Fighting Our Way (Broken Tracks 2)

“Yeah, get her!”

“Ahh!” My arms lift, the bowl I’m holding flying through the air as popcorn rains down on me. “What the fuck!” My heart hammers in my chest, my legs shaky as I stand up and see Nate’s smirking face as he leans against the wall behind me. His eyes are alight with laughter as he does his best to hold it in.

I hear the screaming on the TV as the man drags her into the house—I know from memory as it’s maybe the fiftieth time I’ve watched this movie.

“Why the hell would you do that?” I growl, moving closer to him, warmth seeping through the soles of my feet from walking along the warm popcorn now decorating the floor.

“Oh, come on. That was funny.” He laughs. “What are you doing watching a scary movie in the middle of the day anyway?”

I huff. “That wasn’t funny in the slightest.” Shaking my head, I pick up the remote, pausing the movie before turning back to face him. “It’s my thing, I watch horror movies in the afternoon.”

He walks around me, falling onto my sofa and shoving popcorn from the cushion beside him into his mouth. “You need a new hobby, that shit is creepy.”

Staring at him for a beat, I watch as he makes himself comfortable. “Whatever.”

Rolling my eyes when I realize he’s not going anywhere, I sit down next to him, aware of the few inches of space between us.

“Do not put that back on,” he says as I pick up the remote.

The corner of my mouth quirks up. “Are you…” I meet his gaze. “Are you scared?”

He rolls his eyes, mirroring my movement from a minute ago. “No, I am not scared. But it is creepy.”

“Mmmhmm.” I put the remote down on the arm of the sofa. “I believe you.” He raises a brow as he goes to speak but I cut him off. “What are you doing here? Tris is in the city at work.” I pause. “You know, the thing you should probably be doing, too.”

“Firstly, I know, I was just with him. And secondly, I own my own company. Being your own boss has its perks sometimes.” He finishes his sentence with a wink.

“Slacker,” I scoff, standing up and clicking the off button on the remote. “Looks like I’ll have to make myself something for lunch since you destroyed mine when you rudely encroached on my movie afternoon.”

“Oooh encroached. Using big words today, aren’t we?” He chuckles. “I like the way it just rolls off the tongue though.”

I shrug as I walk into the kitchen, picking up the box containing the memo cards and holding it up as I lean against the doorjamb. “It was my word of the day, gotta get it in somewhere.”

I hear him chuckle. “Is that a box of words?”

“Yep.” I keep my gaze connected with his, seeing intrigue and something else flash in their depths. “Three hundred sixty-five memo cards, each with a big word for you to use each day.”

He pushes up off the sofa and walks toward me, taking them out of my hands and looking through them. “Hey, these are pretty cool. I’ll have to get some.”

“Yeah, well…” I raise a brow when I pause, waiting until he looks back up at me. “Cool is my middle name.”

With a snort, he says, “And you’ve just made them so uncool in the space of seconds.”

“Pssshh.” I pluck them out of his hands, accidently touching his palm and ignoring the sensation traveling up my arm at the contact. “They’ll always be cool.” Placing them back in their rightful place, I spin around, aware of his eyes watching me intently. “You want a sandwich?” I ask, practically shoving my whole body into the refrigerator when I open the door.

“Sure. What can I do?”

“Erm…” I clear my throat, grabbing a tomato and holding it out to him without moving my face. “You can cut this.” I start pulling all the stuff out. Handing him an avocado, I tell him to cut that too and when he looks at me like I’ve gone mad I say, “Trust me.” I can practically hear his thoughts from here—Amelia, the carb-loving woman eating an avocado.

He shrugs as he places it on the chopping board and plucks a knife out of the block. My stomach dips when I realize the one I used to open the package earlier is still sitting on the coffee table.

Swallowing tightly, I place the fresh loaf of bread I baked overnight on another chopping board before cutting four slices. The smell wraps around us and causes my stomach to rumble.

Why did I forgo this for popcorn earlier?

Spreading garlic mayonnaise on all four slices, I place cold bacon leftover from yesterday’s breakfast on top before ripping off some leaves from a baby gem lettuce and heading to the sink to wash them.

My gaze flits over to Nate as he pulls the avocado apart from where he sliced it down the middle. I squeak when the water jumps off a leaf and hits my face before turning toward a laughing Nate.