Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2) (8 page)

That phrase never meant good news.

“Okay.” I looked over to him as he set the pans down and turned my way. He walked over and stood on the other side of the kitchen island.

“Since we’ve been getting along more lately,” he said, meeting my cynical laugh. “Hey, I know it’s not perfect, but it’s been better than usual. You know I’m really trying to make this less difficult, but I have an idea. I know you said that you didn’t want to be my friend on that first day we were on assignment, and I’ve tried to accept your wishes…Keep up the co-worker etiquette and all, but I don’t think I want to listen to you anymore. You see, I have a theory.”

“Uh huh,” I got out. I had no idea where he was going with this.

“I just think it would be better for Lacie, you know, if we were at least friends. When I’ve tried not being your friend, it just makes things more complicated. We don’t talk, and no partnership is good without communication. And as much as you hate to admit it, we are partners in this mission, so communication is key. Most
friends
have great communication, so can we at least try to be that for Lacie’s sake?”

“Sure.” Putting it that way, he did make sense, but when we’d started our friendship before, things got complicated in a much different way, at least on my side, as much as I hated to admit it. “As long as it doesn’t get complicated.”

“What do you mean?” he asked as one side of his mouth turned up into a smile, letting me know he knew exactly what I was talking about. I stared him down. He couldn’t make me say it.

“Nothing, fine. Friends. I can agree to that.”

“Good.” He smiled wide like he’d just won a minor battle and turned back to the food on the stove. “Now that we’ve agreed on that, are you going to help me cook dinner?”

“I don’t cook, and I didn’t know you could.”

“I’m sure there are many things you don’t know about me. If you’d ask, I’d let you know. I’m surprised you can’t cook. You seem to know how to do
everything
else.”

“I’ve never really tried. My dad always cooked for me.” He laughed. “Why are you laughing?”

“I just can’t picture the ‘most terrorizing Reaper known to history’ cooking for his daughter that’s all. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Well, where did you learn to cook?” I asked

“My father and mother. They both specialized in different areas. My mother was great at desserts, and my father with entrees. They always cooked at home. Made it a point when I was growing up to always sit down together as a family, which is what we’ll be doing tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m going to cook for everyone who’s here, except the couple down stairs of course. The human boy would surely start freaking out when stuff started moving on its own. I feel bad for yelling at some of the guys the other day, so I thought I’d cook for everyone tonight.”

“So, you’re trying to buy their forgiveness with food.”

“I’m not asking for their forgiveness. They know what they did was wrong. I’m just smoothing things over. I’d call it more of a peace offering.”

“Do I have to attend this Thanksgiving feast?”

“I’d like you to. My family always bonded over dinner, and it could work for us, too.”

“And who shall I bond with first? Abram, perhaps?” He grinned and handed me some onions and a wooden board

“I’ll assume, since you’re handy with a blade, that you’ll be able to chop up all the veggies for me?”

“What are we even having?”

“Just something simple—tacos.”

Once I got past the onions making my eyes water, the rest wasn’t so bad. “Anything else you need me to cut?” I asked. Along with onions I’d chopped tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, jalapenos, and habaneros.

“Nope, thank you for helping. If you want to just wait, the meat is almost done.”

“Okay.” I looked down at my hands; they were covered in veggie guts. As I took a step off the stool and moved towards the sink, I whiped my eye as it itched from hair being in my face. I froze in place as a burning sensation filled my right eye.

“Holy shit! My eyes are burning! Is it on fire!?” I screamed, assuming the worst. It felt like someone had taken a lighter to my eye and just held the flame there.

“You didn’t wash your hands after cutting the habaneros, did you?”

“I was about to, but my eye itched. HOLY SHIT IT BURNS!”

“Relax. Here, come over to the sink.” I obeyed. He tilted back my head, and I heard the water run. He then put a glass of water over my head. “Don’t move. I’m going to wash it out.”

“Just hurry.” He slowly poured it into my eye, and to my surprise, the burning diminished slightly. The water dripped out of my eyes and onto my chest where he’d put a towel that I hadn’t noticed until now.

