Chapter 56
There was something seriously wrong with her, she thought as she lay there, pretending to be asleep, which probably would have made more sense if someone else had actually been in the room. But, since it was just her laying there, panicking, it was actually pretty pathetic and at some point the realization would have her opening her eyes and shaking her head in disgust, but not just yet.
He wanted to marry her, she thought, biting back a groan, wishing that she’d never left the comfort of her bed to find out where her pancakes were. If she’d just stayed here, waiting to be served in the manner that she was determined to become accustomed to, she wouldn’t know that he’d planned on marrying her and…
Well, she didn’t know what else he had planned since she’d panicked the moment he’d made the announcement, which had sent her tiptoeing back to her room and climbing back into her bed, cringing every time a floorboard creaked or she breathed too loud, terrified that it would give her away.
Now as she lay there, she couldn’t help but notice that she’d been lying there for quite some time and she had yet to see those pancakes that he’d promised her. The service in this house really was horrible, she thought with a sigh as she turned over and-
“He’s gone,” Eric announced, making her scream somewhat hysterically when she realized that she was no longer alone even as she had to wonder how he’d managed to join her on the bed with a huge plate of food without her knowing.
Then again, he’d always been a sneaky little bastard, she thought as she remembered all those times that he’d snuck up on her when she was with Michael. He’d taken great joy out of scaring the crap out of her and did it every chance he got until one day she’d had enough and had ended up pining the little bastard to floor and shoving one of his dirty gym socks in his mouth.
With Michael’s help, of course.
“Who’s gone?” she asked, narrowing her eyes on the large stack of pancakes covered in butter and maple syrup, the fake stuff because she wasn’t really a big fan of real maple syrup.
“The man that you tried to replace me with,” he said with a sad shake of his head as he gestured for her to sit up with a sausage link before popping it in his mouth.
“Reese is gone?” she asked, sitting up and stealing the plate of food that was rightfully hers.
“Yup,” he said, as he stole a bite of hash brown.
“Where did he go?” she asked, picking up her fork and taking a big bite from one of the thick pancakes only to moan in ecstasy, because the man could cook. Reese that is, because she knew better than to think that Eric had anything to do with this.
Shrugging, Eric grabbed the remote and turned on the television. “He didn’t say.”
“When’s he coming back?” she asked, taking a bite of sausage that was cooked to perfection, once again noting that Reese was an amazing cook. He was also the only other person that she allowed in her kitchen.
“Ah, well that I do know,” Eric said, nodding as he flicked through the channels while she sat there, waiting for him to answer.
When it finally became obvious that he wasn’t going to answer, she dropped her fork on the plate, reached over with a sigh and flicked his ear.
“Ow! What the hell is wrong with you, woman?” he demanded with a glare as he reached up and rubbed his ear.
“When is he coming back?” she asked, fully prepared to do it again and they both knew it.
“In a couple of days,” he said, stealing another sausage with a pout that had her reaching up to do it again and since he’d abandoned her without a word for months, she did it.
“Ow! What the hell was that for?” he snapped, which of course made her flick him again, because he really should have known why she was flicking the crap out of him.
“You know why!” she snapped as she gave up flicking him and angrily popped a piece of potato in her mouth.
“It was for your own good,” he said, reaching for another sausage only to have his hand slapped away.
“You don’t deserve sausage,” she informed him, popping the sausage that he’d had his eyes on in her mouth out of spite.
“After everything I’ve done for you,” he said, shaking his head in disgust as he turned his attention back to the television.
“Like suddenly drop out of my life without a word?” she asked, dryly.
“Yes.”
“And I’m supposed to be grateful for that?” she asked, as she went to take another bite, but her stomach had turned with this conversation so she shoved the plate back in his hands, threw back the covers, and decided that she’d rather spend the day curled up on the couch.
“Kasey,” Eric said with a sigh as he followed her into the living room where Sara was lounging with her phone in her hand and a plate of food by her side. “You needed a chance and having me underfoot wasn’t going to do that. I know that you’re pissed, but I had to give you your space.”
“And that meant cutting me off?” she asked with a snort of disgust.
“Honestly?” he asked, as they headed towards the couch. “Yes, because I wasn’t willing to take the chance of you using me as an excuse. I knew it would be hard enough dating with Mikey and I didn’t want to make it any harder by being here and getting in the way or reminding you of Michael.”
“Eric, I-” she opened her mouth to argue only to have him cut her off with a shake of his head.
“Don’t, because we both know that I’m part of the reason that you’ve had such a tough time letting him go,” he said, making her bite her lip, because that was probably a little bit true. “I never meant to make things more difficult for you, Kasey. I just wanted to be here for you and Mikey.”
“You didn’t,” she promised him, because it wasn’t his fault that some days when she looked at him all she wanted to do was cry.
As much as she hated to admit it, having him around probably would have made things a little harder for her and she hated that, because when all was said and done, he was still her best friend, which meant that if he ever pulled this crap on her again that she was most likely going to kill him.
“I’m not going to leave you again,” he promised.
“Because I’d slap the shit out of you?” she asked, smiling when he shot her a wink.
“Exactly,” he said, throwing his arm around her and giving her a quick hug before gently pushing her away.
“What’s going on?” Sara asked absently as she moved her feet to make room for her.
“Where’s Mikey?” she asked, instead of answering her, because she wasn’t in the mood to rehash this conversation with her.
“She went back to bed. Something about being exhausted thanks to the bastard that had snored all night,” she said with a shrug.
“Good, then I guess we have a few minutes to talk,” Eric said, plopping down on the coffee table so that he was facing them.
“You’re probably right,” Sara said with a nod and a forlorn sigh as she tossed her phone aside and sat up so that she was facing her. “We need to talk, Kasey.”
“About?” she asked, glancing between the two of them and regretting her decision to leave her bed.
“You, Kasey. We want to talk about you,” Sara said with a reassuring smile as she reached over and took Kasey’s hand in hers with a gentle squeeze that she honestly found a hell of a lot creepier than her usual “car salesman” pitch.
“Before you fuck this up and end up old and alone,” Eric added solemnly as he reached over and took her other hand in his.
Blinking, she asked, “You want me to kill you, don’t you?”
Shaking his head, he said, “You really need to get over me and move on.”
“It’s for your own good,” Sara added with another gentle squeeze of her hand and making her roll her eyes even when she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Does this have something to do with Reese?” she asked, releasing their hands so that she could grab the blanket off the back of the couch and curl up, more than ready for a nap after last night.
“You mean the man that knocked you up? Yes, yes it does,” Eric said, gesturing for Sara to move over only to shake his head in disgust, reach over and shove her legs off the couch, and before she could retaliate, he was plopping himself down on the couch between them and forcing Kasey to share the blanket with him.
“I’m not going to screw this up,” she said, closing her eyes and settling in the corner of the couch.
“No, no of course you won’t,” Sara said in a tone that clearly stated that she didn’t believe her.
“So, the idea of marrying Reese and spending the rest of your life with him doesn’t terrify you?”
“No,” she answered, honestly, because the idea of spending the rest of her life with him didn’t scare her.
However, the idea of losing him was a different story altogether.
She just needed to figure out how much.