Free An Unexpected Hunger by C. Rosa Page B

Ricky to the car.
    “Get in the car,” Ricky said.
    “Don’t talk to me like that,” I replied. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
    “Trust me…I did you a favor!”
    “A favor?” I replied. “I’ll have a nice bruise on my shoulder tomorrow because of you…thanks! What the hell did they teach you in those anger management classes anyway?”
    Whoever instructed that class need ed to be fired. Between Ricky and Joe, that teacher was zero for two.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. Ricky pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep breath. “But you need to stay away from that guy. He’s no good for you.”
    “This is not high school, Ricky, where you can just beat the shit out of anyone who pisses you off…I can take care of myself.”
    “ Yeah, I can see that. You let the guy, who’s fucked just about every girl here, kiss you.”
    “ That’s funny, coming from you.”
    Ricky raised his eyebrows and walked closer to me. “Really, Alexa? Because I’m pretty sure a few hours ago I had my mouth all over you...and you didn’t seem to be complaining.”
    I squirmed under his glare, the memory of our make-out session still fresh in my min d. “That-That should never have happened.”
    He relaxed his tightened face, and the line of his mouth softened in a downward turn. “You’re right,” he replied. He turned his back to me and leaned against the driver’s side of the Range Rover, kicking rocks from the gravely driveway.
    Mia came walking down the drive way, dragging a stumbling Nick behind her. “Thanks for the great time,” she shouted to Ricky.
    Ricky hopped in the car and gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the night.

Chapter 11
The Call
     
    THREE DAYS HAD past since my momentary lapse of judgment. Three days of keeping my distance, while trying to weather hurricane Ricky. We had hardly uttered a word to each other since Mark’s party, which made for a very awkward car ride to and from work. Mia had offered to take me a few times, sensing Ricky’s turbulent mood. Ricky always cut her off, giving her something else to do.
    I dried my hair in a haze, completely stunned by how easy it was for me to forget everything I told myself I had to stay away from. I had already been down that road, trying to pretend I could make the wrong guy right for me. God knows I tried it with Danny.
    After a few months of working in the kitchen together, I had grown such as strong attraction that I lost all sense of right and wrong. After what I had been through back home, all I wanted was to forget it all. My dad, the car accident that took him from me…all of it. I wanted to feel good again, and Danny was more than willing to play along.
    It started off innocent enough. I had just graduated from culinary school and was excited to be working as a commis chef in his restaurant. After about a year, I worked my way up to station chef, even working sauté after a couple of years. He paid extra special attention to me, convincing me that it was my talent with a sauté pan that had us staying after closing. I knew I didn’t quite have enough experience to make it as sous chef, but I was getting there.
    The first time he kissed me was over a bowl of crème fraiche. He had stuck his finger into the bowl, slowly raising it to my mouth to taste. Before I could talk myself out of it, his strong arms, tattooed and dotted with burns from years in the kitche n, were wrapped around my waist. Our mouths were no longer concerned with the taste of the food...only of each other.
    It had been fun at first; the sneaking around, the inside jokes. We had a few close calls, but it only added to the excitement, making us more desperate for every minute we could spend together.
    “Promise me,” I said to him after the first time we slept toget her. “Promise me this will always be our secret.”
    I traced the shap e of a heart on his inked chest as we laid on my bed, the sheets spread haphazardly on top of us.
    “I