Page 74 of Kings & Corruption

I was so confused.

"That's…… great!" Oscar said. He laughed nervously. "You know how we love your lasagna.”

Reva beamed and turned to Rock who hurriedly replaced his expression of panic with a smile. "Totally! Your lasagna is my favorite. It's way better than mine.”

"It's no trouble at all,” Reva said, moving toward a tote bag leaning against the wall. "It's nice for me to have people to take care of.”

She sounded wistful, and I suddenly wanted to know more about her.

She crossed the kitchen and surprised me by planting a kiss on each of my cheeks. "Don't let these big lugs push you around.”

I smiled. “Not a chance.”

I already liked her and hoped she’d be around the house more often. She said goodbye to the guys and let herself out the front door.

Oscar hurried to the living room, obviously intent on something, while I stood there feeling lost.

"Is she gone?" Rock asked.

Oscar returned a minute later. “Gone."

Rock exhaled and hurried to the fridge.

“Why do I feel like I'm missing something?" I asked.

"Oh you're missing something all right," Rock said, removing the two trays of lasagna from the fridge. "You're missing a little E. coli, maybe even some botulism.”

I watched in horror as he took a spatula out of the drawer and dumped the lasagna from the first tray into the trash. "Oh my god… what are you doing?”

Oscar took the empty tray from Rock’s hand and went to rinse it in the sink while Rock started on the other one.

“Trust us,” Oscar said. “We're saving your life.”

"Or at least your palate," Rock said. "Reva is literally the worst cook in the world.”

Now it all made sense, all the glances between Rock and Oscar, Rock’s terrified expression when Reva mentioned cooking for them.

I couldn't help laughing. "Are you telling me you hate her cooking but pretend to eat it because you're afraid to tell her the truth?”

I thought of all the times they'd been brutally honest with me and couldn't help laughing that Reva had them wrapped around her finger.

"We don't want to hurt her feelings," Oscar said.

Rock looked at me accusingly. “Yeah, Willa. Reva is the nicest lady I've ever known. Do you want us to hurt her feelings?”

“Of course I don't want you to hurt Reva's feelings. I’m just saying, it's a shame to waste all that food, not to mention all the time she put into cooking it.”

“She likes cooking for us, so we let her,” Oscar said. “No harm in that.”

I shook my head and headed for the back stairs. I needed to get away from the whole scene before I forgot that the Kings were dangerous.

That I couldn’t like them.

And I still didn’t trust them.

Chapter33

Willa

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