She turned from the stove and set the plate in front of me. “I promise if you t-t-throw up, I’ll hold your hand and put a wet cloth on your head.”
“You must be stressed because you’re stuttering, babe.” I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “You never have to be stressed when you’re with me.”
She sighed and leaned into my side. “Take a bite, then. Put m-m-me out of my misery.”
I grabbed my fork and scooped up a huge bite of the rice with chicken and sauce. “It’s gonna be great, Tess.”
She put her hand over her eyes. “Just eat it already.”
I shook my head and lifted it to my nose. It smelt okay. No funkiness permeating off of it, and the color was right, also.
I shoved it in my mouth, and deliciousness hit my tongue.
It was absolutely perfect.
If I wouldn’t have known better, I would have thought that Meg made it. “Holy fuck.”
Tess dropped her hand from her eyes. “Holy fuck, it’s good, or holy fuck, I think I need the trash can?”
I loaded more onto my fork and, this time, added a piece of broccoli. “It’s fucking good, babe.”
A huge smile spread across her lips, and I shoveled more into my mouth.
“Are you serious?” she asked. She grabbed my fork out of my hand and took a bite. Her eyes bugged out, and a giggle erupted from her lips. “That’s really good!”
I took my fork back and nodded to the stove. “Get your own plate, babe. This is all mine.” I took another bite and watched her make her own plate.
She sat down next to me and sighed. “You have no idea how relieved I am. I was sweating bullets while I stirred and stirred the sauce. She stressed me out with the warning to not stop stirring.”
I took a sip of my beer. “Well, you did it, babe. Any of the guys from the clubhouse would eat this and not even know you made it instead of Meg.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I would go that far, but I am glad that it is edible.”
“More than edible.” I finished my plate and walked to the stove to fill my plate again.
“What were you doing out on the porch?” she asked.
I sat back down at the table and stirred up the rice with the sauce. “Made a phone call.”
“Is it prying if I ask who?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Just my brother, babe.”
“What did he have to say?”
“Not a damn thing,” I laughed flatly. “I haven’t talked to him since the day out on the front porch.”
She quirked her eyebrow. “Really?”
I nodded and took a sip of my beer. “Yeah. From what I can gather from his silence, he’s not too fond of what I’m doing.”
Tess furrowed her brow. “And just what are you doing?”
“Keeping you safe.”
“And your brother thinks that is something you shouldn’t be doing?” she asked.
I didn’t want her to think she had done anything for Zig to feel that way, though. “From what I gather, I also think there is something else going on.”
“What?”
I shook my head. “I really can’t say for certain, babe. I have some theories, but I don’t think any are true.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
I again shook my head. “No, babe. Zig will tell me what is up his ass eventually. Maybe he’s just pissed that I was the first to snag a woman out of the two of us.”
“Snag a woman?” she laughed. “Is that what you bikers call it?”
“You know what I mean, babe.”
She got up and walked to the fridge. “Do you want to go see him or something?” She grabbed a can of soda and another beer for me.
“You trying to get me drunk?” I asked when she set the beer in front of me.
“Three beers mean you can’t leave, right?” she laughed. She sat back down and cracked open her soda.
“You don’t have to get me drunk to make sure I stay, Tess.”
She flitted her hand at me. “Back to your brother. Why don’t you go see him?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know where he is, and if I did, that would mean you and I would go see him. You’re not being left alone until we catch Malcom.”
She pursed her lips and grabbed her fork. “Is it weird that I forget about him? When it’s just you and me here, I don’t think about Malcom or anything outside of this house.”
“Not weird, babe. Sometimes I forget there is a psycho somewhere out there plotting to take down my family.”
“We shouldn’t forget something like that, Zag.”
We shouldn’t. My guard was down to much when I was so wrapped up with Tess. It was exactly what Zig had told me he was worried about. “I won’t anymore, babe.”
Tess smiled. “Maybe he’s gone?” she suggested. “He saw that we didn’t die in that explosion, and he thought fuck it, I’m done with my dumb plan.”