Keeping Meg (Devil's Knights #6) (2 page)

      
For five seconds.

      
Fuck.

________

Chapter 3

Meg

      
“I want eggs.”

      
“Then you might want to get your head off the table and get in the kitchen before Marley burns all the food,” Troy laughed.

      
“I heard that, asshole!” Marley yelled from the kitchen.

      
I covered my ears and groaned. Ugh, I blame Gwen for this. I was absolutely miserable. Tequila was firmly on my no-fly list from now on. “You can cook, go cook me eggs. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

      
“Look,” Troy whispered. I raised my head, wondering why the hell he was suddenly whispering. “she’s got it in her head she needs to learn how to cook, but she has
no
sense of time. The box says ten minutes, and she starts doing something, forgets about it and then we’re ordering pizza. I. Need. Help.”

      
Poor Troy. He looked so desperate. His eyes darted nervously to the kitchen, fearful Marley would hear him. “You need to let her learn, Troy. I don’t know what to tell you.”

      
“Can’t you help her or something. Go in there and just watch the pan. Honestly, she can get it all going, but if there are even five minutes of cook time, she’s off doing something else, completely forgetting about the pan on the stove until it sets the fire alarm off.”

      
“Oh my God, you are going to make me go in there with a raging hangover and watch Marley cook aren’t you?”

      
“If you value our friendship at all, you will not ignore my pleas of desperation.”

      
I dropped my head to the table again and groaned. “You owe me big for this,” I muffled into the table.

      
“I will be a God damn bridesmaid for you if you get your ass in that kitchen and protect my eggs. I will
not
eat frozen pizza for breakfast another morning.”

      
“I feel that has happened more mornings than I think.”

      
“Frozen pizza four times this past week and its only Thursday.”

      
“Wow, we’re starting the week on Sunday, right?” I asked, counting in my head. Troy nodded my head, and I had to feel sorry for him. “Well, at least she got it right one morning.”

      
Troy shook his head no and leaned back in his chair. “I woke up before her and made
her
breakfast. You know that I am not a morning person. I don’t wake up before eight for anything.”

      
“OK, OK, I’m going. But I’ll tell you right now, purple is not your color, so we’ll have to figure out something else besides you being my bridesmaid. Plus, I’m sure Hammer doesn’t want to walk you down the aisle.”

      
Troy flipped me off as I stood up from the table, hunched over and shuffled to the kitchen. The smell of burning toast reached my nose, and I feared I might be too late to save Troy from frozen pizza. “Need any help?”

      
“He sent you, didn’t he?” Marley asked, slamming the spatula down.

      
Shit. Abort, abort! “No, not at all. I need coffee. Gwen killed me with the tequila last night. Coffee is a must.” I reached up into the cabinet, pulled a cup down, and grabbed the coffee pot. I glanced at it, wary Marley had made it. If she couldn’t cook, could she make coffee? I had a fifty/fifty chance of taking a sip and spitting it out. I filled my cup half full and set it down. I wasn’t sure if I was in a gambling mood. I turned back around to see Marley pulling two pieces of toast from the toaster and toss them in the garbage. “You want me to make the eggs while you do toast?” It sounded like I was trying to be helpful, right?

      
“Sure. I already had to scrap one batch of scrambled eggs.” She grabbed the loaf of bread and stuck two more in the toaster. I glanced at the bag, seeing there was only half a loaf left. I had just bought it yesterday. I had to assume there had been a few toast fatalities before I had stumbled in.

      
“I just don’t get it. I follow the directions exactly but everything always burns.” Marley reached in the fridge and handed me the eggs.

      
“Milk, too,” I said.

      
“What the hell do you need milk for?” She asked, handing it to me.

      
Didn’t everyone put milk in their eggs? “Um, I splash a little.”

      
Marley nodded her head and slammed the fridge shut. I should probably watch how you do this. I just throw some eggs in a bowl, stir them up and toss them in the pan.”

      
I made a face as I grabbed the salt and pepper down from the cabinet. “I just add a little extra to my eggs.” I walked over to the pantry, grabbed an onion and then opened the fridge to grab the green pepper I had in there.

