Free Slade by Victoria Ashley Page B

walking away. “I’ll clean this mess up later. I’m not in the mood to eat-”
          “Get dressed and meet me outside in ten minutes, ” he says trampling over my words.
          I stop when I get to the doorway and turn around to face him. “And why the hell would I do that?”
          “So we can eat breakfast.” He pushes the pan across the stove and picks up the spatula, tossing it in the sink. “Be ready by the time I’m dressed.”
          “Yeah. You’re funny,” I huff. “I’m good. I’m going back to bed.”
          “Suit yourself, but I can hear your stomach growling from over here. Stay if you want. I just want to satisfy your . . . hunger.”
           He walks past me and then jogs up the stairs. The muscles in his back flex and the deep scratches in his skin stand out, making me hate my damn body again for the reaction it gets from him.
          Son of a bitch . . .
     
     
     
     
     
                                 *       *       *
     
     
    Against my better judgment, I’m sitting across a booth from Slade with a piece of bacon hanging from my mouth. We both just sit here in silence eating breakfast and I’m thankful for that. I really don’t feel like chatting with him. Not that he seems like the chatty type person. Actually, he’s pretty far from it.
           “Are you going to sit there and play with that bacon all fucking day?” He takes a bite of his hash browns and then leans against the back of his booth. “It has to taste better than that crap you were catching on fire when I walked in.”
           Rolling my eyes, I point my bacon at him and start waving it as I speak. “I wasn’t catching it on fire, dammit. Why are you-”
           The bacon slips out of my hand and hits him on the cheek, causing me to stop and cover my mouth to keep from laughing.
          Watching me stifle my laughter, he grabs for the piece of bacon, smiles and takes a bite out of it. “You think that’s funny, huh?”
           I nod my head and laugh. “Yeah. You should have seen the way your eye twitched when it hit you. It was pretty damn hilarious.”
          “I bet,” he replies before shoving the remainder of it in his mouth. “Now eat. I have things I have to do today.”
          “Yeah. Like what?”
           He takes a drink of his coffee and then holds the mug under his lips. “Lots of things. Some of them include: work out, run, grocery shopping, clean the house and then go to work tonight. The things that adults do. In between, I plan to just ride and get away. Get out of my fucking head and breathe a little. That’s what I have to do.”
           I look at him a little stunned. For some crazy reason I just didn’t take him as the responsible type. I expected that Cale took care of the things around the house. I have to admit, it’s pretty sexy. I almost like this side of him.
           “I’m done anyways.” I reach for my purse and get ready to pull out my wallet, but he reaches over and snatches my purse away. “Umm . . . my purse.”
           Shaking his head, he sets my purse down and pulls out his wallet. “Never expect to pay when I ask you to eat with me. I asked you because I wanted to treat you to breakfast.” He pulls out two twenties and sets them on the table. “Let’s go then.”
           He stands up right as the waitress walks over. She’s a young woman, maybe in her early thirties. She looks a bit stressed out as she keeps looking back at the counter. “You guys are all set?” She picks up the money and her eyes go wide when she looks at the tab. “Sir, it’s only fourteen dollars. Let me get your change.”
           Looking over at the counter, he watches the two kids that our waitress has been sitting with in between her running around like crazy. “No, ma’am. Keep the change.” He pulls out another twenty, drops it down and