Page 55 of You Were Warned: Part One

“Don’t okay me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you know that I’m full of shit.”

He laughs. “But I do know you’re full of shit.”

I stare at him. “I can leave.”

“You can,” he agrees.

He doesn’t stop me as I turn toward the door, and Pretty Boy squawks “Rude woman” from somewhere in the house.

“Not now, future chicken nuggets.”

“Fuck off.”

“Gladly.” For fuck’s sake, I’m arguing with a fucking bird. I grab the door handle.

“Vesper.”

I close my eyes and inhale deeply. “What?”

“I know this is about him.”

I turn slowly. “Who?”

Rue gives me a look that says, “Don’t play dumb. You know who.”

“Don’t fucking look at me like that,” I snap.

Rue motions for me to follow him but doesn’t wait to see if I do.

I should leave, but instead I follow him into the kitchen. I watch as he opens the fridge and pulls things out. “What are you doing?”

“Making you breakfast because I know you haven’t eaten. Maybe after food, you will feel better.”

“I had coffee,” I grumble, and he glances over at me, and apparently today is “everybody look at Vesper like she is an idiot” day.

“That’s not food.”

I shrug. “It has beans in it.”

Rue shakes his head and closes the fridge after getting out eggs, cheese, and bell peppers. I pull out a stool and sit at the counter.

“You like him,” he says out of nowhere, and I nearly fall off the stool.

“Excuse me?”

“The Jester,” he says, getting a pan from beneath his side of the counter.

“I knew what you meant. I was giving you the opportunity to reconsider saying something so fucking stupid.”

Rue turns to the stove, and I glare daggers at his back.

“It’s okay if you do.”

“I don’t,” I reply as he cracks eggs into a bowl and starts whisking them. “I tolerate him.”