Free Brat by Alicia Michaels Page A

stomach. I clutched the toilet as my belly heaved forcefully, causing my eyes to water and my throat to burn. By the time I was finished, I felt as if I’d been wrung dry.
    Suddenly, something cool and damp touched the back of my neck and I sighed with relief, groaning as someone’s hand pushed the hair back from my face. I grimaced when I turned to find Chase kneeling beside me. He was pressing a wet washcloth to my neck and watching me sympathetically.
    “Morning,” he murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I heard you running to the bathroom and wanted to check on you.”
    Geez. How am I supposed to avoid him if he’s here all the time, looking all hot first thing in the morning, saying and doing all these nice things?
    “I’m okay,” I insisted, standing slowly on shaking legs. “Just a little morning sickness, I guess.”
    Chase helped me get my balance before standing back, watching me with his arms crossed over his chest. “Can I get you anything?”
    “You can move so I can brush my teeth,” I replied, staggering toward the sink.
    His eyes widened. “God, you’re right. I’m so sorry. I’ll leave you alone now.”
    I nodded, reaching for my toothbrush as Chase backed out of the bathroom and closed the door. After brushing and rinsing several times, and running a comb through my hair, I left the bathroom. Trudging down the stairs, I followed the smell of food. Amazingly, now that the taste of vomit was gone, I was starving.
    “Make up your mind, kid,” I muttered to the thing living inside me. “Sick or hungry? ’Cause I can’t do both.”
    In the kitchen, Christian and Luke were sipping cups of coffee at the small table that only sat four people. Jenn was slicing tomatoes and Chase was scrambling eggs in a huge, glass bowl. Pausing in the entrance to the kitchen, I surveyed the scene with interest.
    “We cook now?”
    Jenn smirked. “No, we cook. The last time we let you near the stove you almost burned the apartment down.”
    “Is it my fault that macaroni and cheese box had the worst directions ever? I don’t trust Kraft. Never did, never will.”
    “Well, Jenn mentioned heading to the cafeteria, but Chase offered to make omelets instead,” Luke said, standing and heading to the coffee pot for another cup. “We might as well enjoy the groceries now, because we all know by the time midterms hit, none of us will have time to shop anymore.”
    “So I should expect organic everything, no meat, and probably some kind of healthy herbal crap in my eggs?” I griped, taking Luke’s vacated seat.
    Chase made a face at me, his biceps bunching and rolling at he beat the frothy eggs. He wore a black T-shirt with a picture of Earth on it. In white letters beneath it, the slogan said ‘Stop destroying our planet, it’s where I keep my stuff’.
    “Just because I don’t eat meat, doesn’t meant I won’t cook it for people who do, princess,” he retorted. “Ham or bacon?”
    The smell of bacon frying made my stomach quiver. “Bacon. Lots of bacon. And load me up with onions and mushrooms, too. Don’t skimp on the cheese.”
    “Bacon, onion, and ’shrooms. Extra cheese. Got it.”
    “Hey!” Luke exclaimed as Chase turned back toward the stove. “I was here before Chloe, why does she get the first omelet?”
    “Because she’s cuter than you,” Chase answered.
    “Damn, I need to start using Oil of Olay,” he grumbled, leaning against the counter beside Jenn and snagging a piece of tomato from beneath her knife.
    “Stop that before you lose a finger. You’re going to need all of those intact for Saturday night.”
    Luke snuck another tomato. “The best songs come out of life’s little punchlines. I could write a song about it and call it ‘Bitches be Crazy, Cuttin’ off Fingers and Shit’.”
    Jenn scowled at him. “Real catchy, Luke.”
    He gave her one of his charming grins. “I thought so.”
    Chase sat the finished omelet in front of me, and I immediately dug