Page 42 of Saints & Sinners
Her brows drew in together. She was confused. So was I.
“I want you to stay here,” Brandon said, taking the brunt of my words with him as both Grace and I looked over at him. “I also know that you would never willingly hurt someone. I mean, I wasn’t with you at the time, but you’re Grace.” He chuckled. “The worst you’ve done so far is take too long in the shower.”
I smirked at the memory, and Grace gave him a shaky smilethat never quite reached her eyes.
“I didn’t actually shower for that long,” she whispered, making Brandon frown. “I just got out and let the water keep on running while I got ready. It worked though, huh?”
Brandon blinked at her and then he started to laugh. His eyes creased with unkept humor, and I watched as that smile on Grace finally reached her Bambi eyes.
Chapter Twenty–Two
“Lucas!” My breath came in quick gasps as I shot up from the bed and glanced around my bedroom. I ran a hand through my damp curls, the image of Lucas’s lifeless body still vivid behind my eyelids. I swallowed, trying to calm the pounding in my chest. A nightmare wasn’t the best way to wake up to, especially one that involved your recently deceased friend.
I shook my head, blinking away the tears threatening to push through and swung my legs over the bed. It was barely 7 o’clock in the morning, but the kitchen light was already on. As I padded barefoot toward it, the unmistakable sizzle of something frying filled the air before a waft of bacon hit my nose.
Hunter stood at the stove, spatula in one hand while moving with the kind of focus he had on everything else. He was shirtless, his combat jacket tossed over a nearby chair, and the muscles in his back flexed as he shifted.
My chest began pounding again.
“You’re cooking?” My voice came out squeakier than I had intended it to, and I mentally wanted to hit myself.
“Morning to you too, Bambi,” he said without turning around. “Figured someone should make sure we didn’t starve.”
I crossed my arms, looking at a stack of plates sitting on thecounter. The smell of eggs and toast lingered in the air. “Any updates from the Celestials?”
His movements faltered for a fraction of a second before he flipped the eggs as if he were on an episode of MasterChef. “Nothing yet,” he said quietly.
I nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. I’d hoped I would wake up today and for my nightmare to just be that. A nightmare. But I wasn’t so fortunate in that department.
“How are you holding up?” he asked, glancing at me. His grey eyes locked on mine, searching, and I immediately stiffened under his gaze.
“I’m doing fine.” A lie if he ever saw one.
He raised an eyebrow. “Sure, you are.”
We stared at each other, the silence stretching longer than it should. I think he was waiting for me to fess up and tell him that I was far fromfine, but just as I was about to do that, Brandon burst into the kitchen, his blonde hair looking like a bird’s nest.
“It smells so fucking good out here.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he peered at the breakfast buffet Hunter had cooked up.
Hunter shot him an annoyed look. “Here’s your vegetarian breakfast,” he grumbled, pushing a plate of grilled tomatoes and mushrooms toward Brandon.
Brandon squinted at it. “You call this a fry-up? Where are the hash browns? The beans? The brown sauce!”
“I’m not your personal chef. You want your hash browns? Get Silas to buy the food next time.”
“Silas would just spend our monthly allowance within the first five minutes if he went shopping.”
Hunter shrugged. “Not my problem. Now, if you don’t want it, I’ll eat it.”
Brandon snatched the plate before Hunter could take it back. “I didn’t say I wasn’t eating it. Hey, are those eggs runny by anychance?”
Hunter rolled his eyes as Brandon scooped up some eggs and took a bite out of his toast. I wanted to smile for a moment but the light-heartedness of it all shattered when Silas appeared in the doorway. His long dark hair was unkempt, and his expression was too cold not to go unnoticed.
Silas’s gaze landed on me, and his jaw clenched. “What’s she still doing here?”
Brandon’s smile disappeared as he dropped the plate back on the counter and walked up to Silas.
“Look,” I began, trying to ease the situation, “I know you’re angry. And about Veronica—”
