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Very rarely does she appear to be hiding behind a mask anymore. Now her smiles are genuine. She laughs and jokes and even seems to be picking up on Zander’s sarcasm. She shows it when upset or frustrated instead of shutting down. The only real downside is she is also collecting enemies. Not anyone we can’t deal with, but rumors have been flying around about her living with us and even being in relationships with us. While the second one isn’t true, it doesn’t stop people like Amanda and Mai from looking at her like someone they need to squash, not that they could, but the negative attention isn’t helpful.
Well, I guess she could be in a relationship with Zander. Now that I think about it, they are awfully close.
I quickly shake the thought away. If that's what they want, they can figure it out. They're both adults, and it’s none of my business. Though I doubt they are, I feel Zander would have said something by now. He’s so clearly in love with her that sometimes it’s painful to watch just how oblivious she is to it.
I grab Jade’s freshly printed, new schedule and head out of the office.
We have plans to go grocery shopping this morning before I drop her off on campus to study with Hazel and Trent.
Ugh.
I honestly wish I could keep her away from him, but she seems to like him, and I can’t imagine Jade would appreciate me telling her who she can and can’t be friends with. So I’ll just keep my mouth shut and remind myself that he’s not the type of person we need to be concerned with right now.
He’s not a threat to her.
I knock on her bedroom door, but she doesn’t answer. I listen for a moment, but when I don’t hear any movement inside, I open the door and look around.
Guess she’s downstairs.
I head down and to the kitchen. Jade has been helping and watching me in the kitchen all week, trying to learn new things to cook, and she isn’t doing half bad. At first, I wasn’t excited to have her around. I use cooking to help me relax, but with each night, it’s gotten easier. It’s almost nice to have someone there with me at this point, and we work pretty well together.
But it could be anyone who helped me. It doesn't have to be Jade.
Fuck. Getting attached to the mission is rookie shit. I need to get it together.
I walk into the kitchen to find Zander at the island with, are those brownies?
“Hey Zan, have you seen Jade?” I ask him just as he shoves a huge piece of what I think is a brownie in his mouth.
He looks up at me as he chews. He has so much shoved in his mouth that his cheeks are puffed out like a damn chipmunk. He shakes his head and holds up his finger to tell me to wait.
I do, first, because he probably knows where Jade is, and second because it’s kind of entertaining watching him try to chew all that up and not choke.
He finally gets it all down and takes a swig of milk before looking up at me with a huge smile.
Zander loves food, everyone knows that, but homemade sweets are like top tier for him.
“She was in here, Iike, twenty minutes ago, cleaning up from making these.” He reaches forward to snag another brownie off a plate from the center of the island before holding it up to me.
I raise a brow at him in question because they could be brownies, but they don’t look like any brownies I’ve ever seen before.
He must be able to see the judgment on my face because he’s quick to defend them.
“Hey, they don’t have to be pretty, Jade made them from scratch, all by herself, and she was really proud of them.” He tells me with a stern look, and I hold up my hands in surrender.
He shoves another bite in his mouth, this one not quite as big.
“And they’re delicious, bro.” He says around another mouthful.
Considering his love for sweets and Jade’s usual inability to cook, I feel the need to try one. Unfortunately, they really aren’t pretty at all. They look like they were cut with child’s scissors and then dropped.
Regardless I walk over to the island and grab one anyways, taking a small bite to test it.
Damn.
They really are good.
“You said she made them from scratch?” I can't help but ask because, if that's true, Jade might have a hidden talent for baking.
