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“You betcha.”
As she says it, I recognize the sweet smell of chocolate chip cookies in the air. Nothing fancy, just straight up Nestle Toll House because that’s how we roll. Why mess with perfection when the recipe is already on the back? “It’s kind of early for cookies, isn’t it?” It’s not even technically afternoon yet.
“Pffft. It’s never too early for cookies.” She pulls away, eyeing me. “Are you sure you’re my best friend?”
I push her shoulder playfully. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She grabs my wrists. “Oh God. He broke you, didn’t he? Must have been that good dick.” She drops my arms and spins on her heels. “There’s only one way to find out,” she calls out over her shoulder.
Curious, I follow her into the little kitchen. She uses a spatula to take a cookie that’s still on the oven sheet and hands it over. The morsels are gooey, and when I grab it, the cookie is still warm. I take a huge bite, and the treat practically melts in my mouth. “So good,” I moan.
Jaz throws her hands into the air, spatula and all. “Yay, she’s back.”
I roll my eyes but then I decide this is exactly what I need. I smile at her, and she grins. Taking a few cookies from the tray, she sets them on a plate and leads me back to the living room. Looking around the place, I still get homey vibes, but it’s not exactly the same. I still love the apartment. I love Jaz. I love what we did with the place, but nothing can compare to how much I loved that house on that side street where Jax and Finn live.
It seems so dumb to even think it, but I felt at home there from the beginning. It’s a settle-down type of place. Jaz and I never thought of this apartment as a forever kind of situation. It was just our in-between apartment. The place you live before you find husbands and make a life somewhere else.
Finn’s house gave me all of those nesting vibes. And fuck, I didn’t know I was even looking for something like that. Here I was, prowling the guy because he looked damn sexy in that MMA outfit, but what I got was so much more.
“He’ll come back,” Jaz says.
She knows me too damn well. “He will,” I agree. “I just don’t know if I factor into anything when he does. Cole probably scared him off.” I shake my head. “I’ll actually be surprised if he doesn’t run away screaming, Jaz. He’s smart. Hell, if the situations were reversed, I would’ve been out from the beginning.”
“Luckily, he’s not you.”
“You don’t even know him,” I mutter.
She runs her hands through her cute bob. “Yeah, but I know you, and anyone who runs away from you is an idiot. Plus, you’ve just told me he’s super smart, so...” She shrugs. “I’m right.” I shove another warm cookie into my mouth and lean against the velvet couch. Jaz pulls her feet up on the cushion, hugging her knees to her chest. “Did Cole talk to you this morning?”
“Barely,” I grumble. “The worst part about it is that I know why he did what he did so I’m finding it really fucking hard to be mad at him when I really want to just throat punch his ass. On the flip side, a part of me is really happy that I have my brother back, and he’s here to watch after me.”
“But like, totally lame that he ran your guy off.”
“Exactly!” I sigh. “I told you he thought Finn was skipping out on me, right?”
Jaz laughs. “I’ve met him for all of five minutes, and I know he’s not like that.”
I stuff the last bit of cookie in my mouth and wipe my hands against each other to get rid of the crumbs. “Well, take my mind off everything. How are you and Jared? You were surprisingly quiet about your sexcapades while I was gone.”
She blushes.
Ha! I knew it. “Well?” I press.
She shrugs coyly. “I just really like him. He’s sweet. The sex is good. He’s not a gang banger or a loser.”
“All positives.”
“He asked if he could come over today. I told him I didn’t know...” She avoids my gaze, picking at the settee.
“I’m fine if he comes over,” I tell her, reaching out with my foot to give her a nudge. “You know I don’t care. I have shit to do anyway. Talk to boss lady about going back to work and all that.”
“Pining over Finn...” she adds. I flip her off, and she grins. “Cole’s really going to let you just go back to your life? What about a guard?”
I’ve been wondering that same thing. It seems like going guardless would be too good to be true. “I think they’ll be around sometimes. I don’t know. I didn’t ask him. He understood that I was not in the mood. We’ll probably just go back to the way it was before. If I want to go out, I have to let him know. But when I’m going back and forth to work, he won’t bother me about it.”
“That’s good, at least,” she offers. “Did he say what happened?”
I shiver. I still see what could’ve been blood spatter on his shirt when he left the room that night. Sometimes, I kick myself for not pushing him to talk. “I didn’t even ask. I know it was some guy he went to high school with who obviously knew about me from before he defected from the Crew. Cole mentioned something about using me as ransom to take back the Crew’s territory, however I’m pretty sure the guy isn’t living anymore to worry about.”