Page 39 of Escaping the Bratva

I place my hands back in my pockets and watch with amusement as she looks over the ingredients in the cart.

“I think I’m done. We can check out.”

We check out and I load everything up in the car, but I don’t let myself relax until we’re back at the house. I carry the groceries in while Sasha gets Teddy. I head upstairs to take a shower while she starts on the food. When I come back downstairs, the smell hits me in the face and I’m nearly drooling. This is the first home-cooked meal I’ve had since prison. I’ve been relying on takeout, which hasn’t been great for my physique. I make a mental note to lay off the junk food. As I get closer to the kitchen, I see she has my small speaker on the counter. Some pop song I’ve never heard before plays through the kitchen. She swishes her hips as she drops a handful of freshly cut fries into a pot of grease.

“Need help?” I ask.

She waves over at the ground beef that has been placed in a bowl. Next to it is a row of brand-new seasonings. “You can start seasoning the meat.”

I stare at the bowl and then back to her. When I don’t make a move, she turns around and bursts out laughing. “Have you ever cooked a day in your life?”

I shake my head.

“Here, I’ll show you.”

I watch in awe as she dumps in seasoning and uses her hands to mix it all together. She shows me how to flatten them into patties and then leaves me to my own devices. I watch in amusement as she continues to dance around the kitchen, occasionally singing a few words of the song. After what feels like hours to my starving stomach, the burgers and fries are finished. Neither of us even bother to sit down. We just stand in the kitchen and eat in silence while Teddy lingers nearby, waiting for any dropped food. The kitchen is hot and cluttered with the various tools Sasha needed to cook, but I’m glad she’s the one to finally put this kitchen to use. While in prison, I had a lot of time to daydream, but even then, I couldn’t have dreamed of this kind of perfection.

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