Page 18 of Purgatory (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #1)

Alessandra

The next morning, I reluctantly open my eyes and flip my middle finger to the rising sun.

This day can go fuck itself. Six ways from Sunday, in fact.

I am not in the mood, neither physically nor emotionally, to deal with anybody today so I slink back under the covers and do a little crocodile roll turning the blankets into my own little cocoon of solitude.

Take that extroverts!

I manage to snooze for a little bit when suddenly there’s a knock at the door.

“Go away...”

“Aly... hey, sorry to bother you but you’re with me today and we gotta get going...”

“Who is ‘me’?” I ask. I know it isn’t Mr. Broodypants with his deep, seductively dark and annoyingly sexy voice but, still, I’m not up for these boys today. Any of them. My bright spirit shot all to hell the night before for trying to help.

“It’s Hawk... If it helps, I brought muffins...,” he sings the last bit. He’s probably dancing with a tray of them, trying to lure me out like the Pied Piper. Shmuck.

I make no sound in response and he continues, still sing-songing, “They’re strawberry and chocolate....”

Fuck me in my hormonal ass... it had to be chocolate... .

“Ugh...Fine...Give me five minutes... ”

With a groan, I peel myself out of my cocoon of safety and put on my shorts.

I make a mental note to find some new clothes since these and the guys’ clothes that randomly seem to find themselves in here, are pretty much all I have for the moment.

Taking my time, I use the bathroom, brush my teeth and put my hair into a messy topknot style bun before I tromp down the stairs and into the kitchen where Hawk is waiting with the muffins still in hand.

I take one, muttering thank you and move to sit at the island where I pick at my food like it offended me but, at the same time, silently praising whoever made it because, damn everything that isn’t fair, it’s delicious.

“How’re you feeling this morning?”

I shrug and give him a “meh” in response, not really wanting to converse in my state.

“Did you sleep well?” He continues.

I eyeball him, ignore his prodding and go back to eating my food.

“How’s the muffin?” He nods towards the already half eaten muffin in front of me. “Jax made them. He must have noticed your sweet tooth ‘cause he rarely makes the sweet stuff for breakfast.”

Sheesh, what’s with the twenty questions, already?

Honestly, what is it with people and needing to fill silence with unnecessary noise?

Maybe some people just enjoy the quiet. Maybe some people don’t want to talk.

Maybe some people don’t want to get out of bed to come and have delicious baked goods made by a stupid dick face who ruined my night even though I was just trying to help and also happens to be gorgeous and I want to climb his tall, God-like body like a tree and do nasty, unmentionable things to.

No, I prefer the silence of the void right now to the thought of scaling Mount Jax, thank you very much .

I break another piece off of the muffin and bring it to my mouth, narrowing my eyes at him and refusing to acknowledge how good the muffin really is. It’s fucking delicious by the way. Did I say that yet? Yes? Fuck it, it’s true. Damn Jax and his stupid culinary skills.

All of a sudden, for no reason whatsoever, Hawk puts on the goofiest smile. I look around myself and the room, wondering if I’m missing something and come up empty. Looking back, he hasn’t dropped the face.

“What?” I say to him, confused by his expression. He doesn’t answer though, just continues with the silly face. Not able to help myself, I look around again. What the hell is going on here?

“Seriously, what’s with the face?”

Still no response from the house jester. His stare and smile never wavering.

I shake my head as I look up at him, stifling a giggle and making my own screwed up face in my attempt. Screw him. I don’t want to laugh today. I just want to do what I need to do and go back to sleep.

“Come on, dude, what’s so funny?” I ask, because, apparently, curiosity killed the cat as well as my sense of humor this morning.

“You sure you want to know? It might ruin your mood...”

I quirk an eyebrow at him and he leans in closer.

I can feel his breath on my ear and it makes a shiver coast down my spine.

Seconds pass and he still doesn’t say anything, just stays there, perched near my ear like a parrot with laryngitis.

The anticipation is killing me as I wait for him to say something, anything .

Finally, he grants me mercy and whispers the last word I could have possibly imagined he’d say at that moment.

“Falafel... ”

That’s it. One word. He just lets it linger in the air like it’s the answer to everything.

His smile becomes even more dramatic, extending ear to ear as he bites down on his lower lip, stifling his own laughter to his personal lunacy.

Completely confused and unable to hold it in anymore, my mouth tilts into a reluctant smile and I snort out an embarrassing huff of a laugh.

“What??” I gawk, choking through my giggle.

“You heard me... falafel.”

I laugh even louder at the utter ridiculousness of it. Why am I cracking up over a word like falafel? That thought makes my reaction even louder and my belly starts to hurt from the nonsense of it all.

Finally, I get ahold of myself and manage to calm down my giggle fit. S haking my head at him in disbelief, I go back to work on my muffin, unable to remove the smile from my face.

“There you are. Missed you there for a second.” He smiles down at me and takes the seat next to mine, placing his elbow on the counter and resting his head in his hand.

“Why are you trying to cheer me up? And why, in the world, did saying the word falafel do the trick?” I ask, finishing up my muffin and pushing the tray away.

He looks back at me, slowly walking his fingertips on the counter towards my hand and takes it in his.

The movement sends sparks racing up my arm.

His hand is so large compared to mine, that my hand practically disappears in his grasp.

I’m not that short, but even at 5’4” these guys seem like giants.

With the way I have to tilt my head to look up at them, they have to be pushing six feet or more each.

Before my mind drifts to forbidden territory about what else is gigantic, Hawk answers.

“It worked because there are many crazy and weird sounding words out there and falafel just so happens to be one of them. Fahrvergnugen is another.”

I laugh at that one also. How does he think of this stuff? Goofball...

Squeezing my hand lightly, he forces me to look into his eyes.

“And I did it, because I absolutely love it when you smile. I saw you smile the other day when you were downing marshmallows like they were your own personal ticket to heaven and I never wanted to see you without that look on your face ever again, because that face... this face looking back at me right here...” he tips his chin to me, bites his lower lip and places his free hand against my cheek, brushing the stray strands of hair out of my eyes, “makes me forget about everything else going on in the world right now.”

Wow, this guy just leaped right out of a romance novel, didn’t he?

I lean into his hand and let out a small sigh as he smiles back at me.

I could spend all day getting lost in his eyes.

Beautiful, ocean blue eyes that don’t seem to have a care in the world, except to see me smile.

I should be taken aback by how overly-flirtatious and confident he is but I think that’s just him.

He doesn’t seem to be like those guys at bars that drop lines at unsuspecting girls just so he could get into their pants.

You know the ones. Go ahead, feel my shirt.

It’s made of boyfriend material. *eyeroll* or You and I are like nachos with jalapenos.

I’m super cheesy, you’re super hot. We belong together.

Good grief. No, the way he speaks, it seems genuine, regardless of how cliché it might be.

It makes me appreciate his quirkiness. My smile softens at the thought, his thumb brushes the side of my cheek.

He takes a quick look at his watch and lets out a sigh and bites his lip again as his eyes drift back to me.

“Ready to see what we have to do today?” He cocks an eyebrow at me and moves to stand, keeping my hand in his.

“Ready as I’ll ever be...”

I stand and move to follow him, staying like that, hand in hand, as we make our way out the back door to our awaiting task.