Chapter 7 Spencer #2
After a few seconds of struggling and a few muttered curse words, she lets out a cheer so full of happiness it pulls a smile to my face. She puts her arms up and jumps around, seemingly more than pleased with herself.
My eyes go to Rick, who stands a few steps away with his ass resting against the counter as he watches her. I feel my eyebrows shoot up, shocked by the smile on his face.
It’s not that Rick never smiles. I mean, he’s an ass, but he’s not that bad.
It’s just uncommon for him to smile with someone new.
Someone who isn’t us, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look at any woman like he’s looking at her now.
We keep our circle tight because it keeps the people around us alive.
If we don’t make connections outside of us, we don’t have to worry about people being targeted to get to us.
Jade moves aside, sliding the egg onto a plate, and Rick reaches over to shut the burner off when it becomes apparent she won't.
“I did it. I did it!!” Jade’s voice fills the kitchen as she rejoices over something so simple, something we take for granted every day.
Zander steps beside me, making me realize how close I was watching them. Zander is typically quiet, damn near a ninja when he needs to be, but he usually can’t sneak up on us. We know him too well.
He looks at them, and I see his lips tip up in a grin as he watches her.
Not that I’m shocked by that. He’s been all but taken with her from the moment he opened that damn hole in the ground and jumped down to save her.
I hope for his sake she’s not bad news. Rick and I can handle disappointment better than he can.
I turn my attention to Jade as Zander walks into the room, and I push off the wall to follow.
Just as we both enter, Jade launches herself into Rick’s arms. Judging by the way his eyes go wide, he wasn’t expecting it.
He turns his head towards us, and I see the worry on his face.
For a split second, I think he will shove her away.
Before he can decide, she releases him and steps away. His brow creases in confusion, and it’s almost funny to see him like this. She beams up at him, and just like in the hallway, this smile is genuine, and it disarms Rick the same way it did to me.
“Thank you so much!” she squeals in excitement.
“Damn, if I had known teaching you how to cook eggs would get that kind of treatment, I would have been the first one in the kitchen this morning,” Zander says as he walks to the coffee pot. He pours himself a cup, taking it back to the breakfast bar, shooting her a smile as he passes.
I swear Rick's and Jade’s cheeks redden at his comment, but I don’t say anything as I take the seat next to Zander, clapping him upside the head as I sit.
“That’s a damn lie, and we all know it. Waking you up in the morning is harder than summoning a demon most days,” I tell him, and he shoots me a glare before shrugging as if it’s no big deal, returning his attention to his coffee.
“I’m pretty sure I smelled bacon,” Zander says to nobody in particular, and I huff because, of course.
I go to tell him to make his own food if he’s so damn hungry, but before I can, a plate slides in front of him with two slices of bacon and a single egg.
His eyebrows climb damn near to his hairline as he looks down at the plate and then up to meet Jade’s gaze where she stands across the counter from him.
“Don’t worry. Roderick made the bacon, so I didn’t mess it up.
” She smiles up at him, and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look at her like she hung the stars.
If he wasn’t in love with her before, he sure as fuck is now.
There aren’t many things Zander loves more in life than food, his knife, and his family, and she just served him one of his favorite meals.
“Thanks, Doll, but I can’t eat this. You just busted your ass on this egg. You should get to enjoy it.” He slides the plate back towards her.
My eyes snap up to meet Rick's as he also stares in disbelief; Zander never gives up food. The fact is lost on Jade, as she doesn’t know him like we do and doesn’t know his past.
“Trust me, I’m fine. Rick already made me one, and I snagged some bacon when I was burning my second attempt at an egg.” Her face twists up in confusion, and she turns to Rick. “Or was it my third?”
He shrugs at her as if he has no clue, and she turns back to Zander.
“Well, anyway, I already ate. Rick just thought it would be a good idea if I knew how to cook something for myself, and I would hate for a perfectly good egg to go to waste.” She slides the plate back to Zander, and this time he picks up the fork and digs in.
The food is gone in seconds, and Jade's smile grows with every bite he takes until I worry it might split her face. As soon as he’s finished, she takes the plate and puts it in the sink before she begins moving around and cleaning up everything else they pulled out.
