Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 438

My things were waiting at the top of the stairs, my small bag, my laptop, everything I owned in the world, transferred here without me noticing, thanks to Madam Lily. I picked up the bag, ducked into the nearest empty room, and dressed in under a minute, then went looking for Tasha.

I found her room easily. But she was already out of the wedding dress somehow, curled up on the bed in a tangle of sheets, asleep, her face soft and peaceful. The dress lay on the floor where she had stepped out of it.

I stood in the doorway and sighed, cursing Sparrow inwardly. I had wanted to make her dinner, sit with her, make sure she ate something, make sure she was alright. Instead I had been on the couch, getting fucked by her fake husband while she wrestled herself out of a bridal gown.

I picked up the wedding dress, hung it carefully in the wardrobe, and smoothed the sheets over her. She did not stir.

Back in my room, I showered until the water ran cold, threw myself onto the bed, and sleep came not long after.

I woke with the sun, early, the way years of running had trained me to. I freshened up and padded downstairs, and on the way I noticed the silence. No maids, no guards, no staff at all. Just the house, breathing quietly.

I told myself Tasha would be hungry when she woke, that someone needed to feed her, and I made my way to the kitchen, already planning breakfast.

I stopped in the doorway.

Tasha was already there, standing at the island in a soft robe, and the counter was covered with ingredients, vegetables and greens and cuts of meat, bowls of eggs, things I had not seen the night before. She looked up when I came in, and for a second we just looked at each other.

"Good morning," I said, smiling.

"Good morning."

"I am good at almost everything, Tasha. That is the point. Let me do this for you. You rest."

She kept chopping. "Scarlett, I said it is fine."

"I just want you to rest. You have had a long couple of days, and I am happy to handle this. Go on."

Her hands stilled on the cutting board, and when she looked up, her eyes had changed, something sharp and bright in them that I had never seen before.

"Let me do what I want!" Her voice cracked through the kitchen, sudden and loud, and I froze. "The world does not revolve around you Scarlett. I am Sparrow's wife. And this is my house, my kitchen. So if I want to cook for my husband and myself, I have every right to do that. Stop getting all up in my business. You are not my mother!"