Chapter 20 Trent
“Oh, something smells good,” Mom says as she comes into the kitchen, pulling our attention to her and away from the mini chocolate lava cakes we’re about to slip into the oven.
I give her a smile, and she smiles back. She’s more than used to my random baking sessions, and while it’s been a while since I’ve baked this much, it’s not unheard of.
When I turn back to Jade, my smile falls.
We’ve spent the last few hours baking. After the first batch of cookies, I just wanted to show her more, and she was more than happy to bake whatever.
The entire time she's been open, smiling, and all-around happy, but it’s as if that version of her left the moment my mother entered the room.
Now she’s standing next to me with her back straight, chin slightly raised, and her hands clasped behind her back. The same neutral expression she usually has while in class replaces her earlier smile, and there’s not a hint of emotion to be shown. The difference is shocking, to say the least.
“Jade.” My mother says, giving her a nod as a way of greeting. Judging by the fact that she has no reaction to Jade's cool demeanor, I can only assume this is how Jade was with her earlier, too. If not, I’m sure it would seem weird to her now. Jade nods back but doesn’t say a word.
“I’d come in to see if you would go get your sister from school, but it appears you’re busy, so I'm going to go grab her,” Mom says, snagging one of the oatmeal scotchies off the cooling rack.
“Did you need anything while I’m out?” she asks, grabbing her keys off the hook and heading toward the front door.
“No, we're all good here, Mom. Thanks.”
“Text me if you think of anything. Love you,” she says before she rounds the corner and disappears.
“Love you too,” I shout back right before the sound of the front door shutting fills the room.
My mother is always in a hurry. She has so many projects and activities. I swear she doesn’t know how to slow down. Not that it’s ever been an issue, really. It can be overwhelming if you're not used to her.
I grab the tray and slide it into the oven before setting the timer for twelve minutes.
When I turn back around, Jade is still standing right where she was a moment ago, her posture exactly the same.
I expected her to relax a little when my mom left, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case.
I take a step closer to her and see that her gaze is unfocused.
“Hey,” I call out softly to her without reaching out. I don’t want to startle her.
She blinks a few times in rapid succession before she turns to me.
“Where d'ya go?” I ask, even though I know I probably shouldn’t.
There are about a million places she could say, and I have a feeling most of them aren’t pleasant.
I don’t want to drag up old shit, but I also don’t like the way she just shut down like that.
It can’t be healthy, but if she wants to tell me, I’ll be damned if I won’t listen.
“Sorry, I just kind of spaced out,” she says, shaking her head as if to clear it, and while she relaxes a little, I can tell she’s still on edge.
“You don’t have to apologize, Jade. It’s okay if someone makes you uncomfortable,” I assure her, because I’m not sure what it is about my mom that set her off, but I can put two and two together well enough to know it was her who set the change into motion.
She dips her head, looking down at her feet.
I’ve seen Hazel do the same thing at school when she tries to blend in.
I’ve tried to get her to stop, but she insists it's easier to be invisible than to be on people's radars.
I can't argue with her logic when so many assholes happen to go to school with us. Hazel’s never been a very social person, whereas it always came naturally to me.
Something about Jade doing it rubs me wrong, though.
I haven’t known her terribly long, but one thing I’ve never seen is her back down from something, and for some reason, that feels like exactly what she’s doing right now.
“Hey, look at me.” I reach out, hooking a finger under her chin and lifting her head up so that our eyes meet.
“Don’t do that, okay? Don’t hide from me.
I know you’ve been through some shit, but if someone makes you uncomfortable, that’s okay,” I tell her, holding her gaze and hoping she can see how serious I am about this.
I love my mom, and I know for a fact she would never judge Jade or do anything to her, but Jade doesn’t know that, and with her past, I can’t blame her for erring on the side of caution.
“New people make me anxious. I don’t really do well with one-on-one interactions. I’m sorry; I wasn’t trying to be rude. She caught me off guard,” Jade admits in a low voice, as if she’s sharing a secret with me, and for all I know, she could be.