“Better?” he asked as my eyes started to rapidly blink and I tilted my head forward.

“Much, thank you.” As I went to walk back towards the stool I’d been sitting on, he called my name.

“Cendall.”

“Yeah? He pointed to his chest, and I looked down at mine. The towel was still there. He laughed as I threw it at his face.

“So what other skills, besides cooking and paramedics, do you have up your sleeve?” I asked as I took a seat at the island and watched him finish up.

“Well, where I should start. As you already know, I’m a super skilled Guardian, chef, kisser, and I dabble in card games.” My stomach fluttered with the thought of his kiss. Yes, he was right there, but that wasn’t something I would try again.

“What are you not good at?”

“I don’t really think….”

“Oh shut up! Everyone sucks at something.”

“Bowling,” he answered, and I laughed

“Bowling, really?”

“Yes, don’t tell the others though. They mustn’t know of this weakness. Let me guess, you’re a pro at it.”

“I’ve never tried it actually.”

“Ah, so I’ll put you in the same category as me when it comes to that,” he said as he took the pan out of the sink and placed it on the counter on top of a dish towel.

“You’ll want to make your plate before I call the others. They’ll destroy this.”

“Okay.” This would be the first dinner I’d eaten with all of them. Usually Lacie and I ordered something and it was brought to us.

I got up and took a full view of our taco buffet. Thanks to me, there were chopped fixings, but Trevor had done the rest. There were beans, chopped chicken, seasoned beef, guacamole, salsa, soft and hard shells, and fried tortilla chips. It all smelled delicious. I put a big stack of chips on my plate and started piling everything on. I topped it all off with a dab of sour cream and shredded cheese.

“You got all of this done while I was chopping those veggies?”

“Didn’t you see the four pans I had going on the stove? I’m a quick multi-tasker.”

“Apparently. It all looks amazing though. Thank you.” I went to take my plate to my room.

“Cendall, I wasn’t kidding about the sitting together part. I think it’ll make things so much easier if they at least don’t hate you as much. I’m not asking you to become their best friend, but at least attempt acquaintance level.”

“Only because you cooked all of this and it smells delicious.”

“Don’t forget, it wasn’t all me. You helped, some.”

Chapter Ten

Friends with Frustration

I took a seat at the dining room table just as the other Guardians entered the kitchen and started stacking their plates. The table was a dark cherry red and large enough to fit twenty-two people. We were a little short on staff today, so it should seat everyone. I sat awkwardly at the table, not knowing if I should start eating or not. To be safe, I waited, staring at the mountain on my plate I’d soon destroy.

Abram was the first to sit. He didn’t even acknowledge that I was at the table, which was a blessing compared to what the others did. Each came in, first doing a double take, surprised to see me sitting at their table. Then, they would sit at the farthest spot away from me. It became a game of musical chairs as I watched them struggle to try and get away from me, especially when the table started to fill up. You’d think I had spikes sticking out of me with how far they were sitting. Now with only two spots by me, Trevor came in and sat to the right of me, which also happened to be the head spot of the table. The left remained open which I was fine with. I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the spot.

“So they starting to like me yet?” I asked Trevor when he cleared the last plate from the table after everyone was gone.

“Not at all. They don’t know why I even deal with you.” He laughed

“And what do you say?”

“Just that there is more to you than you let off. And I remind them that we have higher orders that must be followed. “

“Aw they don’t want to be friends like us?”

“Not in the least bit.”

Well, since dinner is done and she’s still on her date, what do friends do while waiting for their other friend to finish playing tonsil hockey?”

“Tonsil hockey?” He raised his brow

“New word I learned this week.”

“What does it mean?”

“I’ll leave it to your imagination. And, what are we going to do as friends tonight, while Lacie is on her date.”

“Well, the rest of the Guardians went upstairs for poker, but I think I’ve exposed them to enough Cendall for one night. We could actually watch a movie up here, like they’re supposed to be doing downstairs, while we wait for her date to be over. The living room is the closest to the basement anyway.”

