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“Rise and shine, Gin. Breakfast is served.”
I kept the side of my face to the pillow, refusing to look at her as tears began filling and leaking out the corners of my eyes.
“Ginger,” Smoke’s soft voice greeted me, calming me a little. Footsteps rounded the bed. Smoke cleared my sight, his frown making my heart squeeze. “It’s time to get up. You need to eat before your appointment.”
Despite myself, I slowly sat up in bed, rubbing at my eyes to rid the moisture away. Smoke placed a tray of pancakes, eggs, bacon, grits, and a glass of well-balanced orange juice in front of me. I stared down at the tray but didn’t touch it.
“Are you excited?” Lena asked me from the doorway. “You find out what you’re having today.”
My icy glare flicked over to her, my jaw set, earning me a disapproving scoff.
“Fuck. Off,” I growled.
“Smoke,” she hissed like a snake. “Take the food away.”
“No,” he immediately refused.
“Excuse me?” she scoffed again, gaping at him in disbelief, malice flashing in her eyes. “What did you just say to me?”
“I saidno,” he snapped right back at her. “She’s pregnant and needs to eat. What do you think Damien would say if I called and told him you’re starving her?”
Lena’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t.”
He pulled his phone out and brought up Damien’s number, showing it to her. “Fucking try me.”
She stomped her foot like a child before giving me a nasty look. “You choose her over me?”
“I choose right over wrong,” he strictly corrected her. “Starving a pregnant woman is wrong and you know it.”
Lena huffed and spun on her heel, fleeing the room. I offered Smoke what I could of a thank you before I dug in, eating until my stomach protested.
“I know you hate her,” he spoke again when I pushed the tray away, “but you need to show her some form of respect.”
Now it was my turn to scoff. “You know, for a while there you were starting to grow on me, until you saidthat.”
He sighed. “I know your history. I understand why you feel that way, and you’re not wrong for it. But youareliving inside her home, Ginger. You have no authority here. She doesn’t need a reason to kill you. She can do it and then simply tell Damien that you attacked her, and it was self-defense.”
“I didn’t have a choice but to be here, Smoke. I’m being held against my will, remember?”
He ground his teeth then, saying nothing.
“Yeah, I fucking thought so.”
I got up after he grabbed the tray and stripped out of my clothes, stalking over to the closet. After pulling out some jeans, a short sleeve black shirt, and a light jacket, I threw everything on, noting how Smoke watched me from the corner of my eye, his teeth dragging over his bottom lip the longer he surveyed me head to toe.
“Like what you see, Smoke?” I asked, turning to him with a knowing smirk on my face.
His handsome face flushed. “My apologies, Ginger. It won’t happen again.”
He walked out the room then, his sudden absence making my heart confusingly sputter.
Stop, Ginger.
Fucking stop!
I shook my head, clearing it from the conflictive feelings as I swiped up my shoes and a fresh pair of socks from the dresser in my loaned room. I was in love with Finn. But Finn was dead. Gone. He was never coming back. I wouldn’tallowmyself to feel anything for someone else, someone who was supposed to be my enemy. No matter how sweet and fucking good he was to me.
“I’m ready,” I spoke again when he came back a few minutes later. “Let’s get his shit over with.”
