Page 86 of Undeniably Corrupt

“We were scratching an itch.”

“Then consider us covered in hives.”

“No more scratching.”

“Why not enjoy this roommates-with-benefits situation we find ourselves in?”

She leans forward and tilts her head so she can see my full face. “Is that what we are?”

“You’re the one who just said we’re not dating,” I throw back at her, wondering why I’m keeping this going but unable to stop it all the same. “What? Do you want me to kiss you again and ask you to be my girlfriend?”

“Don’t mock that.”

I wasn’t actually. I was kind of thinking I might want to do that, but I won’t. Girlfriend still sounds like an idiotic term in my head. But maybe that’s because all the other women who wanted that title in the past weren’t her. Last night I had her again, and now I never want to let go.

The timer on the cookies goes off, and I’m saved by the bell. I hop off the counter, throw on an oven mitt, and open the oven. “See. Didn’t burn them this time. They’re perfect. Can Hazel have one? Full disclosure, I might have given her a dozen chocolate chips or so already.”

She does that quiet staring at me thing she does sometimes, and I let her continue as I put the cookies on the cooling rack and set the pans on the stove for them to cool as well.

Liora still hasn’t answered me by the time I’m ready for one, so I take matters into my own hands. “Hazel?” I call out, and she comes scampering from the old office that is now her playroom. “Do you want a cookie?”

“Yeah!”

I laugh as she jumps up and down, her hands in the air. “Yeah? Okay, kid. Come here. Do you like milk with them? Personally, I think that’s the only way to eat cookies.”

She scrambles over to me but still has trouble climbing up onto one of the bar stools, so I help her along. “Milk!” Then she winces and turns to her mother. “Mama, milk? I have milk too?”

“Yeah, baby. We have milk here.”

Damn. I hate that she even had to ask.

I pour milk for Hazel into her kid’s cup and place a cookie on a small plate in front of her. “It’s still a bit warm, so be careful.”

“Okay,” she singsongs, but in true kid fashion blows past my warning and takes a huge bite, only to instantly wash it down with milk.

“Good?”

She nods vigorously as she chews and swallows.

I rub the top of her hair. “Good stuff. You helped make those. That’s why they’re so yummy.”

Hazel glows, and I snag two cookies and bring them over to Liora, who has been a statue since I took them out of the oven. I hand one to her that she takes and almost reflexively nibbles on it.

“You’ll never have that worry again,” I tell her in a low voice so Hazel doesn’t hear. “You’ll never have to worry if you can afford milk or anything else.”

She stares at me, long and hard, but her eyes are glistening.

“I mean it, Angel. Never. I’ll make sure of it.”

She shakes her head. “You’re not someone to make that promise to me, Vander. You don’t know everything about my life.”

“Tell me then. Tell me,” I implore because I need her to. I need her to tell me, not just for her, but for me too.

She frowns and looks away, biting into her cookie and leaving me hanging.

My heart hammers. “I loved you. So much. When Cass died, I…” I trail off and stare down at my half-eaten cookie. “I got there too late. I was with you, and we lost track of time, but I was supposed to meet him half an hour before that. If I had… well, he wouldn’t have gotten so drunk waiting for me and fallen, and he’d still be here, and then maybe I could have told him, and he would have gotten used to the idea eventually. But I was an eighteen-year-old kid whose best friend had just fallen to his death because I wasn’t there to save him, and he didn’t want me with you, and I?—”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispers, her voice hoarse, her eyes beseeching. “It wasn’t. Please, please don’t ever think that. Not for a second. I know you loved me, and I loved you, but we were kids, and promises like that aren’t supposed to be made when you haven’t lived life yet. We’re fine just as we are, Vander. You’re amazing and have done so much for us. More than I could ever thank you for. But we’re different people now living very different lives.” She drops a small kiss on my cheek and climbs off the counter. “Want to watch a movie?” she asks Hazel, and it’s done.