Zander claps his hands together after he finishes the last of his coffee.
“Alright, boss man, what’s on the schedule for today?
” he says to Rick. I can’t help but roll my eyes at his nickname.
He gives most people nicknames, but the ones he has for Rick and me are by far the most annoying, which I’m almost positive he does on purpose.
I don’t even know if he realizes he already has one for Jade.
Sometimes, I think they just fall out of his mouth without permission from his brain.
He once called one of our teachers in high school Bitchy Betty and got a detention for it. When we asked what happened, he swore he had no idea. We didn’t know until Clair got the call to explain that he would be late coming home from school that day.
“We’re going to help Jade settle since someone so helpfully decided to volunteer our services.
” Rick cuts a glare at Zander, but it’s lacking its usual heat, and I know he’s just giving him a hard time.
We didn’t have anything planned today, anyway.
Zander just shrugs at him as if to say he’s not sorry.
“Oh, you don’t have to. It’s not a big deal.
I’m used to surviving much worse than this, I assure you.
” Jade tells us as she hops up on the counter, her legs dangling off like a child.
Her words are understanding and honest as far as I can tell, but they rub me wrong thinking about anyone living like that.
“Nah, if the boss says it’s all good, then it's all good, Doll. Trust me. He wouldn’t help if he didn’t want to. But what do we get for helping you out?” He wags his brows at her playfully, but judging by the look on her face, his teasing doesn’t land.
“Um, I could fuck you, if that would make it even?” She responds without missing a beat, as if they are simply talking about the weather.
I thank every god in existence that none of us had a drink in our mouth because I know, without a doubt, it would have been sprayed across the counter.
There’s no question about it now; the joke definitely didn’t land.
She hops off the counter in one fluid movement, walking over to stand beside Zander. She reaches for the hem of her shirt as if she’s going to undress right here.
I’m on my feet so quickly I knock the stool to the ground. I step around Zander and grip her wrist hard enough to make her pause, but not hard enough to hurt her.
Her eyes snap up to mine, confusion written all over her face.
“He was joking,” I tell her. “A very poor joke, I might add.” I toss the comment over my shoulder at him as he sits on his stool, looking like a deer in headlights.
“You don't have to sleep with anyone for anything if you don't want to. Not anymore.” I tell her as I look back at her, meeting her eyes, hoping my face conveys just how serious I am.
“Spencer’s right,” Rick says as he pushes off the counter and puts his coffee cup in the sink. “In the future, just threaten to beat his ass, and if that doesn’t work, just come tell me. I’ll straighten him out for you.”
She focuses on Rick as he talks to her even though his back is to her, and for the first time since entering the kitchen, I remember she’s in very little clothing.
I knew she wore Zander’s shirt last night to bed. Hell, she almost stripped down in front of all three of us to put it on, but I didn’t realize that was still all she wore.
Is it all she’s wearing?
I push the thought away as quickly as it pops into my head. I told Zander his joke was in poor taste, and here I am, wondering what’s under her shirt.
I realize I’m still holding onto her wrist. I look down at where my skin meets hers.
What I see tests my self-control. I fight back against the urge to grasp her arm harder in anger, but I don’t want to hurt her.
Her legs are littered with scars. Some raw and red, some lighter, but they’re everywhere, covering small patches of skin on almost eighty percent of her exposed legs.
The skin that isn’t scarred is covered with bruises.
Her arms seem less scarred, but they do have bruises in all different stages of healing, some looking as if they could fade away at any moment. While others are so fresh, I wonder if she got them the night we found her.
“Will that work?” Her question pulls me from my mental cataloging of her body, and I release her wrist. Her focus is still on Rick as she allows her hands to drop to her sides.
“Of course, it will. Have you seen the boss? He’s terrifying,” Zander laughs, and while I know he’s joking again, it’s also true. Rick is terrifying, and for a good reason. He’s not only a huge guy, but he’s skilled in hand-to-hand combat and weapons. He’s deadly, we all are, only he looks deadly.
Jade just shakes her head at Zander, and I have a strong suspicion his joke was missed again. Clearly, we’ll have to help her with that, or life with Zander will be impossible for her.