      
“You’re putting all that in the eggs?”

      
“Yeah. I could give you the recipe if you want.” Was that too obvious? I didn’t want Troy to have to suffer through flavorless eggs. I love Marley to death, but Troy was right. Marley needed help in the kitchen.

      
“Sure, if you get the time. I know you’re busy with all the wedding plans.”

      
I grabbed a knife and hacked the onion in half. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I’m planning a wedding, but it’s not going to be huge.” I peeled the skin off the onion and started chopping it. “I figure we’ll get married at the church and then come back here for the party.”

      
“I can’t wait to see Troy in a tux.”

      
Umm, how to break it to Marley that tuxes were so not happening. Lo had put his foot down two seconds after we set a date that he would be dead before he wore a tux.

“Yeah, about that. I’m not really sure what the guys are wearing. Lo said he was going to take care of that.”

      
“Seriously?” The toast popped up, and Marley pushed the handle down again.

      
“No!” I yelled, pointing my knife at her.

      
She held her hands up, her eyes bugging out of her head. “Dude! What the hell?”

      
“Ugh,” I mumbled, setting the knife down. I suppose that was a bit drastic. “don’t put the toast down again. I’m sure it’s good. Just slap some butter on it.”

      
“Really? Troy said he liked the toast dark, so I always do it twice.”

      
I shook my head and turned back to the cutting board. Fucking Troy was shooting himself in the foot. I bet she kept burning the toast and instead of telling her, he just told her he liked it. Dumbass. “I would try it once and see what he says. Maybe you’ll be surprised.”

She shrugged her shoulders and stuck two more pieces in. We worked in silence together, me whipping and cooking the eggs while she conquered making toast. One step at a time. Today toast, hopefully tomorrow eggs. “So, back to the tuxes. You really think King isn’t going to wear one?”

“I can pretty much guarantee that Lo will not wear one.” I put the pan on the stove, turning the heat to low and dropped some butter into it. “Plus, I don’t know if I want Lo in a tux. He’s sexy as hell just in his jeans and tees.” I reached for my coffee and took a hesitant sip. Surprisingly not bad.

“Oh girl, I would pay money to see Troy in a suit.”

      
I poured the eggs into the pan and gently stirred them. “Well, you might have to bribe Lo, and it’s going to have to be a significant amount. I don’t think that man is budging.”

      
“Why don’t you turn the heat up?” Marley peaked over my shoulder.

      
“Low and slow when it comes to eggs. Low and slow.” The eggs slowly started to cook, and I continued to stir them, not stopping.

      
“This is going to take forever. I typically crank the burner up and let em roll. Scrambled eggs in five minutes.”

      
I just shook my head and continued to stir.

      
“Hey, babe.” I glanced in the doorway and saw Lo standing there. Hot damn he looked good. He had gotten up early to work on paperwork for the shop, and I hadn’t seen him since.

      
“Hey, handsome,” I blushed.

      
“You wanna head over to your house after breakfast and figure out what we all need to do to fix the porch?” Oh, my poor porch. I used to love sitting out there, and the Assassins had decided to blow it the hell up.

      
“Yeah, the eggs should be ready in a couple of minutes.” Lo nodded his head and headed back out to sit by Troy.

      
“You’re telling me you don’t want to see that man in a tux?” Marley asked, pulling two more pieces of toast out and putting two more in. We really needed to get a bigger toaster. Two pieces at a time took forever. She smothered them with butter and piled them on top of the other pieces.

      
“As long as Lo is there, I don’t care what he’s wearing.”

      
“Aww, you two are so sweet together,” Marley gushed.

      
I grimaced, realizing how big of a sap I sounded. I grabbed a big plate down from the cabinet and set it next to the stove. “Don’t let Lo hear you call him cute. He’ll probably drop and do ten push-ups and fart just to prove he’s not cute.”

      
Marley busted out laughing, waving the buttery knife at me. “You’re crazy.”

