Chapter 16 ~ #3
“I’m kind of concerned about how this cake is going to turn out now,” Dominic admits, a twinkle of humor in his eyes.
"Ok." Mase claps his hands together, getting to his feet. "C'mon Angel," he whines. I laugh at the full on pout he's sporting.
I hold my hands out and he pulls me out of my tight sandwich between Dom and Jace.
Maverick quickly scoops me up when the others take too long getting up. I'm ready this time, no girly squeal in sight as I simply lace my arms around his neck.
His intense gaze falls on me as we follow Mase into the kitchen. A barely there smile graces his lips before he looks away.
I know the twins, mainly Mav, have a few trust issues.
The fact that they had such a big reaction to me being able to tell them apart.
Mase doesn't sleep, but for some reason now that Mase has slept with me a few nights, Mav isn't sleeping.
I'm not sure if the guys have noticed but he could barely keep his eyes open through lunch.
I study the dark circles under his eyes not taking away from his otherwise gorgeous features. It makes me worry that it has something to do with Mase sleeping with me. Not sleeping with me, just in a bed with me.
Why am I correcting myself? I shake my head.
Mav gives me a funny look. "You okay?"
I realise I must have actually shook my head, not just mentally.
I nod. "Mm-hmm."
Maverick doesn't look convinced but lets it go. He lowers me to my feet in the kitchen.
Mason grabs my hand, spinning me away from his brother. His excitement is evident in the way he's bouncing on his toes and grinning, his floppy hair falling over his eyes.
I can't help myself. Mase watches me contentedly when I lift my hand to brush the few stray locks out of his eyes.
"I love your hair," I tell him when he steps closer and lowers his head for me to continue running my fingers through those soft, silky strands of waviness.
"Ro, if you continue doing that then the rest of us are going to want a turn and there won't be a cake." Jace chuckles and I pout, my bottom lip wobbling.
His expression turns panicked. "No. Fuck, no! I ain't dealing with that shit." Jace turns his back so he can't see me pouting, still mumbling something about the long lasting effects.
I give up trying to hold my pout and grin. When your best friend is a guy, sometimes you have to play a little dirty.
I walk up behind him and slide my arms around him, laying my head on his back. "Come on, J," I tease, "we need to start cooking or it won't be ready."
Jace grumbles and turns in my arms. He dips his head quickly. His lips capture mine in a sinfully sexy kiss, leaving me hot and bothered when he pulls away.
He steps around me and opens the pantry door. Is he humming?!?
The guys positioned around the kitchen have wicked grins and a mysterious look that I can't ignore.
It's like they're trying to torture me.
I shake it off and open the fridge, looking for the eggs. I frown when I open the carton.
"Hey, guys. Is this all the eggs we have?" I question.
Alec comes over and peeks in. "Must be. I'll run down to the store and get another carton."
"I have enough to get started," I tell him. "It's just the second layer I'll need more for."
"It's fine," he tells me. "We need milk and a few other things anyway. Does anyone need anything?" Alec asks and the guys yell out a few non essentials that I could see Alec 'forgetting' by the look on his face. I'm pretty sure he's the only reason they eat as healthy as they do.
"I'll go with you," Dominic offers. Alec's face drops before he covers his reaction and reluctantly nods.
When they're both not looking, I mouth at Luc to go with them. He looks confused for a moment as to why before it hits him and he nods in agreeance.
Jace seems to realise what I'm doing. "Take Luc with you. Just in case you run into trouble." He sneaks a glance at me quickly. "You're all armed?"
The three of them nod. Luc being armed…that doesn't surprise me after what he’s told me. Dominic and Alec though, hell yeah.
Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested that. Should Luc really be leaving the house? I push away that lingering fear. Luc can hold his own.
Dom’s car keys jingle as he pulls them off the hook by the door. He and Alec leave via the garage door off the living room.
Alec turns and mouths 'thank you' to me. Shit, I'm not supposed to be getting in the middle of this. I'm letting my own feelings get mixed up.
The twins, Jace and I get started on the cake. It takes a while to find everything on account of none of us actually knowing where anything is kept.
I instruct the twins on how much flour and milk before turning to get the vanilla extract out of the cupboard.
The second my back’s turned, it’s like a war breaks out.
“Mason!” Maverick barks. I swivel around and struggle to keep my laughter contained.
Maverick is covered in flour. Mason’s standing on the other side of the bench wide eyed with Jace. He’s thrown the bag of flour to Mav, not realising Jace had opened it.
“Oops.” Mase winces. Once Mav gets over his shock, he grabs a handful of flour and throws it at Mase. Clearly having anticipated this reaction, Mase ducks.
