Page 22 of Purgatory
I manage to snooze for a little bit when suddenly there’s a knock at the door.
“Go away...”
“Aly... hey, sorry to bother you but you’re with me today and we gotta get going...”
“Who is ‘me’?” I ask. I know it isn’t Mr. Broodypants with his deep, seductively dark and annoyingly sexy voice but, still, I’m not up for these boys today. Any of them. My bright spirit shot all to hell the night before for trying to help.
“It’s Hawk... If it helps, I brought muffins...,” he sings the last bit. He’s probably dancing with a tray of them, trying to lure me out like the Pied Piper. Shmuck.
I make no sound in response and he continues, still sing-songing, “They’re strawberry and chocolate....”
Fuck me in my hormonal ass... it had to be chocolate....
“Ugh...Fine...Give me five minutes...”
With a groan, I peel myself out of my cocoon of safety and put on my shorts. I make a mental note to find some new clothes since these and the guys’ clothes that randomly seem to find themselves in here, are pretty much all I have for the moment. Taking my time, I use the bathroom, brush my teeth and put my hair into a messy topknot style bun before I tromp down the stairs and into the kitchen where Hawk is waiting with the muffins still in hand. I take one, mutteringthank youand move to sit at the island where I pick at my food like it offended me but, at the same time, silently praising whoever made it because, damn everything that isn’t fair, it’s delicious.
“How’re you feeling this morning?”
I shrug and give him a “meh” in response, not really wanting to converse in my state.
“Did you sleep well?” He continues.
I eyeball him, ignore his prodding and go back to eating my food.
“How’s the muffin?” He nods towards the already half eaten muffin in front of me. “Jax made them. He must have noticed your sweet tooth ‘cause herarelymakes the sweet stuff for breakfast.”
Sheesh, what’s with the twenty questions, already?
Honestly, what is it with people and needing to fill silence with unnecessary noise? Maybe some people just enjoy the quiet. Maybe some people don’t want to talk. Maybe some people don’t want to get out of bed to come and have delicious baked goods made by a stupid dick face who ruined my night even though I was just trying to help and also happens to be gorgeous and I want to climb his tall, God-like body like a tree and do nasty, unmentionable things to. No, I prefer the silence of the void right now to the thought of scaling Mount Jax, thank you very much.
I break another piece off of the muffin and bring it to my mouth, narrowing my eyes at him and refusing to acknowledge how good the muffin really is. It’s fucking delicious by the way. Did I say that yet? Yes? Fuck it, it’s true. Damn Jax and his stupid culinary skills.
All of a sudden, for no reason whatsoever, Hawk puts on the goofiest smile. I look around myself and the room, wondering if I’m missing something and come up empty. Looking back, he hasn’t dropped the face.
“What?” I say to him, confused by his expression. He doesn’t answer though, just continues with the silly face. Not able to help myself, I look around again.What the hell is going on here?
“Seriously, what’s with the face?”
Still no response from the house jester. His stare and smile never wavering.
I shake my head as I look up at him, stifling a giggle and making my own screwed up face in my attempt. Screw him. I don’t want to laugh today. I just want to do what I need to do and go back to sleep.
“Come on, dude, what’s so funny?” I ask, because, apparently, curiosity killed the cat as well as my sense of humor this morning.
“You sure you want to know? It might ruin your mood...”
I quirk an eyebrow at him and he leans in closer. I can feel his breath on my ear and it makes a shiver coast down my spine. Seconds pass and he still doesn’t say anything, just stays there, perched near my ear like a parrot with laryngitis. The anticipation is killing me as I wait for him to say something,anything. Finally, he grants me mercy and whispers the last word I could have possibly imagined he’d say at that moment.
“Falafel...”
That’s it. One word. He just lets it linger in the air like it’s the answer to everything. His smile becomes even more dramatic, extending ear to ear as he bites down on his lower lip, stifling his own laughter to his personal lunacy. Completely confused and unable to hold it in anymore, my mouth tilts into a reluctant smile and I snort out an embarrassing huff of a laugh.
“What??” I gawk, choking through my giggle.
“You heard me... falafel.”
I laugh even louder at the utter ridiculousness of it. Why am I cracking up over a word likefalafel?That thought makes my reaction even louder and my belly starts to hurt from the nonsense of it all.