      
I shrugged my shoulders and continued to stir the eggs. “Like I haven’t been told that before.” I lifted the pan off the stove and dumped them onto the plate. I had scrambled two dozen eggs, and they overflowed on the plate. I grabbed a plate off the stack Marley grabbed and scooped the rest onto it. “I’ll eat these.”

      
I grabbed the platter of eggs and toast and headed out to the table. “Eggs, boys,” I said, setting the plate down.

      
Troy looked at them like he was ready to cry. I’m sure he was happy to see I had made the eggs and not Marley. I’m sure he had been eating hard, flavorless eggs since Marley started cooking. Lo grabbed me and pulled me into his lap.

      
“I missed you this morning, babe. You feeling OK?” he asked, brushing my hair back and pressed a kiss to the side of my head.

“Yeah, I didn’t even feel you leave the bed this morning.” I rubbed my cheek against his and smiled. “Hmm, you didn’t shave today.”

“No, I just threw some clothes on and headed out to the shop.”

I reached up, rubbing his cheek. “Scruffy Lo is sexy. Makes me wonder what this feels like somewhere else.”

“Let me eat my breakfast, and I’ll show you.” He winked, pressing a kiss to my lips.

“Hmm, promises, promises,” I murmured, getting up from his lap.

      
Lo slapped my ass and pulled me back in his lap. He cupped my cheek and whispered, “That pussy is mine as soon as we’re done checking out the porch. I miss being in that big ass bed with you.”

Right to my core every time he talked to me like that. “Eat fast,” I whispered.

He crushed his lips to mine, wrapping his arms around me. “I love you,” he mumbled against my mouth.

“The feeling is definitely mutual,” I purred, running my fingers through his hair.

“Do you think you two could keep your hands off each other for ten minutes while I eat?” Troy asked, pointing his fork at us, his mouth full.

“The same goes for you two when we’re watching a movie on the couch, and you decide to cop a feel. Take it to the damn bedroom,” Lo growled.

      
Troy flipped off Lo and tucked back into the plate of food in front of him that was mounded up with eggs and toast.

“Eat, I’m gonna get dressed.” Lo kissed me on the side of the head, and I stood up.

“Fifteen minutes, babe,” he mumbled, filling his plate.

“Yeah, yeah.” I ducked into the kitchen, filled my coffee cup and headed down the hall to our room.

“Hey,” Cyn mumbled, stumbling out of her room.

      
“You feeling OK?” Cyn looked green and ready to pass out.

“Surprisingly feeling better than I did ten minutes ago. This baby makes me toss chunks every morning. As soon as my eyes open, I’m praying to the porcelain gods.”

“I’m sorry, hun. I know there’s coffee in the kitchen, and I just made a huge batch of eggs.”

Cyn turned an unnerving shade of green and shook her head. “Just coffee,” she mumbled, holding her stomach. She had a little bump that had just popped out in the last couple of days, and she looked freakin’ adorable.

      
“OK, I’m headed over to my house for a bit with Lo after breakfast, but you wanna hang out after?”

“We’ll see. I see a nap in my future for sure. Maybe a movie or something?”

I nodded my head, yes, and she walked down the hall to the kitchen. I felt terrible for her. This pregnancy was kicking her ass. I ducked into Lo’s room, flipping the light switch on and headed into the bathroom.

“Oh, sweet Jesus. Did I look like this out there?” I groaned, staring into the mirror. I had tossed my hair up into a haphazard bun after I had rolled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen, coffee, and eggs my only thought. I really should have looked in the mirror before.

My skin was all splotchy and red, and I looked like I had been run over by an elephant. Seriously not good. Shower, I needed to shower. After I had twisted the water on to scorching hot, I stripped my clothes off and slipped into the shower. The water poured over me, hot and steamy. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back under the water. Ahh, this was exactly what I needed. Nothing besides coffee helped to wake me up like a shower. Of course, the only way this could be better is if Lo was in here with me.

I grabbed the soap, lathering up in my hands and ran it over my body, imagining it was Lo caressing me. Ugh, I needed to get out of the shower.