✔Paint Me a Murder | Book 1

Chapter 32: Clusterfuck

Kazimir woke up alone in bed, naked. An irritating ringing pounded in his head.

Shivering against the chilly breeze, Kazimir pushed the comfy covers away. His clothes remained on the floor, where Emmett discarded them last night. Rolling over on his side, he retrieved his glasses from the nightstand. He tossed the small bottle of lube and pack of condoms into the drawer.

As he got up to get dressed, he winced when he shimmied into his old Wrangler jeans. Emmett went a tad too rough with him last night, but in the heat of the moment, that's all he desired. Kazimir didn't regret any of it.

Opening up to Emmett about his past had lifted such a heavy weight in his heart. He'd never been that honest with anyone else before. Something about Emmett made it easy to rely on him, despite how dangerous and deceitful he was.

An unexpected surprise awaited the artist in the kitchen. The moment Kazimir stepped out into the hallway, he smelled something burning and he realized that obnoxious noise was their smoke detector going off. He followed the stench into the kitchen, where Emmett and Jordy stood over the stove with a pan that had smoke billowing from it.

"What happened?" Kazimir asked, investigating the atrocity in the pan. He couldn't even identify what it should've been.

"I wanted to cook you a proper breakfast," Emmett explained. "I asked Everly for ingredients and she sent them to me through text. I thought I did everything right."

"How the fuck did you do this?" Jordy asked. "You almost burned our apartment down!"

Emmett handed Jordy the pan. "I've never been good at cooking, okay? My bad. I didn't burn the place down, did I?"

"I've never seen anyone fuck up pancakes this bad." Jordy disposed of the charred muck, glaring at Kazimir. "Your boyfriend's not allowed to use our stove ever again."

"Those were pancakes?" Kazimir questioned, grimacing.

"You owe me a new pan and box of pancake mix." Jordy tossed the unusable pan in the sink, glaring at the gang leader.

Emmett nodded, leaning back against the counter. "That's reasonable compensation."

"You should've just given me some store-bought donuts," Kazimir told him. "This is a mess."

Emmett smirked as he reached up into the cabinet above his head. He pulled out a package of powdered donuts and handed it over to Kazimir. "Here ya go, sweetheart."

Kazimir couldn't help but grin as he accepted them. "Thanks."

Jordy reached up into the cabinet beside him, frowning. "Where the hell's the peanut butter?"

"Ah, I got the munchies in the middle of the night," Emmett told him. "There wasn't much left."

"I had half a jar left," Jordy muttered.

"You can add that to my tab." Emmett grinned innocently at him.

"Whatever." Jordy groaned. "Guess I'll just have some cereal."

"Sounds good to me. I'll take a bowl too," Emmett told him.

Jordy looked like he wanted to dump the jug of milk on Emmett's head when he pulled it out of the fridge. Instead, he muttered, "Fine."

The three of them gathered around the dining room table for breakfast. It was an odd situation. Kazimir munched on his donuts, dropping little crumbs on the table. Knowing who killed Jordy's brother and not being able to tell him made Kazimir feel like such a traitor. Jordy had done everything and more for him in the past few months. No matter what happened, Jordy always had his back.