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I glance around the kitchen, starting to get overwhelmed by the idea of cooking for four alphas. What if they don’t like what I cook? I always cooked back at home, when I wasn’t on my heat. My father thought cooking was beneath him and my mom was too tired or in too much pain to cook most of the time, but still, I’ve never cooked with ingredients this fresh or expensive before.

“Here, I have something for you, give me a second,” Madden says, before heading towards the stairs.

Before I have a chance to start worrying too hard, he’s back, holding a tablet in his hand. “This can be yours, it has access to a digital library, so you can check out cookbooks. You’ve also got access to the internet so you can just look up recipes online if you want something specific.”

My eyes go wide. Access to a digital library. Access to the internet. On what looks to be a really expensive tablet that he says can be mine.

“I—I don’t know if I can accept this.” There’s no way I can cook well enough to repay something like this.

“Well, then how about you borrow it while you’re with us? Does that sound better to you?”

Borrowing does sound better. I give him a nod, before taking the tablet from his extended hand. It looks so much bigger when I’m holding it.

“For today, since you’re still hurt, can we cook lunch together?I was thinking the guys would like brunch: pancakes, bacon, eggs, that sort of thing.”

“O-okay,” I say.

I can do that. Those are pretty simple foods. Plus, I’ll have Madden’s help. I really like the idea of spending more time together with him.

“How about you take care of the pancakes,” he says, handing me a box. “I’m not the best at cooking so eggs and bacon are pretty much where my skills end.”

I nod, already starting to read the instructions on the back of the box. Before I know it, Madden is filling a few large serving bowls with eggs and bacon and I’m sitting on one of the barstools in front of the stove flipping pancakes. Madden brought over the chair so I wouldn’t have to be on my feet, which still hurt a bit when I move.

After the first batch comes out too undercooked and the second comes out super burnt on one side, tears start forming in my eyes again, but this time, these tears are tears of frustration instead of happiness. I can’t even flip pancakes correctly.

“Hey,” Madden says softly, reaching over to rub his hand up and down my back. “It’s okay, it can take a bit to get used to this kinda stove, don’t sweat it. We’ve got a ton more batter.”

“I—I’m sorry,” I sniffle.

“No need to apologize. How about you try again? A trick I read online was you have to wait for the bubbles on the edges to set while the middle is still gooey and then you flip it.”

I do as he says, pouring more batter and anxiously waiting for the bubbles around the edges to set. When I flip my first pancake, it’s a bit lighter than I would’ve liked, but it’s still a lot closer to golden brown than my first batch of ghostly monstrosities were.

“Look at that! You did it!” Madden says, practically bouncing on his feet. He’s actually excited for me.

My heart melts at the pride and affection I can see in his eyes as helooks down at me.

Before I get too distracted, I flip the other pancakes and actually manage to make a successful batch.

“Hell yeah! Those look awesome! I’m so proud of you!” he says.

“Thank you,” I say, a blush creeping across my cheeks at his praise.

“Are you proud of yourself?”

I freeze at his question. No one’s ever asked me something like that before. I’ve never even really thought about being proud of myself. I’ve always been so focused on what everyone else around me thinks.

“I—I think I am,” I say, flashing him a small smile.

We’re cooking next to each other as he tells me hilarious stories about the crazy things he’s seen while working security for different places when I hear the garage door open.

The others are back.

CHAPTER 12

Archer

“Well I’m happy,” Chase says, “That was totally a successful meeting.”