Page 95 of Taming the Beasts

I wasn’t sure why. I’d been very nice to him since Saturday. It was hard to play games when life suddenly felt so heavy. If that meant he’d never like me, fine. I wanted to be able to take care of him when he was sad. If he didn’t like it, he could go screw himself.

“Is this going to end up on my head?” he asked. He stared at the food like he was trying to decide if it would be a good hat.

I laughed. “Is that where you want it?”

He just stared at me.

“Well, I’m not opposed to licking syrup off your face.” I lifted the container. “Do you want some?”

“I don’t like sweet things, doll.”

That was just a lie. I’d made cookies yesterday and he’d eaten a few. After he saw everyone else eat them. He’d probably been worried they were poisoned.

“No sweets,” I said instead of calling him out. “One second.” I switched out his chocolate chip pancakes for plain ones. “There you go, big boy.”

He looked very confused.

Honestly I wasn’t sure why I’d called him that either. This whole thing was awkward. Did he want me to act more sour? I was trying to be freaking nice, damn it! “Would you please just sit your ass down and eat the food I spent all morning making? Jerk,” I added under my breath.

Titan didn’t move. “I’ll actually take the chocolate chip pancakes.”

Was he serious right now? It was like he was purposefully pushing my buttons. Wait. Was he? I stared up at the scowl on his face. Was this his version of flirting? Because it was very menacing. “No,” I said firmly. “They’re chocolate. And you literally just said you don’t like sweet things.”

“I like some sweet things okay.”

Were the other guys as confused about this as I was? “Fine. Whatever.” I put one chocolate chip pancake on top of his plain ones.

“Thank you. I guess.” He turned and walked away.

Seriously...what the hell? There was no winning with him.

Otto finally laughed as he slid up next to me at the stove. “I think he was saying that he prefersyoubeing sour. Pretty sure you just freaked him out.”

I laughed. But maybe Otto had a point. Had Titan been enjoying our fiery banter as much as I’d been? Because it was a lot more fun to bicker with him than whatever the hell that was. “I was trying to be nice.”

“Titan doesn’t really do nice.”

Huh.“Noted.”

Bennett was quiet as he filled his plate with food.

I was really starting to worry about him. I was usually good at small talk, but there was no amount of small talk that would help this situation. Hopefully the guys would have a great day of work today and get their minds off their missing friend.

Emma texted me as I closed the front door behind them. “Are you still coming over? Or are the guys staying home today?”

“I’m on my way,” I texted back. I needed a day out. Even if it involved painting.

A few minutes later I was knocking on Emma’s door. I loved how close our houses were to each other.

Emma opened the door. “I can’t believe their friend is missing. Do you really think it might have something to do with the coin?”

I’d caught her up via text on Saturday. But I hadn’t gotten to talk to her about all this in person. “I have no idea. It seems like too much of a coincidence though, right? The very last text Ray sent was about the coin. The guys really seem to think he’s dead.”

“That’s awful. But I don’t understand. All he had was information. It wasn’t like someone attacked him to steal the coin. And if he was attacked or killed...wouldn’t they be able to find his body somewhere?”

I shuddered. “I really just don’t even want to think about it anymore. What can I help you with in here?” I pushed my sleeves up my arms as I looked around the room. The last time I’d been here, there hadn’t been any furniture. But the living room was fully decorated and freshly painted.

“About that. There’s not too much left to do. Everything has already been painted.”