Page 110 of Ruined Beta

I nod, trying to take it in and believe it. I don’t know why it’s so hard.

“What if …” I start, imagining the worst.

“What if you go start making breakfast, and I make sure our phones are fully charged?” Echo cuts me off and finishes for me. He climbs out of the bed and comes over to where I am, near the open door to the living room. His arms close around me, and his head rests on my shoulder. “She’s fine, Toshi. Spencer and E.A. are going all overprotective Alpha because we just met her.”

Okay, that does make sense. And so does making sure the phones are charged.

It’s not like any of us were concerned about that last night.

“You make breakfast,” I tell him. “I’ll charge the phones.”

And my laptop. I can hack some local security camera feeds and look for her.

“Deal,” he tells me. “But I should probably put on some clothes first so it might take a while.”

“I can wait,” I assure him.

I’m not hungry. My stomach isn’t churning like it was before he touched me and calmed me down, but I don’t usually eat until a little later in the day. Echo knows that. He doesn’t usually eat anything this early either, but he was looking for busy work to distract me and that was probably just the first thing that popped into his head.

I find my phone and Echo hands me his.

“Don’t ask me where the charger is,” he admits. “It might be in the office.”

“I have spares,” I remind him.

He’s always losing his.

There must be six or seven chargers hiding somewhere. I’ve never come across them, and I’ve searched the whole apartment and every nook and cranny of the office.

“What food are you in the mood for?” he calls from the bedroom as I get the spare chargers from the drawer under the TV stand.

“I don’t know,” I call back. “You pick.”

He’s a good cook, so anything he makes will taste good, even if I’m not especially hungry.

“You think the Thai place would deliver to our back door?” he calls back.

I can’t help but laugh. “I thought you were going to cook for me.”

He appears at the bedroom doorway, wearing one of Spencer’s grey T-shirts and a pair of white boxer shorts that probably don’t belong to him, either. “If my mate wants me to cook for him, I’ll cook for him.”

“While wearing Spencer’s clothes?” I ask, as I plug in his phone and set it down on the TV stand.

He shrugs. “Grease stains don’t even show on this fabric. My clothes are too expensive to cook in.”

I shake my head at him. “I think Spencer will notice if you stain his shirt.”

“You think I haven’t done this before?” He smiles at me. “This is basically my cooking outfit. Chef Echo, at your service, Toshi Takahashi.”

He bows, and heads for the kitchen, calling back, “If you don’t tell me what you want, I’ll make something boring!”

I’d really like to know what Echo’s version of boring is.

“Pancakes!” I call out.

I don’t care what he makes, but I know he wants to be told what to make, so I had to think of something. I plug my phone in just as the battery completely dies. The screen flashes back on as I set it down on the TV stand.

“And?” Echo shouts, peeking out of the kitchen doorway, with raised eyebrows.

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