Chasing His Kickass Luna Back by Jane Above Story

#Chapter 67: Crossroads
Abby

The tension in the room feels palpable, a thick curtain of unsaid words and unexplored emotions

hanging in the air between Karl and me. My grip tightens on the knife handle as I glance at the chaos of

ingredients strewn across the counter.

“Tell me first,” I blurt out, wanting to avoid the inevitable confrontation as long as possible. “What are

you doing here? The restaurant closed hours ago.”

Karl sighs and shakes his head, walking past me and over to the line. I watch as he bends down

behind the counter and disappears for a moment, muttering to himself, before he stands back up and

holds something up in the air: his wallet.

“Dropped this earlier,” he says, slipping it into his pocket. “Wanted to come back and make sure it was

here. Now it’s your turn. What are you doing here at…” He glances at his watch. “One o’clock in the

morning?”

I swallow, glancing around at the ingredients and half-cooked dishes all around the kitchen. The sink is

full of empty dishes from failed attempts, the trash can is practically overflowing with said failed

attempts, and the various successful attempts are lined up on the adjacent counter for pictures to keep

in mind for presentation ideas.

“I, um…” I find myself choking up slightly. “I’m just practicing,” I half-lie. “Wanted to test my skills.”

Karl raises an eyebrow. “And waste all these ingredients? You’re not that type of chef.”

I nearly curse out loud. Karl is right; I’ve never been the type to waste ingredients.

Even in the past, when I’ve gone on creative cooking sprees, I would never just throw things away

when the dishes don’t turn out perfectly. There’s a food pantry right down the street that I visit

when I lived with Karl, the

leftovers.

breaks

he’s onto me, and probably has been for some time. Probably since he found

up to something huge here lately, and

to know. Why keep me in the

put the knife down, my eyes meeting his.

the band-aid now. “Okay, fine,”

of the finalists to

a fraction of a second before his

great, Abby. I’m proud

off. His voice lacks the warmth I had hoped for, and his smile isn’t quite reaching

can sense what I feared all this time—that he’d prefer that I go to

instead of catering it.

p rod, my own words edged with a surprising

proud of

tone says otherwise. What’s going

I wanted to go to the Alpha party with you.

sort of ruins

expected this sort of response

really has changed, that

making

you wanted to go to a party?

party, Abby. The Alpha party is a big deal.

he shoots back, his eyes locked onto mine. “And besides, you promised. Or did

pounds in my chest. “I didn’t forget,” I say. “But this

and everything. I’m sorry, but I hoped

understand,” he says, turning away from me for a moment. “But

to go with me.” His voice rises with

the empty kitchen.

Karl,” I murmur. “I’ve told you countless times before that

between us.”

strained, like he’s trying to hold himself back. “Because

like you’ve just been keeping me on a string this

jump through. And let’s not forget what happened the other

The memory of our night right here in this

felt to have