“That’s understandable. You're in a new place, and we're doing something new. You don’t need to apologize. Hell, my mom’s in such a rush to do things, I bet she didn’t even notice.
” It’s a lie, but it feels necessary, so I let it go.
I have no doubt that my mother noticed, even with how much she is constantly going; she’s still pretty perceptive.
She was married to a cop for years, but I also know she’s been best friends with Clair since high school.
There's no way they haven’t discussed Jade to some degree, if not in extensive detail.
Which means I also know that my mother would take zero offense at her being standoffish.
Jade’s eyes search mine, and I don’t look away, willing her to see that it’s not a big deal.
“Okay,” she says after a moment, and some of the tension leaves her shoulders. I let my hand drop, but I don’t move away, and neither does she.
Now that some of the tension has left the room, I take a moment to actually look at her and realize she has a bit of cocoa powder dusted across her cheek from earlier.
She poured it into the mixing bowl too quickly, and when it hit the bowl, a bunch of it puffed up into the air.
She must have missed it when she cleaned up.
It’s fucking adorable.
A smile pulls at my lips, and there's no hope of stopping it.
“What?” she asks, brows pulling down in confusion, but I just shake my head. I’m not even going to tell her it’s there.
“Nothing,” I say before I step away and head back to the oven to busy myself checking on the lava cakes.
I wonder if the guys have ever seen her like this.
What would the world think if they knew that the high and mighty Froggie, whose name people whisper in the underworld like a ghost and fear like the boogie man, was a patient, beautiful woman who often fit the description of adorable while still being lethal?
“No, it wasn’t nothing. That smile meant something.
It’s the same smile Zander gets when he’s up to something,” she says, walking up to me at the stove and crossing her arms in a way that I assume is meant to be intimidating.
I’m sure it would usually work, too, but with that chocolate smeared on her face, I’m much closer to laughter than fear right now.
I choke down the laughter that’s building in my throat and decide to take pity on her.
“You have cocoa powder all over your face,” I tell her, and now I do laugh as her eyes go wide.
She reaches up to brush off her cheek and then her nose. “What! I’ve just had something on my face this whole time, and you didn’t even tell me?!” Her voice is higher than usual, but I can also hear the laughter in it, and I know she’s not really upset.
“Honestly, I didn’t even notice until just now,” I say as she continues to brush at her face and somehow doesn’t remove a single bit of it.
“Hold still. I’ll get it,” I tell her, and she freezes.
Goddamn it, I wish she didn’t listen so well.
I’m not sure what it is, but every single thing I’ve told her to do, she’s done without resistance or a single complaint, and every time she does, it not only shocks me but fucks with my brain.
Having someone as powerful as she is, listening so completely, is a dangerous thing, and my dick is all too happy to show its appreciation.
One thing’s for sure, I’ve never baked and been rock fucking hard before, so I guess she isn’t the only one with a first today.
I walk over to where she stands, still as a statue, as she watches me approach her. The closer I get, the farther she has to crane her neck back to continue to meet my eyes.
I push her hair behind her ear to stop it from falling into the powder, or at least that’s what I tell myself.
“Close your eyes,” I tell her, my voice hardly more than a whisper as I lean into her space. Her eyes flutter closed without so much as a question, and I take a moment to just look at her.
God, I’m so screwed.
I cup her cheek with my hand, using my thumb to brush over her smooth skin. The powder falls away easily enough. I hadn’t noticed just how much she had on her until just now, as I move my thumb from her cheek to her nose to wipe it clean as well, bumping the chain on her nose in the process.
When her face is free of cocoa, I know I need to step away, but I just can’t make myself do it.
Just one more second won’t hurt. I tell myself, which is true because I’m pretty sure I’m already screwed.
With her cheek in my hand, I just look at her, trying to figure out what it is about her that makes doing what I know I should so damn hard.
Speaking of hard, I don’t know that I’ve ever been harder in my life, which only helps to cement the idea that I should move away.
Jade came here for a reason, and somehow I doubt that reason was to be part of my fantasies.
Not that she needed to be here for that.
My brain was stuck on her well before she walked through the door today, but now…