“Sure, sure. So how have you ended up with her first thing in the morning with her looking like she’s been dragged through a hedge backward?”
“Long story.”
“Oh, sweetie. You know I’ve always got time for your stories.”
I smile at her, a warmth I haven’t felt for a while filling my belly. Nina is my grandad’s oldest and dearest friend. She’s also the only mother figure I’ve ever really known in my life.
“Nothing to tell. I’m just helping out a friend, and we could really do with some of your cooking.”
“Well, you’re in the right place. You want the usual?”
“You know it.” I wink at her and she blushes like she always does.
“How’s your pops doing?” she asks before turning away. “I’ve not got out to see him for a few weeks.”
“He’s good. Loving the easy life. You know, you should follow his lead sometime,” I say, gesturing to her almost-full café.
I don’t know exactly how old Nina is, but I do know that she’s old enough and wealthy enough to have retired long ago. Yet, she’s still here, sweating over the fryer every day of the week and filling her beloved Londoners’ bellies.
“The only way to get me out of this place, my dear, will be in a box.”
I laugh at her. If I’ve heard her say that once, then I’ve heard it a million times.
Chloe, one of her young waitresses, brings over a coffee, and we’re busy chatting about the weather when a shadow falls over us. I don’t need to look up to know that it’s Kas. I feel it. My skin tingles with awareness and fire begins to smoulder within me.
I push it aside, just like I did last night and this morning, in the hope it’ll fade the more I tell myself that I’m just helping out my boy’s sister.
Fuck knows that’s all it can be. Not only is she forbidden, but she’s way too fucking young for me.
“Excuse me,” she seethes, pulling the chair out and forcing Chloe to back up a little.
The move has me stifling a laugh. That is, until I notice what she’s wearing.
“You ripped my shirt?” I ask, staring at the now slashed open neck that’s falling dangerously low over one of her shoulders.
“You gave it to me,” she says with a shrug, holding out her mug for Chloe, who’s staring at us with an amused expression on her face.
“To sleep in. Not to ruin.”
“Well, you really should have clarified. To be honest, I think it’s better.”
“I guess you’d better keep it then,” I mutter.
“Really?” she asks, her voice increasing a few notches like she’s excited. “Wow, thanks.” Those two words are accompanied with an eye roll, and I realise she’s being sarcastic.
“You look better,” I say, pushing aside the shirt issue and taking in her clear face.
Her skin is so fresh, so pale without the dark makeup that was coating it from last night. She looks so pretty, so… young.
It’s the exact reminder that I need.
“I hope you don’t mind, I’ve already ordered.”
“I guess that all depends on if I like it or not.”
“You’ll like it,” I say without a doubt. I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who doesn’t like Nina’s cooking.
“So, who’s she?” Kas asks, following my gaze to where we can see Nina through a little window, singing to herself as she cooks.
“My unofficial grandma.” Kas screws up her face. “I’m pretty sure she and my grandad are soul mates, but they never quite got it together. Been by each other’s sides for years though.”
“Soul mates? I didn’t have you down as the romantic type, Spike.”
“I’m not,” I grunt, “but their unrequited love or whatever the hell it is would turn a few cold hearts, I’m sure.”
“Huh,” she mutters, slouching back and sipping on her coffee.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just putting a few pieces together about my new roommate.”
“So you’re agreeing to this all of a sudden.”
“You say agreeing, I say conserving energy for an argument I’m more likely to win.”
“Like?”
She shrugs. “I’m sure one will present itself. I’m not really one for doing as I’m told.”
“You don’t say.” I can’t help but laugh at the hard expression I get in return.
Thankfully, Nina brings over our breakfast before we find something else to disagree about, and I watch as Kas devours the lot like she hasn’t eaten in a week.
“When was the last time you had a proper meal?”
She glances up at me, a piece of sausage halfway to her lips. “No idea,” she answers stiffly.
I guess that would explain why she’s so fucking skinny then.
“You’d understand if you saw the kitchen in the place we just left. It’s not exactly… hygienic.”
I shake my head, hating how she’s been living.
“Don’t,” she snaps. “Don’t look at me like that. You know nothing about my life.”
“I know enough to know I’m doing the right thing by taking you away from it.”
“You’re going to tell Zach, aren’t you?” she asks quietly.
“Yeah. Unless you want to do it, save me the bother.”
“Whatever.”
“Don’t do that, Kas.”
“Don’t do what?” she asks, sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest.
“Make out like you don’t care. I know you do.”
She makes some unintelligible noise.
“If you didn’t need family, you wouldn’t have reached out to him. There’s no shame in admitting you need help.”
“Who says I need help?”
I raise a brow at her. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact you work as a stripper, or the guy from last night, or that you live in a squat.”
Her lips purse in anger.
“Firstly,” she snaps, holding up one finger to begin counting, “I might love being a stripper. It might be my dream job.” I raise an eyebrow at her in question. “Second, I owe Jet some money. I can’t help that he’s trying to call it in early. And third, that place isn’t a squat. It’s a house share. I’ve lived in squats, and I can tell you that that house you saw this morning is like Buckingham fucking Palace in comparison. So if
