Page 93 of Cross To Bear

“Something to eat or a new movie to watch,” Bjorn added.

“Or you just need us to run you a bath.” Crash waggled his eyebrows. “That was fun the other day.”

“Whatever you need—” Hawk started to say.

“A day of peace and quiet?” I suggested gently. “I love…” I heard the sharp intake of their breaths. “Having you guys around, but sometimes all a girl needs is a soft couch, the remote and a Netflix password.”

“OK.” Razor forced himself to nod. “Well, keep your phone on you and send us updates. We set up the group chat.”

“I will.” I leaned back with a smile, and he dropped down to kiss me, the others stepping forward to do the same. Then once they were out of the house, I put my plan into place.

“Just through here, thanks,” I told the grocery delivery guy. He’d taken pity on me when he saw my crutches and offered to put the supplies I’d ordered in the kitchen for me. Once he was done, I surveyed the ingredients and then got chopping.

I was a reasonable cook. Admittedly, I didn’t make my own stock for dishes like Hawk did, settling for the stuff that came in a container, but people had complimented me on meals I’d made before so hopefully I’d do OK this time, because Mal and I had come up with a plan.

“Steak and blowjobs day,” she said, giving me a nudge. “It’s a national holiday made especially for men. You can’t tell me your boy wouldn’t love both ideas. A big slab of meat to chew on while you go to work on his ‘meat’, if you know what I mean.” Mal winked at me.

“What? No, I don’t. So cook him a steak and then—”

“Get under the table and suck his dick,” she said. “Seems like the way to any guy’s heart.”

But was it the way to Hawk’s? I didn’t know, tempted to ask Crash, but something stopped me. I wanted them all to be surprised and hopefully impressed by my initiative, because I’d bought enough food for everyone. Would I be able to suck four dicks in rapid succession? Maybe not, but I’d give a good college try. Right now, though, I started working on the marinade for the steak. Then I prepped vegetables, a few salads and even a simple dessert. Cooking was awkward as hell while using crutches and my leg ached traitorously, reminding me of the doctor’s advice to keep off it as much as possible, but he didn’t understand.

I felt like an arsehole.

That I’d held them off for this long, that I’d resisted the undeniable pull between me and the sleuth. I knew why, it all made sense in my head, but I felt like I’d just maxed out the sleuth’s emotional credit card and I needed to start making some repayments. So when I heard the sound of the key in the front door, my heart leapt in my throat. Would they like what I’d made? Would they actually be home when they said they would be? Surely they’d want to hang back and have drinks, talk shit with the other workers instead? But sure enough, as soon as 5:30 PM came around, the door opened.

“Jesus, something smells fucking amazing. Did you leave something in the slow cooker, Hawk?”

“No.”

Just a simple response, but it was uttered in a terse tone that had me freezing where I was. Probably because Hawk rounded the corner, taking in the discarded shopping bags and the mess I’d made, because I was about to start cleaning up, his brows drawing down in a frown.

“What did you do?” He picked me up bodily, pulling me away from the cooktop and setting me down on the counter. “How long have you been on your feet? And why—”

I silenced him by pressing a finger to his lips, his frown deepening.

“I wanted to do something nice for you.” I looked past him to where the others all hung around the door like kids watching their parents fight. “For all of you, so can you go into the bathroom and wash up for dinner?”

“You made. Dinner.” My smile faltered as Hawk ground that out, his eyes blazing bright gold.

“Um… yeah?” Out of all the emotions I expected to feel when they got home, fear wasn’t one of them. I stared right back at him, wanting, willing him to understand what this was. “You’ve cooked for me—”

“I fucking love cooking for you.” He snapped that out with such violence I flinched back instinctively until I made out the meaning of his words. “It makes something… settle inside me, looking after you.” Hawk shook his head, seeming to realise that he was making a scene. “It’s not a burden. I just really like doing it.”

“And I like looking after people I care about too.” His eyes jerked up to meet mine. “Yeah.” I shoved a finger into his chest. “You.” I cast my gaze wider, taking in all of them then. “You guys have gone out of your way to make me feel safe, cared for, supported, and a whole lot of sexy, but I…” My shoulders rose and fell. “I wanted to do the same.”

“So how about you stop terrifying our mate?” Crash’s hand went to his brother’s shoulder before he dragged him back. “The food smells amazing, Maddie, but the stink of fear is ruining that. We’ll go and wash all the work crap off and get dressed in something nice for our girl.”

“Something comfortable,” I amended, thinking about the second part of the night. “No need to get dressed up all fancy at home.”

Crash needed to drag his brother away. Hawk’s eyes kept going around the kitchen, seeing what I’d made so far as his fingers flexed, wanting to jump in and help, change, amend what I’d done, but he left when the others stepped in, steering him bodily into the shower. I got down from the bench very, very gingerly and then went to work, finishing off the meal.

“Steak dinner…” Bjorn groaned as he saw the plates being brought into the dining room. Razor and Crash had taken over that duty, pointing out that I was not up to carrying plates and walking on crutches at the same time. “I could get used to this.”

But would he still think that after ‘dessert’? I wondered, a little secret smile playing on my lips.

“This is incredible, Maddie,” Crash said, sitting down opposite me with his own plate.

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