I glanced between him and the two omelettes I’d already cooked. “How did you know I wasn’t going to?”
“You are selfless. In your head, you do not want to eat Cam’s food in case he needs it more.”
“That sounds more misguided than selfless.”
“The result is the same.” Alexei slid the board with the leftover mushrooms closer to me. “Cook.”
I liked the way he ordered me around, and it didn’t occur to him for one second that I might tell him to go fuck himself. I was used to people—my brothers, even—dancing around me. Only Orla regularly called me on my shit, and she didn’t do it like this. She was nicer about it.
Nicer than I deserved.
I made the omelette. Then I stared at it, and Alexei did too, until Cam cleared his throat from the doorway.
“The fuck are you two doing?”
Alexei turned slowly to face him but said nothing.
I stayed where I was and found some words. “You need to eat.”
Cam came closer—I felt him. My skin tingled and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. How the hell did he still do this shit to me, when being around Alexei seemed so fucking normal?
Because you’re not normal. And neither is Alexei. Freaks and geeks love company.
Cam slid an arm around my waist. His hands were still too cold and I tried not to flinch.He should be warm by now. “You never told me you could cook.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Alexei?”
“He doesn’t look murderous enough.”
Alexei raised an eyebrow. “My cooking is better than your jokes.”
“I wasn’t joking. I’ve seen you cook before, remember? Though, I suppose if you ain’t doing it now, I’m not dying.”
“Do you feel like you are dying, Cam?”
Cam grunted while I absorbed their back and forth. It wasn’t exactly banter, but it flowed like they’d been lovers for a lifetime. And despite the tension Cam had been carrying for months—years—still seeping out of him, I felt the strange peace Alexei brought him. Understood it, because Alexei gifted me that too.
“No one’s dying.” I slipped out of Cam’s hold and passed him a plate. “Except you if you don’t eat. Or whoever gets in your way.”
Cam turned his grumpy scowl on me. “Was it laughing gas they knocked you out with?”
“You think I’m funny, boss?”
His frown deepened. “Don’t call me that.”
Okay.
I let him glare at me because I liked it. Angry Cam was beautiful—his coal-dark eyes lit by honest fire. Cos that’s what he was: honest. I rarely looked at him and didn’t know what he was feeling.
What he wasthinkingwas a different story, but specifics didn’t always matter.
Alexei stepped closer and placed a fork on Cam’s plate. “Sit down.”
Cam held my stare a moment longer, then followed Alexei to the kitchen table.
I trailed after them, then remembered my breakfast and went back for it.
Alexei had left his behind too. I grabbed it and took it to the table, sensing Cam’s gaze on me.
