Canvas & Keys

14. The Benefits Of Being The Very Best Friend

Chapter 14

The Benefits Of Being The Very Best Friend

"What?" Drake asked, sitting down on the bed beside me as he moved the tray from the table into my lap. "Why are you trying so hard not to laugh?"

"Momma and Daddy like you too much for your own good," I grinned. I could still feel the heat of embarrassment on my face, but it was too late to try and hide it from him.

That had him grinning. "I don't know why. I've been a pain in the ass for the last month. With everything with you and the Order, I've been going crazy. No one's really wanted me to be around me. Cruz has had to snap me out of a rampage once or twice...a day."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously, Hattie," he said. "And I still want to be mad at you for everything, but having you back...and okay...and just..." He sighed, and then nodded down to the food. "Just eat. We'll talk more once you've gotten some food in you. And with all that growling your stomach's doing at the moment, you've got to be hungry."

"You sure you're not hungry either?" I asked, holding a good sized piece of chicken on a fork out to him. There had been two forks on the tray and more food than I would have been able to eat myself, so he no doubt had every intention of eating with me. "By what everyone's told me and your plans of not letting me do anything for myself for the next few days, you're going to be mean to me. You sure you're not hangry? Will you eat and then maybe you won't keep me locked up in here?"

"Just eat, Hattie."

I shook my head, holding the fork out to him even more. "Take it, you hangry man."

That earned me a blank look...for about five seconds before he took it and stuck it in his mouth. "Eat," he said around the chicken in his mouth. "Now."

I grinned in triumph as he moved toward me. With the tray in my lap, we both ate in silence, though I couldn't help but peek over at him every now and then. With me sitting up, he leaned back against the pillows, his fork sneaking into view whenever he wanted more food. It wasn't until everything was gone that he moved back in front of me, grabbing the tray, and put it on the table.

As Drake leaned back again, he watched me carefully, like I would crack at any moment or cry out in pain from the lashes on my back. I felt fine, though, and that was the truth. Sure, there were a few twinges of pain, but nothing completely unbearable.

"You feeling okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow since I'd been staring at him for a good five minutes and saying nothing.

"I'm fine. How about you? You still hangry?"

He snorted, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't hangry. I've been more concerned about you since you got here. I haven't had the time to think about myself in the past month, actually."

"Sounds boring," I tried to joke, but he wasn't having that.

"Hattie, please be serious. What you did without telling me..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to tell you everything that I'm thinking or doing?"

"No, you don't. But when telling me might give me some peace of mind instead of making me go insane with anger and worry...that would be the time to say something."

"Well, I've told you everything now...except for what I agreed to with Vince. No secrets. That's what Emmy and John say."

"Yeah, because they kept way too many secrets from each other before. I'd rather not go through everything they did. I want us to be Hattie and Drake and make our own mistakes."