Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
“Let’s do the kitchen first.”
My brother and I followed him through the living room into the kitchen, where we found piles of garbage on every counter, an overflowing trash can, and a sink filled with dishes.
“Oh my,” Felix sighed.
Ant nodded. “I know. I came down to get some breakfast, but I found it like this and didn't even want to eat.”
I whipped around to face my mate. “You haven’t eaten?” When he shook his head no, I placed my arm on the dining table and swiped everything in my path onto the floor. Honestly, it didn’t make the place look any worse.
Felix got the jist and pulled out a chair in front of the cleared off spot. When he motioned towards the seat, Ant looked at us with wide eyes. “Please, sit,” my brother requested. “We’ll make you something to eat.”
After a moment, Ant blinked and insisted, “I’ll be fine.”
“Nonsense.” I gently took his shoulders and led him to the chair. “You need food in that little tummy.” Oops. I didn’t mean to cross a line, but I couldn’t help it; my mate was in need, and it brought out my Daddy instincts.
Ant’s cheeks flushed red and he peeked back into the living room. When he saw that his roommates hadn’t budged, he sat down without question, as if eager to please. Fate had matched us together for a reason; we had shared needs and desires, but given his shyness about them, I wondered if Ant had ever fully explored them. I wanted to know everything about his experience and his cravings, but I would try to be patient until he was comfortable speaking about them.
Until then, I had a job to do anyway; my boy needed food. I hustled over to the fridge, which Felix already had open, and looked inside with him. I frowned when I saw that it was mostly bare, except for a few condiments and bottles of water.
Felix grabbed a tub of butter from the shelf and I scurried around the kitchen, sifting through the garbage on the counter tops until I found a package of bread. It only had a couple pieces left, but it would do.
My brother and I weren’t chefs by any means; mainly because we were spoiled by Cedric cooking for us, so we never had to learn. But surely we could figure out toast.
My confidence waned, however, when my eyes scanned the room for a toaster and couldn’t find one. I whispered to Felix so that our mate couldn’t hear me, “Am I dumb or is the toaster missing?”
“Yes to both questions,” he whispered back with a smirk. I shot him a dirty look, but he ignored me and motioned his head towards a black boxy appliance. “I think we use that thing.”
I inspected it confusedly. “Where are the bread slots?”
He shrugged and poked at the box until a door fell open. Ohhh. “So…do we just put the bread on the slats?”
“I have no idea. Maybe we should ask Ant.”
Felix scowled at me. “I’m not asking our mate for help with toast. He’ll think we’re idiots.”
“We are.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“I was,” I shrugged. Felix rolled his eyes and took the two pieces of bread from my hand before sticking them inside the little oven. He shut the door, gave me an unsure look, and pressed a button with the number ‘2’ on it.
We stared wide-eyed at the appliance like the morons we were until it dinged a couple of minutes later. Felix opened the door and by some miracle, the bread was browned to perfection.
I rummaged through drawers until I found the last clean knife and slathered butter onto the toast. All of the plates were in the sink, so I placed the bread on a paper towel while Felix retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge.
We served the meager breakfast to Ant, who gave us a breathtaking smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re so welcome,” Felix beamed back with pride in his voice. I felt it too; it was a little gesture, but it meant so much to be taking care of our boy. “Now, you eat that while Enzo and I start cleaning.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Ant argued.
My stomach tingled when I saw an opportunity to use my Daddy voice to say, “We insist.” Damn, that felt good. It got even better when Ant’s cheeks pinked and his eyes sparkled. He nodded and took a big bite of the toast, and I practically skipped over to the sink.
After a quick argument about who would wash and who would dry, Felix and I got to work on the dishes. Even though Cedric insisted on doing most of the housework at the lodge, we managed to figure that chore out without trouble.
Once Ant finished his food, he threw away his napkin and water bottle, and jumped in to help with the cleaning by clearing garbage off of the countertops and wiping down surfaces.