The guilt wouldn’t serve me so I forced it to the back of my mind.
“Ryan is making pancakes,” her grandmother said. “I’m sure once you eat, you’ll feel better.”
Chapter 49
Nina
“Nana!” I turned to Ryan, the soreness in my shoulder forgotten. “I hope she didn’t trick you into including chocolate chips.”
Ryan shrugged, “It was my suggestion.”
“Nana, I’m going to make some eggs. You can have your pancakes after.”
“I made a scramble with peppers and onions,” Austin said. “I can add cheese if you want.”
He did? I doubted my grandmother asked for eggs, so they had to be his idea.
I rubbed the sore spots on my arm and shoulder blade.Why do I feel like I got stabbed?
What a silly thought; there was no way someone could’ve snuck into the house to stab me. Not with SSI outside and Austin and Ryan inside.
Besides, I would’ve woken up in a pool of blood.
No, my imagination was running wild again. I blamed the dream I’d had of two men sneaking into my room and tying me to my bed.
I lifted my eyes to catch Austin staring at me, the expression in his steel-blue eyes unreadable. The tension in his shoulders, however, spoke loud and clear.
He’d been so nice the last few days. Was he returning to the emotionless steel man he was when we first met?
Was it really less than two weeks ago?
It was barely more than a week ago.
In that time, I’d seen many sides of Austin Winchester.
Warm and cold. Hard and soft. Stern and compassionate.
Austin was a complex man, and I was dying to learn more about him. And I wouldn’t mind another hug or ten.
Would he talk to me on the drive to the safe house?Probably not, he didn’t talk much last night during the drive here.
What about when we’re there? Would he talk to me then? Or would he be steely eyed professional Austin and leave me to my own company?
He’d been so nice, so comforting at SSI when he’d told me about what they’d found in the locker.
“Nina?” Ryan called my name.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “What do you need?” I asked, assuming he had some profound question or desperate need.
“I need to know how many pancakes you want?”
Oh. “One is fine.”
I must’ve sounded uncertain because he asked, “Are you sure?”
“You have a long day ahead of you, dear, you should have two.”
Leave it to Nana Sue to encourage me to eat a carb heavy breakfast when I was trying to lose weight.
