Page 42 of Rule the Night

I felt like I’d been slapped.

I sat up straighter. “How do you know I went to culinary school?”

“It was in your background.” Remy set everything down on the counter next to a blender, but when he turned to look at me, his elbow knocked into the package of blueberries he’d set on the counter.

The container slid off the edge of the counter. Berries went flying onto the floor.

Remy cursed and bent to pick them up.

Poe sighed like he’d seen it all before, but I wasn’t going to let their unintentional comedy routine distract me.

I folded my arms over my chest. “What background?”

“We do background checks on all the girls who come to live here after the Hunt.” Poe stirred the eggs in the pan with a silicone spatula. “Toast?”

“No, I don’t want toast,” I snapped. “I didn’t give you permission to dig into my life.”

It had been disorienting enough to be in the loft with three strange men, but at least we’d been on an even playing field. I didn’t know them but I didn’t think they knew me either.

“Your permission isn’t required, little bird.” Poe said it matter-of-factly, and my anger boiled over.

“It should be. And why do you keep calling me that?”

He turned off the eggs and split them between two plates, put two slices of bread into a gleaming toaster, and plucked an avocado out of a bowl on the island. “Your hair. It’s so shiny. Reminded me of a raven the first time I saw you in the tunnels.”

The answer took some of the wind out of my sails. It sounded like a compliment.

“So I guess you know everything about me now,” I said, sulking.

Poe eyed me over the island. “Not everything, I’m sure.”

He cut the avocado into halves and sliced one on each of the two plates of eggs. Then he pushed one of them toward me like it was no big deal that they’d totally invaded my privacy.

“Can I have a fork?” I asked.

“Are you going to stab me with it?” he asked.

“Not this time.”

He opened a drawer and put a fork next to my plate. “I’ll take you at your word.”

Meanwhile, Remy had finished picking up the spilled blueberries and was calmly loading ingredients into the blender. So far I’d tracked two scoops of protein powder, some of the yogurt, fresh berries, sea salt, and several spoonfuls of powder from small unlabeled mylar bags.

Poe took a bite of the eggs while he waited for his toast. “Wow, you’re right about the water. These are pretty fucking amazing if I do say so myself.”

“They’re just eggs,” Remy said.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you were eating them instead of the chemistry experiment you’ve got going over there,” Poe said.

“What was that?” Remy asked.

Poe opened his mouth to repeat the words but Remy started the blender, grinning at Poe as his voice was swallowed by the roar.

He turned it off, and Poe opened his mouth to say something else, but Remy started the blender again, cutting Poe off for a second time.

He turned it off.

“Fucking dickhea?— ”