Page 13 of Forged By Sacrifice

ME: Then come to D.C. and put a hotel on your Black American Express Card.

MALIK: Now you are sore.

ME: **laughing emoji**

MALIK: Why is this funny?

ME: I don’t want the price that would come with having one of your dad’s credit cards.

Malik didn’t respond.

ME: Hey. I was teasing.

No response. Typical Malik. If he didn’t get his way, or felt slighted, you wouldn’t hear from him for weeks. Now I’d have to send Raisa a message and get her to smooth things over.

Raisa and I got each other better than Malik and I ever had. Maybe because I understood wanting a dream the way Raisa wanted hers. She was majoring in bio and chemical engineering at Stanford so she could find a way to solve the world’s energy problems. She had bigger goals than I ever had. I wasn’t sure what Malik’s goals were besides spending money. I wasn’t sure why he wanted to stay with me instead of a fancy hotel with fancy foods and fancy people, anyway. It was more his style.

I hauled myself out of the bed in the room I’d chosen because it had a view of the ocean from the window and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before making my way to the kitchen. I was surprised it was just Eli and Mac.

“Morning. Where’s Ava?”

Eli and Mac both turned to me, Mac’s hand twitching and splattering the bacon he was holding back into the pan of grease. He swore. Eli smiled.

“Morning. She was really dragging when we got home last night, so I didn’t want to wake her.”

“Will I be in your way if I grab coffee?” I asked, eyeing the Keurig with desire.

Both men shook their heads. I tried to squeeze around them the best I could, but Mac?who was closer to the pot?and I kept bumping into each other. Our bodies talking.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” I asked Eli once I’d backed out of the kitchen.

“I told them I’d be in late today.”

The two men worked quietly together in the kitchen. I watched, admiring their sureness with each other. Their comfort. As if they’d done this many times before. Just as the food was ready, Ava emerged from the bedroom with dark circles under her eyes and a face so pale it looked eerie.

She put her finger to her nose. “What on earth did you cook?”

Eli’s face broke out into a smile, and he came around the counter to give her a tender kiss, as if he hadn’t just spent the night tucked up next to her.

“You look sick. Are you sick?”

“That smell is about ready to do me in. What did you cook?” she repeated.

“It’s bacon and French toast. You love bacon.”

She backed away toward the fresh air coming in through the French doors. “That doesn’t smell anything like bacon or French toast.”

We all looked at her funny.

Eli followed her out onto the deck. Their voices were quiet, but we could still hear them, which made me realize how Mac had been able to hear us the day before when Ava and I had talked about the two men. It made me flush a little in embarrassment. I looked up at Mac, and he winked at me. I was tempted to roll my eyes but didn’t.

Eli was saying, “Go back to bed. I’ll call in.”

“We have guests. I’m not going back to bed. And you don’t have to call in. I’ll be fine. It must have been the beans last night.”

“We all ate the beans, Ava. It wasn’t the beans.” I could hear the worry in his voice.

“She really should go back to bed,” Mac said as he dished up a plate and handed it to me. “More bacon?”

---