Page 175 of Dark Love

He gives it a squeeze and pulls me in closer.

If I hadn’t spent all that time at Vex’s apartment, Payne’s would have floored me. They seem to have the same designer who loves smooth metallics and dark colors.

“Hey.” Payne stands by the door.

But my eyes move past him, to the woman sitting on the couch watching us with haunted eyes. Is she anorexic or did he starve her? Because people aren’t naturally that thin.

Do not flinch. Do not show the fear that’s swirling in the pit of your belly. “Hi.” I wave to her, walking away from the men. “My name is Prue.”

“Imogene.” She tries to smile but fails.

“Do you like cinnamon?”

“Love it.” She glances at the container.

Instead of walking over to the kitchen, I sit down next to her, careful not to crowd her space. “Whenever I wasn’t feeling well, my mother made me cinnamon toast. It was just a little cinnamon and sugar on white bread. Nothing fancy. Nothing that should fix anything, but it worked every single time.”

“Is that what you brought me?”

“Absolutely not. But I did bring over the best cinnamon sugar bread that I’ve ever tasted, because if this much sugar doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.” I lift off the cover and the space fills with the warm,sweet scent.

“It smells good enough to make me believe you, but I’ve tasted some really amazing bread.”

And the gauntlet has been thrown down. “Oh really. This will ruin you for all other bread.”

“Impossible.” She tugs off a corner and pops it into her mouth. “Mmmmm” Imogene sinks back into the massive couch cushions.

Not to be left out of the sweet bliss, I take a piece too. It’s the perfect balance of light airy bread with a slightly crispy butter crust and gooey melted cinnamon sugar.

“When I was down there, I never thought I’d eat food like this again…”

***

“You look tired. We stayed there too long.” Vex does overprotective thunderous vibes well.

That’s because Imogene’s experience is enough mental load to take the energy out of anyone. I turn to him. “You saved her because of me.”

“Yeah.”

“If it were me, would you question how many minutes someone stayed with me to offer comfort?”

“Dahl.”

“Exactly. So I’ll give her as much time as she needs. But more than that, I liked her. She seems like a nice woman. Do you know how many friends I have?”

He shrugs. “No. You haven’t introduced me to any.”

“That’s because I don’t have any friends… well, Max might sorta be one. But it’s not the same having guy friends as it is having girl friends.”

“Why don’t you have any?”

It’s my turn to shrug mostly because I can’t answer that without explaining my teen years to him. Those are better forgotten.

“What about those two women that were at my club with you?”

“We’re friendly, but… I don’t know. Maybe we’ll become friends eventually. That’s beside the point. You can never have enough friends, and I’d like Imogene to be one.”

Vex’s brow wrinkles.

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