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CHAPTER FIVE
AS MATEO HAD SAID,the next morning my bedroom door is unlocked. And, as I expected, Niko is in the hallway, leaning against the wall as if he were waiting for me to emerge.
“Morning,” I say hesitantly, not sure where we stand after what happened yesterday.
He nods. “You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“We can go down to the kitchen and get you something.” He pushes away from the wall. “Mateo thought you might like to eat somewhere other than your room today.”
“Oh.” I don’t try to mask my surprise, though I was wondering why no one had brought me anything to eat, the way they have every morning until today.
“Come on. I’ll show you the way.” With that, he takes off down the hallway and like I normally do, I follow close behind.
He’s shown me a lot of the compound over the past few days, but the kitchen is somewhere I’ve yet to visit. With the size of this place, I would say there’s still a lot I haven’t seen.
Getting to the kitchen requires several hallways and two different flights of stairs, which is no surprise considering this whole place is one big maze. When we finally reach our destination, I smile, not able to stop myself.
The kitchen is like a dream.
Large, open space. Two giant refrigerators. Double ovens tucked into a wall of cabinets. A huge prep island in the center of the room with a gas stovetop on one side.
I spot Norma, who walks out of what appears to be a walk-in pantry, holding a tray full of ingredients. She smiles when she sees us.
“Good morning,” she practically sings, setting the tray on the island.
“Good morning.” I move further into the room so that I’m standing on the opposite side of the island from her.
“How are you feeling today?” Her gaze slides to the bruise, about a half dollar in diameter that sits right below my left eye. It’s not pretty but it’s not as bad as I expected. I was prepared to look in the mirror and my whole face be purple. The bruise is pretty minimal considering how badly it hurt when he hit me.
Now my ribs on the other hand, while there isn’t any bruising, getting out of bed this morning felt like someone had stabbed me in the side. I will say, the pain subsided a bit once I started moving around and now I hardly notice it. Tender to the touch, but nothing horrible.
“Pretty good, all things considered.” I press my palms to the island and lean forward a little. “What are you making?” I ask, looking over the various ingredients she’s gathered.
“Oatmeal muffins.” She smiles. “The guys love them. Especially that one.” She points over my shoulder to where Niko is leaning right inside the door frame.
“Can I help?” I ask, excited about the prospect of doing something that actually feels normal to me.
“Of course.” Her smile widens. “How are your baking skills?”
“Considering I spent the last four years in culinary school, I’d say pretty good. I was working in a restaurant before...” I let the sentence trail off.
“Right.” Her face fills with understanding. “Well, if you want to start measuring out the dry ingredients,” she gestures to the items in front of her, “I’ll go grab a mixing bowl.”
“Okay.” I smile, quickly circling the island as she turns and pulls a couple silver bowls from the cabinet behind her.
“You can go.” I look up when she speaks, realizing that she’s talking to Niko. “We’ll be fine here.”
“Can’t.” He shrugs. “Mateo’s orders.”
“Oh hush.” She brushes him off. “You tell him I’ve got it covered.”
He hesitates in the door, his expression filled with indecision.
“Off you go then.” She physically shoos him out of the doorway when he doesn’t leave right away. “We’ll be fine,” she repeats. “Come back in an hour and we’ll have some fresh muffins for you.”
I hear him grumble something under his breath, but I can’t make out what he says before he finally disappears from the doorway.
