Page 28 of Falling With You
I looked down at each of their plates. It looked like they’d gotten the grilled fish and three salads. I studied what they’d left behind and hadn’t eaten. “Yeah, Dillon helped with most of this. I did the rest of it. He’s doing a good job. Looks like you enjoyed it all.” I looked over at Sienna. “Didn’t like some of the fish?”
“It was fine.”
I straightened. “Just fine?”
She rolled her eyes and huffed under her breath, “Oh, stop it. I’m just not that hungry. It was really good. I wouldn’t have gotten it here if I didn’t know that it was going to be amazing. Fish just doesn’t heat up well the next day, so it’s not like I could bring home leftovers.”
I fidgeted, and I didn’t know why. “But it was at least okay? Better than okay?”
“You and your ego, Aiden,” she snapped.
“I can’t help it if you don’t appreciate good food.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Violet said. “You don’t want people to stare or run away from the bar. Go back to work, Aiden. We’re just fine here. Thanks for checking on us.”
I looked between the four of them and tried not to feel as if I had just been dismissed, even though I clearly had been.
Just because Sienna didn’t want to finish her meal because she wasn’t hungry or some shit like that, didn’t mean she didn’t like my cooking. I didn’t have to take it so personally. Dear God, I needed some help.
I gave them a tight nod and walked back to the stockroom where I should have gone in the first place. I needed to pick up a few things, and I shouldn’t have gone out to the front where looking at Sienna would just make me irritable for no good reason.
She made me a lot of things for no good reason.
I started piling things up in my hands and cursed at myself when I realized that I needed to take another trip because I didn’t actually have two working hands right then. It made things a little more difficult.
I really wanted out of this damn cast.
I still couldn’t believe I had fucking broken my hand on some asshole’s face. I knew how to hit. I knew how to make a fist.
I just hit the man at the wrong angle because he had shifted right at the perfect time.
I still blamed that fucker’s face.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Sienna said from behind me. I turned abruptly, dropping everything to the ground.
“Motherfucker.”
“I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m sorry, Aiden. I keep saying the wrong things.”
I looked up at her, wondering why the hell she was apologizing. She never apologized to me.
I frowned and then figured since she was here in this small room, it was time we talked.
So, I closed the door behind her and ignored her wide eyes.
“What is wrong with you?” I growled. Okay, not exactly what I wanted to say.
“What is wrong withyou? Did you just lock me in here with you? What the fuck, Aiden?”
“You keep running away from me.”
“So you’re trapping me to talk with you? Really, Aiden? Are you that desperate?”
“I’m not desperate at all. But you keep running away. Why are you acting so weird? You never apologize to me. You never walk on eggshells around me. What’s wrong?”
“I just offered to help you because you couldn’t hold it all because your hand is broken. Because of me. So, just stop it, okay? Every time I look at you, I feel like it’s my fault that you’re in pain. I’m sorry if I don’t know how to handle that.”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks, and I tried to control my breathing.