Page 103 of Scrimmage

We continue like that, passing back and forth while Koda sits between us brooding, until the doorbell rings. Food appears in front of us. Penny starts to reach for it while Koda goes to get plates and silverware, but I stop her.

“Wait. He’s got a thing. Let him do the weird thing. I’ve pushed him pretty far.”

She nods, her eyes glassy. “I can’t fucking wait to see this.”

Koda returns, setting the plates neatly onto the table. Then he starts organizing the takeout containers while Penny watches in awe.

“What do you want to eat, Penny?” he asks.

“Alfredo.”

He opens one of the boxes and doles it out, handing it to her. He doesn’t even ask me before putting a mixture of pasta on a plate and shoving it at me.

“So you’re a control freak?” she asks between bites.

“Fucking rude. I thought you were nice,” he growls.

She flashes that sweet smile and Koda frowns. “Common mistake.”

The dryer beeps, and I start to get up.

“Ashland. Do not fucking touch it. I already know. Okay? I already know.”

“I could get used to this,” Penny says after he walks away.

“Don’t,” I warn her. “In three months tops he’ll get tired of it.”

“Do we have to drive him away?” she whines.

I stab my fork into a meatball. “It’s better if we control the timeline.”

“Whatever you want to believe.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, that guys don’t do your laundry when you make them mad.”

“It’s sex. Don’t read into it.”

“Then you must be giving him the fucking gluck gluck because we would have slammed the door in our own faces the second we saw the car.”

I roll it over in my mind as Koda returns.

“Two more loads.” We both snicker. “Fucking children. Laugh it up, Ash.”

“That sounded ominous,” Penny comments.

“It fucking is." He glares at me with a hungry fire. Oh shit, I’m going to pay for this. I didn’t think this through.

“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” she growls.

“Too late.”

Penny bites her lip and looks at me with a question of worry. I roll my eyes, as if it’s not a big deal that I’m letting him choke the life out of me and have me partake in every single thing that should trigger me.

He interrupts me before I can ask. “Yes, I’m going to bring the clean laundry in.”

The door opens and Alexi picks his way through the laundry left on the floor. “What the fuck is going on in here?” His eyes land on us sitting on the couch and amusement is splayed across his face in a goofy grin. “Not who I expected to see.”

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