“Okay.” We moved to the living room and sat on opposite ends of the couch. The living room, like every room in this house, was huge. It had a dark brown, oversized sectional couch that could sit at least fifteen with a large upholstered ottoman footrest that could also act as table. The eighty-inch HD TV stood about 20 feet from the couch. If this room were any smaller, the TV would have swallowed us whole. Trevor grabbed the remote and started searching for movies as I clung to the arm rest on my side of the couch. He sprawled out and put his feet up on the footrest in front of him. Glad he felt so comfortable. I, on the other hand, felt awkward. I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t really control the nerves as they shot up and down my arms.

“What kind of movies do you like?” he asked.

“Do you really have to ask?” I laughed.

“Horror…that’s lame. I want to laugh. How about a comedy?”

“That’s fine.”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“Ideas about what?”

“Look at the movie title,” he said with smirk. “I’ll go get popcorn.” I looked up at the screen, and it clued in when the title popped up on the screen: “Friends with Benefits”. So from friends to flirting in one night. I couldn’t control my lips as they turned up into a smile. I tried to cover them with my hand when I heard Lacie laugh from behind me. Guess their movie was over.

Chapter Eleven

Fun Fair

“One more day till we’re back in that prison,” I said to Lacie as we went down the stairs to grab something from the fridge for breakfast.

“School’s not that bad.”

“This week’s going to be with this stupid spirit thing you have me doing.”

“It won’t be that bad. I already have stuff for us to wear each day next week, so we’ll be fine. After this week, I promise I won’t volunteer to do anything. We’ll just sit at home and rot on the couch, watching movies with Trevor.”

“Sounds perfect,” I let slip from my mouth before my brain registered the tail end of her comment.

She smirked in victory. “So… I’ll take it that you guys are friends again?”

“Again? I didn’t think we ever were, but yes, we’ve agreed, for your sake, to be amicable towards one another. So, friends? Yes, not yet, but eventually. It makes sense to try as friends, since a connection beyond the mission will lead us to work better together.”

“Is that how he spun it? And yes, you guys were friends before, even though neither of you would admit it. Then, you had to go and make out, and since then, things have been awkward.”

“It wasn’t a make out. I called him chicken, and he called the bluff. That’s it.”

“Keep telling yourself that, but I’m glad you’re going to
try
and be friends. Either way, it will make my life easier. Speaking back to the topic of my life, since we agreed that I don’t have to be boring me till next week, I did promise Myah I’d go to the county fair with her today. We only have to go for a few hours, and she’d be heartbroken if we didn’t. She thinks Devon, her latest ‘crush’, is going to be there. So, I have to be there for moral support.”

“Let me guess, you’ve already informed Trevor.”

“Last week. Maybe if you guys had decided to be friends last week, he would have told you then.”

“Why am I the last to know? First the dance, now this?!”

“Because it’s just easier to spring things on you the day of. The probability of you saying yes is higher, and it doesn’t give you too much time to think about it.”

“What is there to think about? I think you leaving this house at all is stupid, but you have free will, and I’m just here to guard you, not make your agenda.”

“Someone needs coffee.”

“What?”

“You’re snappy. The fair will help that.”

“Ok.” We had Demons, and Reapers after us, but sure, let’s go to a fair full of convict carneys. Might as well add them to the list of people I’d need to protect this girl from.

“You still have that look on your face.”

“Did you forget about the gym the other day?”

“No, I didn’t, but that wasn’t about me, remember? They were there for YOU. Plus, Trevor and the other Guardians already went out this morning to put up Demon wards, so we’re good.”

“Those don’t keep Reapers out.”

“That’s what I have you for.” She poked me in shoulder

***

“Now remember, the ward extends fifty feet outside of the fair grounds. Anything more than that, and it’s gone. So don’t take her outside of that. Just take her behind one of the rides and port her if you must,” Trevor repeated.

“I got it the first three times you said it.”

“Remember what we agreed to the other night?”