Page 234 of Hate Mates

I exhale slowly, the weight of the night settling onto my shoulders. I pull out my phone and check for updates. There’s a text from Gio, my senior guard. The message says they’re still tracking Lana's location and narrowing down possibilities. I send a brief text back instructing him to continue updating me on the hour, even if he has no new information.

I'm kicking myself for not being able to prevent this disaster. Although there was probably nothing I could have done. I hope I can do something now. Getting Lana back may make up for the past in some way.

I shrug out of my jacket and take out my guns just in case we need them.

I get the fire going in the dining room fireplace and then move to the kitchen, gathering ingredients from the well-stocked pantry. I decide to make simple cheesy spaghetti. Piper used to love that.

As I prepare the meal my mind drifts to the last time Piper and I were together. We were at her apartment at UCLA. I was trying to make her carbonara. She'd perched on the counter, stealing bites and distracting me with kisses. We'd barely eaten before ending up tangled in her sheets.

The memory burns through me, desire mixing with an ache so profound it's physical.

Fuck, what I wouldn't give to go back to that moment. She was mine. My girl.

Piper isstillmine. After being this close to her, I can't go back to how things were without her. Life was shit. Everything was shit, and I had my hands tied behind my back, unable to be with her because of the threat. It was torture for a guy like me who likes to have control.

I survived on getting reports from the men I’d left behind to keep an eye on her. It was never enough, though.Nothingwas ever enough than being with her.

I hear the water shut off as I'm finishing the sauce. By the time Piper emerges, hair damp and wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants from the emergency supplies, I've set two plates on the small dining table.

She pauses in the doorway, and I'm struck again by how beautiful she is, even now with exhaustion lining her face.

"Smells good." She approaches the table cautiously.

"Nothing fancy," I reply, pulling out her chair.

She sits and gives me a kind smile. “I still love cheesy spaghetti.”

I return her smile. “Glad to hear that.”

I sit opposite and we tuck in. For a few minutes the only sounds that fill the room are the clink of forks against the plates and the crackling fire across from us.

I watch her from beneath lowered lashes, a million things I want to say clashing around in my mind.

When her beautiful blue eyes meet mine, I notice she looks as uneasy as I feel.

“I’m sorry about your parents.” I’ve wanted to broach the subject of her family since earlier, but I knew it would be a tough conversation. Things didn't go as I hoped for Lana after Ileft. She was studying medicine en route to being a doctor. Her parents were killed a mere month after I left. That’s when she left UCLA and flew back to Chicago to take care of Lana.

“Thanks. It’s been difficult.” Her fork dangles lifelessly between her fingers.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

“Me too. It was the hardest time of my life. I’ve only just gotten things back on track. Even though I had to defer my studies for a year I was able to catch up and finish med school. I’ve just started my internship.”

She must have fought like hell to keep everything together. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that. What about you? Are your parents okay?”

"Yeah. They're okay. They're staying in Italy, and I'll be taking over the business here."

She sits straighter and gazes deeply at me. “So you’re really back then?Home.”

“Yeah. I’m home.”

She looks away as if dismissing any further conversation, pain filling her eyes once more.

The worst thing I could do is allow that awkward silence to drift back in so I decide to keep talking. Because we need to talk. “Piper…”

She sets the fork on the plate. "If it's okay, I think I may go lie down. I’m… really worried about Lana.”

---