Page 71 of Betrayed

Deciding to be productive, I went to the kitchen and started prepping for dinner. I peeled and cut potatoes, wonderingif Blake liked roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

I turned on the oven before separating a few cloves of garlic from the bulb and smearing them with olive oil. Focusing harder than required, I trimmed and seasoned the chicken breasts and put them back in the fridge to rest while I waited for the oven to heat up.

“Here goes nothing,” I said to the pot of potatoes as I turned the burner on.

“What?” she called through the door after I knocked.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m making dinner; it’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”

I hate long pauses.

Assuming she was ignoring me, I turned to walk away. Before I lifted my foot, I heard, “Okay, I’ll be out in a minute.”

It was a small victory, but I’d take it.

Chapter 36

Blake

Iwaited until I was sure AJ had walked away before going to the bathroom to wash my face. Again. I’d been crying off and on all day and my cheeks were dry from the salt.

Red lines filled the whites of my eyes; the surrounding skin was puffy and swollen. No amount of washing could fix that.

I don’t want him to see me like this. Not that I was overly vain, but still.

My stomach rumbled, pissed I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Squaring my shoulders, I told myself I could face him as I walked down the hall.

My stomach didn’t just rumble when the smell of roasted garlic and sautéing chicken hit my nose, it growled like a starving wolf.

I can do this. I can act like a civil human being and pretend my eyes don’t look like I’ve been crying all day. I had to because there was no telling what my body would do if I didn’t feed it.

“It smells good in here.”Nothing to see here, folks, just polite conversation.

AJ turned at the sound of my voice. His eyes roamed up and down, pausing on my face. I saw something flicker in his eyes, but it was gone before I could identify it.

“Thanks. I hope you like chicken and garlic mashed potatoes,” he said.

“I do. Anything I can do to help?” I asked. It felt like the right thing to do, even if my heart wasn’t in it.

“Want to set the table while I finish up?”

“Sure.”

So far, so good, but in a few minutes, we’d be sitting across from one another. And just because he hadn’t said anything yet, didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

AJ plated our meals and set them on the table before taking his seat.

Hoping to hide my eyes, I avoided making eye contact.

“Dig in,” he said, picking up his fork. “I wasn’t sure if you’d like as much garlic as I do, so I went light.”

“Thanks, it looks delicious.” AJ’s idea of light garlic was enough to make it the predominate scent.

The seasoned chicken looked fancy for a safe house meal, so I tried it first. It was so good, I involuntarily moaned with pleasure.

“I’ll take that as a sign of approval.” He chuckled.

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