
“We’ll figure it out over breakfast. You don’t think your jerk of an ex is going to serve grits or something, do you?”
“You don’t like grits?”
“No. I like things that have actual taste.”
I smirked. I wasn’t a big fan of grits either. “If breakfast isn’t up to snuff, we can go to town. I wouldn’t mind an excuse to get away from Preston anyway.”
“Oh, we’re not running from him. We’re not giving him that power.”
“No? We need to work on your survival instincts. If the zombie apocalypse comes, I would hate for you to be one of the first to go.”
“Never going to happen, Bellarino. I’ll be the Daryl Dixon of our apocalypse group. Just wait and see.”
I had my doubts, but now that he’d mentioned breakfast, I was starving too. As if to prove it, my stomach let loose a ruthless growl. “We should definitely eat.”
After that, I had no idea what would happen. I was keen to find out, though.
brEAKFAST WAS ANOTHER CATERED AFFAIR. WHEN it came to food, Preston couldn’t do anything that didn’t come across as ostentatious. It was something he’d learned from his mother, although his father helped reel in his baser urges with constant reminders that food poisoning could lose him millions.
This morning, Preston had brought in hash browns, toast, three types of breakfast meats, and a team to cook personalized omelets.
“You know, your ex is a terrible human being, but the food he brings in is top-notch,” Bree commented as she studied the offerings.
I sighed. “Yeah. The food was always good. Not that I got to eat a lot of it. His mother had a rule. Whatever you thought you could eat, you cut it in half, then cut that in half, and that’s what was acceptable to eat in front of people.”
Bree shot me a sharp look. “They starved you?”
“I’m fairly certain that’s not what I said.”
“That’s what it sounded like to me.”
“But—”
She didn’t wait for me to make excuses for Mary Charles. Instead, she turned to Hayley. “Did you hear that? Preston’s mother would only allow Bella to eat a quarter of what she wanted to eat.”
“Ugh.” Hayley looked as annoyed as Bree. “That is such crap.”
That’s when I noticed Preston had joined the crowd.
He’d been close enough to hear what I’d said about his mother, and if the curve of his lip was any indication, he wasn’t happy.
Before he could say anything, however, Nathan swooped in.
He’d been behind us in line, talking to Brody, but he obviously hadn’t missed anything that had been said.
“I want you to eat four times what you think you can eat,” he said to me, his wink working overtime.
“That seems pretty gluttonous,” I countered.
“Don’t worry. We’ll work off the calories later, when we’re alone.”
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to get around the flirty way he looked at me.
“Well, that sounds interesting.” It came off as prim and proper, but Nathan’s smile didn’t diminish.
“What are we doing today?” he asked the others, placing his hand on the small of my back to guide me forward in line.
Not once did he look at Preston, seemingly understanding that Preston was one of those people who would take no attention worse than negative attention.
“We were thinking of getting some writing in,” Bree said. “There are tables on the other side of the lake. Brody and I like to play footsies with one another when we’re writing.” She sent him a flirty look.
“Yes, that sounds like a great way to get your foot chewed off by an alligator or to be poisoned by a snake looking for warmth,” Nathan agreed dryly.
Bree gave him a horrified look. “Why would you put that idea in my head?”
“Because it’s in my head, so that means we all have to be haunted by it.”
“It’s the horror movies,” Brody said in a conspiratorial whisper. “They’ve fried his brain.”
Nathan gave his best friend a “don’t even go there” look. “I have a better idea. Than writing, I mean.”
“You realize we are writers and that we have to work occasionally, right?” Bree pressed.
Nathan rolled his eyes. “We need a day to decompress before we get to work.” He sounded like a perfectly reasonable guy who wasn’t trying to do something obnoxious. I knew better, though. Whatever this was, the goal was to irritate Preston.
“They have kayaks,” Nathan continued. “Why don’t we go out on the lake and have a relaxing float and then get to work after lunch?”
Brody arched an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I can kayak. How hard is it?”
“It’s not hard at all,” Bree replied. I could practically hear the gears in her mind working overtime as she tried to figure out Nathan’s plan. She even darted a look toward Preston before nodding. “I think kayaking sounds like a great idea,” she said finally.
Hayley made a derisive noise. “That sounds like working out. You know how I feel about working out.”
“You’re going,” Bree said finally. “We’re all going, and we’re all going to have a great time.”