Chapter 201: Still Mad At Princess
The next morning, I was in the kitchen eating my cereal. The milk was lukewarm and the flakes were starting to get soggy, sticking to the roof of my mouth. It’s not what I wanted, not even close, but I did not wish to tell Princess what I wanted for breakfast. I didn’t want to give her the chance to be helpful.
Malo was the first to enter the kitchen, wearing a different cloth.
"Do you have spare clothes here, or are you wearing somebody else’s clothes?" I muttered, watching him head straight for the pantry.
"Yes, I do have a few clothes here, and also a room.." he said, his voice flat as he started making his own cereal.
I didn’t say anything back. It’s probably because he works for Princess that he has a permanent spot here, almost like part of the furniture. I continued to eat my cereal, the crunch sounding loud in the quiet room. Then, I felt a familiar warmth behind me. Someone hugged me from behind, their arms wrapping securely around my waist and giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.
I tried to dodge away, my shoulder hitching up as I pulled forward.
I was still giving her that sign that I was still angry with her, the same thing I did in the room earlier. When I woke up, Princess was already sitting up on her tablet, the blue light reflecting in her eyes. She tried talking to me, her voice soft and morning-thick, but I snubbed her. I marched into the bathroom and locked the door so she wouldn’t have access to come in. We do bath together usually, it’s our routine, but I was still trying to tell her by showing her I was still mad at her.
Princess didn’t let go of me, though. She just tightened her grip and kept kissing my face, her lips warm against my skin.
"Good morning love." She said, her voice a low vibration against my ear. She placed her hand on my baby bump, her palm resting right where one of the pups was kicking, and I could feel her giving me a smile through the contact.
She sat down beside me, her chair scraping against the floor.
Malo was in front of me, staring intensely at his bowl and quietly eating his cereal, acting like he wasn’t present in the kitchen. He was doing a good job of becoming invisible.
"Are you going to be okay with the cereal you are eating? I can just order what you want or make you pancakes." She said, leaning in closer.
"Save your energy, I have a phone to order my own food and it’s not like you have improved on your pancakes.." I said, stabbing at a floating flake with my spoon.
"Ouch, the last time you ate my pancakes you left no crumbs and that was yesterday morning.."
Yes, that’s right. Princess has gotten better with her morning pancakes, perfect circles with crispy edges, and I was starting to like them. But I will not give her the satisfaction of knowing that. She needs to acknowledge what she did yesterday. She needs to stop seeing me as some fragile product she can just put on a shelf when things get real.
She grabbed a napkin by the table, reaching out and trying to wipe the side of my mouth.
"You got a bit of milk here.." she said, her eyes softening. But I grabbed the napkin from her hand before she could touch me.
"I can wipe myself.." I snapped.
"I can help you wipe it with my tongue you know..." She whispered, her eyes dancing with a bit of that old mischief.
I glanced at her, my jaw tight. Trying to act romantic, huh? She had that smile on, the one that usually works on me, and I could tell she had already smoked her shit enough to feel the buzz.
Fucking hell, if she was not going to acknowledge the issue, I will. I wasn’t going to let this slide into a normal morning.
"Princess I need you to apologize for what happened yesterday.." I said, putting my spoon down with a clink.
"Oh, you are still mad about it..?" She asked, tilting her head.
"You didn’t realize that?"
"Well, I saw the signs. You didn’t let me spoon you last night and we didn’t bath together today... but I apologized yesterday... I was just looking out for you. You looked stressed and needed to sleep and I needed privacy with the girls..."
She was talking, her voice steady, but she was noticing that I was giving a no reaction look. I just stared at her, my face a blank mask.
"Okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shut you out like that... can we go back to being lovey-dovey?" She said, reaching out to touch my hand on the table.
I felt myself starting to soften. I was going to break, to give her the satisfaction that I was craving for her words.
But there was still one more thing sticking in my throat.
"Do you still think I have something to do with that rider’s body missing?" I asked, my voice barely audible. Even if I heard her defending me yesterday while I was eavesdropping, I wanted her to tell me to my face. I needed to hear the trust.
"Honestly, it flashed in my mind but it did not sync because it didn’t make sense. There has to be another reasonable explanation why someone who is not an Alpha got their heart ripped out and then the body disappeared.." she said, her expression becoming serious.
"Well I don’t give a fuck about that, just know I wasn’t involved... and also your friends are coco crazy. Who the fuck kills a person because of jealousy.." I muttered, returning to my cereal and trying to hide the relief in my voice.
"I would..."
Hearing Princess say those two words made the spoon freeze midway to my mouth. I looked at her, and she wasn’t blinking. Malo, on the other hand, was completely not shocked. He was hearing every word but he was not putting his mind into it. He just added more cereal to his milk, the box shaking in his hand.
"Are you fucking kidding?" I said, my heart skipping a beat.
"People do crazy things for love, some die, some kill...." Princess said, her voice chillingly casual. She started putting cereal into her own bowl now, acting like she hadn’t just admitted she’d commit murder for me.
"Now I know why you Trios are still friends, you are all made for each other... one relies on medication to feel emotions, one has intense anger issues and the third one is just a whore..." I said, standing up so fast my chair nearly tipped. "You should name your friendship Coco Trios... Malo let’s go to school." I said, turning away and heading for the door.
"But Princess is the one driving us to school.." Malo finally spoke up, his voice hesitant.
I slowly turned back to him, giving him an intense look that promised a very long walk if he didn’t move right now. "We will just walk to school then.." he said, standing up with his plate and practically running to put it in the sink.
We both left Princess sitting at the kitchen table. We started walking down the driveway, the morning air crisp and cool against my face. I was determined to make it all the way to school on foot, but within five minutes, I heard the familiar purr of an engine behind us. Princess was by our side with her car, the window rolling down as she crawled along at our walking pace.
She didn’t say anything, just looked at us, her meaning clear. We should get in. I didn’t want to, my pride was screaming at me to keep walking, but the thoughts of plodding three miles uphill while pregnant made me reconsider. I groaned, pulled the door open, and reluctantly entered the car.