Flour hits me straight in the face. I jerk back, knocking something off the shelf. Fuuuck, it even went down my shirt!
“Oh shit.” Maverick’s eyes widen.
I lift a hand and wipe as much flour as I can off my face. Jace, Mason and Maverick wait for my reaction with huge eyes.
I calmly walk over and take the bag from Maverick’s hands. The room’s completely silent. I hold the bag in my hands and stare at Maverick. I see an apology on his lips but before I can stop it, a smirk grows on my face. His eyebrows burrow.
Before he can react, I reach in and pull out a handful of flour, pegging it at him.
Maverick gawks at me, coughing when he accidentally inhales some of it. His hair’s white, and he shakes like a dog in an attempt to get it out.
“This. Means. War.” Maverick promises me through a wicked grin.
“Flour fight!” Jace cheers, snatching the bag from my hands. He grabs a handful before it gets ripped from his hands by Mase.
I duck behind the counter as flour flies above me. I crawl around the side until I see Mase’s feet. He looks down distractedly. Grinning, I pop up, yanking the bag from his hands. I squeeze the bottom of the bag and flour flies up into Mase’s face.
His hands reach out to grab me but I’m already propelling myself over the bench. There’s a twinge of pain from the pulling on my ribs. I smirk at Mase’s surprised face.
Jace reaches into the stolen bag and throws a handful back at Maverick in retaliation, snapping the twins out of their shock.
We go back and forth until the bag is empty and we’re all covered in flour. We’re breathing heavily. I look down at my clothes before the rest of the kitchen. Oh god, there’s flour everywhere.
Mason’s the first to break down and we burst out laughing.
Jace shakes his head. “Alec’s going to kill us.”
“Forget Alec,” Mase snorts, “this cake is going to be eighty percent flour.”
We all look over at the bowl of cake batter and realise half the flour thrown has ended up in the bowl.
“It’ll just be extra fluffy.” I cringe at Mav’s words and shake my head.
“That’s not how it works, Mav,” I tell him.
“Hey!” Maverick interrupts, like he’s just remembered something. “How the hell did you do that?”
I look around before realising he’s talking to me. “How’d I do what?” I ask confused.
“You vaulted over the counter like it was nothing,” Maverick says, incredulously. Oh. That.
Jace and Mason turn, waiting for my words.
I shrug, like it’s no big deal. “A friend of mine showed me it’s always good to take the most unexpected exit. Where’s the dust pan?” I change the subject, feeling uncomfortable on the conversation.
“I’ve got it, Ro,” Jace tells me, gently. He pulls it out from under the sink.
Maverick and Mason exchange one of those telepathic twin looks. I choose to ignore it.
“Do you guys wanna help me fix this?” I ask them, pulling the bowl of mixture in front of me.
“What do you need to do?” Maverick asks, peering in the bowl.
“Well because of all the added flour, we’re going to need to add a bit more of everything else to even it out,” I explain, tipping in a little more milk and Jace adds butter.
“More sugar!” The twins say in unison.
We manage to get the cake fixed and the kitchen clean before the others come home. Well…most of it.
“Why is there flour on the fridge?” Alec questions, setting the groceries on the bench. Oops.
I grab the kitchen cloth and wipe the flour we must’ve missed off the fridge.
“Things can get a little messy sometimes,” I say lightly. “By the way, you’re out of flour.”
Mav snorts in the background.
Alec pulls two bags of flour out of one of the grocery bags. He chuckles at my confusion.
“Jace texted me,” he informs me.
Luc puts several more bags on the bench before coming to stand in front of me.
“You’ve got a little…” Luc gently rubs the flour off my cheek before pressing a kiss there.
“Thanks, Luci.” I smile. He puts his arms around me. I relax into him as he leans his head on my shoulder.
“You soooo owe me for that,” he murmurs lowly in my ear.
“That bad?” I wince, feeling bad for putting him in that position.
“I don’t get it. They clearly like each other. Why can’t they just accept it instead of moping and tip toeing around each other?” Luc grumbles.
“I don’t know, Luci.”
But I do know. They’re afraid. Afraid that if they don’t work out, they’ll break up the group. Screw up their friendship.
Thinking about how I can make it up to him, I ask, “What’s your favourite food?”
Luc’s quiet for a moment. The rest of the world falls away as Luc speaks. “My mum used to make these brownies. They were chocolate and coconut. She wasn’t a good cook but she knew that recipe by heart. They were amazing,” he says, softly. My heart breaks hearing the sadness in his tone.