Page 81 of Sin

Angela apologized profusely about the lack of main course while everyone piled sides onto their plates. We assured her it was fine. If anything, everyone looked rather… relieved.

Since I wasn’t sure if London had only been worried about the turkey, I made sure to be modest when serving myself. I scooped myself a little bit of mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll. Heeding London’s warning, however, I didn’t eat anything. Instead, pushing my food around my plate to make it look like I had.

Seemed like I wasn’t the only one doing so either. Most everyone was pretending to eat, smiling at Angela whenever she caught their eye.

I watched as Nick dipped his fork into his mashed potatoes and took a hesitant bite. As he chewed, Nick’s face paled.

I watched in fascination as he jumped to his feet and rushed into the kitchen. He didn’t even bother grabbing a cup. He turned on the faucet and lapped at the water like his mouth was on fire.

“How much garlic did you put in these potatoes?” Nick asked between gulps of water.

Angela frowned. “I only did three things of garlic. Like the recipe said.”

“Three things? Like cloves?” Eva asked, eyeing her mashed potatoes in suspicion.

Appearing confused, Angela’s brows scrunched. “Isn’t a clove just garlic?”

“A clove is one of the little segments making up the head of garlic,” Sarah clarified.

“Oh.” Angela eyed the bowl of potatoes. “Oh.”

“Are you saying you added three heads of garlic?” Mare asked in fascination, like Angela was a new species of human.

Nodding, Angela released a sigh. “Yes, I suppose I did. At least you’ll scare off any vampires,” she teased.

“And everyone within breathing distance,” Nick muttered under his breath.

Sarah coughed before taking her own sip of water. And like the saint she was, she smiled and took another large bite. “I like it. I love garlic.”

Angela took a bite of the potatoes and frowned. “Maybe we should order some pizza.”

“Already did, dear,” Rob said.

The doorbell rang as if planned, and Angela rolled her eyes as she grabbed a very wet looking Nick away from the sink and dragged him toward the front door. “Come help me carry the pizza, Nicholas.”

They returned a couple minutes later with several pizza boxes and two-liters of soda.

Throughout dinner, I caught Sarah sending London plenty of secret glances. I knew he was aware, since whenever she looked his way, he stiffened. But he never met her gaze.

Angela and Rob were nice, if not a little odd. It was easy to see why Bennett had taken to them. They definitely seemed to encourage his chaotic antics.

I stayed mostly quiet as everyone chatted about this and that, finding myself slightly uncomfortable. I’d always been social growing up. I loved to party and spend all my free time with friends. But being here, surrounded by both familiar and unfamiliar faces, only made me want to flee.

I wondered if being so isolated in the prison and spending so much of my time alone in my cell left me with more issues than I’d realized.

Just as Mare finished eating her pizza, Allie popped up beside her, actually causing the blue-haired girl to jump.

“How do you wipe your butt?” Allie asked, cocking her head and looking pointedly at Mare’s nails.

“Allison!” Sarah said in mortification.

Instead of looking irritated, Mare’s hazel eyes held amusement. “Very carefully.”

Allie nodded as if that made all the sense in the world. Then she asked, “And why are two of your nails short?”

Mare smiled deviously. “Because when two girls like each other sometimes they—”

London jumped to his feet and reached over to clamp a hand over her mouth before she could finish talking. “Ixnay on the sex talk,” he gritted out. “She’s six and doesn’t know what sex is,” he hissed too low for Allie to hear. “So unless you’re planning to tell her about the birds and the bees…”

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