Page 86 of Hate Me

19

~Sebastian~

Cas tossed me the package of mozzarella and I caught it, then slapped it down on the kitchen counter.

I spun my knife in my hand and got down to finishing up my portion of the prep for lunch. Currently, slicing the mozzarella.

I shot a look at the fondant balls and the gummy worms that Sky and Caleb had left on the kitchen island when I’d threatened to confiscate them if they didn’t stop shoveling them down right before our meal.

“Can you believe they were gonna eat those for lunch? For their whole meal?”

Cas rolled his eyes as he also concentrated on seasoning the chicken cutlets with pepper and oregano. “It’s an ingrained habit for the both of them, which they’ve both fallen back into while being away from us.”

“Well, I’m gonna get them off that track.” I looked out through the closed patio doors where the two of them were chatting lightheartedly, Sky even smiling at whatever Caleb was saying while he smoked.

“One step at a time, sweetheart. We’re not overwhelming her, remember?”

“She took well to the gifts and that was a risk of being a lot to handle.”

“Those were to remind her of who she is. These other habits are crutches that she obviously feels she needs at the moment. Give it time.” He laid his hand on my shoulder. “Just like what was needed for you to turn things around.”

“Yeah,” I grunted. “I know you’re right, I just don’t like seeing her going through something even remotely similar to what I did. I know how much it hurts, how much it destabilizes and upturns your life.”

“I understand, but our immediate goal is to pull her from her sense of hopelessness.”

I nodded as I finished off with the cheese, then moved on to making the roasted red pepper strips.

She seemed to be coming around, coming back to herself and the woman we all remembered, and reacquainting herself with us.

Just really slowly and incredibly cautiously.

Since that night in the den, five days had gone by and she’d had breakfast and dinner with us each day, but she hadn’t really said much, only really responding to direct questions in our bid to engage her and pull her from her unusually quiet and reserved state.

It seemed like she was still afraid to properly connect with us again, to get too close.

As Cas started cooking the chicken, I smiled, taking in that we were almost done making our Chicken Pesto Panini lunch. Caleb was a fan of flatbread, specifically Focaccia, so he was going to love this. And I’d found out a couple of years back when Caleb and I had ordered pizza when Sky had stayed over at our place after some gaming, that she was a big fan of mozzarella and roasted peppers. And Cas and me? Well, we ate anything, albeit I was on a healthier kick lately as part of my recovery plan.

“Is she still texting that Jeremy fucker?”

“It’s been intermittent since her call with him after I returned her phone to her. Just her reassuring him that she’s fine and him doing the same with her.”

“Nothing mentioned about her mission to take down Jett?”

“No. But out of transparency, which you two insisted on so that we could rebuild her trust in us, I made her aware that I’m monitoring all communications coming in and out of the mansion, so there could be no messages regarding her mission because of that fact, rather than any intent on her part to actually drop it.”

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“It’s also why I’m aware that Caleb is having some trouble at one of his rehabilitation facilities that will require his attention in-person.”

I frowned. “He hasn’t said anything.”

“It’s a sore subject for you and I, the notion of him leaving again.”

“It would only be for a little while this time, though. Nothing like before.”

“Even so, it’s clear he’s worried about upsetting things between us now we’re back on a good path.”

“Are you gonna tell him that you know, that it’s okay with you?”

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