Chapter 79: Kitchen Disasters
Kayden
This sucks. I wanted to scream it out loud, but instead I hissed as the oil in the pan popped, stinging my forearm.
I hate cooking. I had never cooked before, and I didn’t understand what Rhys was doing.
"What the hell is his problem?" I muttered as I grabbed the spatula and began moving the chicken around, my hands shaking as I fumbled with it uncoordinatedly.
What the hell is wrong with him? I glanced back and saw him standing at the kitchen entrance, staring at me.
I jumped in fright, almost knocking the spoon over, because he was half naked. That stupid captain was barely wearing anything. He had only briefs on and was smirking as he watched me make a complete mess of his kitchen.
Does he have two personalities? I thought as I turned back to the chicken, which was already starting to burn.
My mind was a mess, replaying the last hour over and over again. One minute he was slamming his hand against the wall and calling me Omega like it was a brand of shame, and the next he was blowing air into my ear and calling me softie.
And now he was smirking at me, wearing nothing but briefs, his perfectly sculpted abs on display.
I thought he hated me. No. I know he hates that I’m an Omega. He made that crystal clear in the car and at the clinic.
He thinks I’m a fraud, a liar, a liability to his precious career.
So why the hell is he acting like this? Why is he playing this domestic game instead of just locking me in a room or exposing me to the Board? That would solve everything, but instead, he suddenly switched personalities as if he wasn’t telling me to get lost and stay away from him just hours ago.
Good riddance, I thought as I tried to turn the chicken over, but instead a thick, acrid smell of something burning filled my nose. I tried to flip it again, but I couldn’t, and before I knew it, smoke filled the kitchen.
I coughed, waving my hands frantically as I tried to disperse the smoke, but it was useless.
The pan was sizzling violently, and the smoke alarm began letting out a faint, rhythmic beep.
"What the hell do you think you are doing!" Rhys yelled.
Before I could answer, he stepped in, moving with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a man who had been pumped full of painkillers an hour ago.
He reached past me, his bare chest brushing against my shoulder, and yanked the pan off the heat. He shoved it under the sink, the water hitting the hot metal with a loud, aggressive hiss that sent a fresh cloud of steam into my face.
"I am sorry."
Rhys didn’t respond as he turned the stove off and stood there, his chest heaving, staring at the charred mess in the sink before looking back at me.
He looked pissed off. This annoying big Alpha was standing in his kitchen in nothing but black briefs, looking like he was about to kill me over a piece of chicken.
"Are you trying to burn down my kitchen?" he yelled.
"I can’t cook, okay!" I screamed, finally snapping as I slammed the spatula down on the counter. "I never had to. I spent my whole life training for the ice, not standing in front of a stove."
Rhys didn’t move. He stood there in his briefs, steam curling around his muscular frame, making him look like some dark, irritated god.
The smirk was gone, replaced by a cold, hard stare that made my skin prickle.
"Is lying the only thing you are good at, Kayden?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.
The question hit me harder than a puck to the ribs.
I flinched at his words, my mouth hanging open as I searched for a comeback that wouldn’t make me sound even more guilty.
"That’s not fair," I whispered back. "You didn’t ask me if I could cook."
"Fair?" Rhys let out a sharp, bitter laugh and stepped closer, forcing me back against the counter.
The heat of his body clashed with the coldness of his words.
How could anyone be that insanely attractive yet toxic in every possible way?
"You lied about being an Alpha. You lied to the team. You lied to me every time we fucked, letting me knot you over and over again. So tell me, is there a single thing about you that’s actually real, or is everything just another performance?"
"Oh fuck you, Rhys. I am a good hockey player regardless of my status," I snapped, my chest heaving as I waved a hand at the smoke. "That part is real. And for your information, I made sure I used contraceptives every single time, even though it was harmful to my body."
Rhys said nothing. He just stared at me.
"You’re just like the rest of them," I continued, my voice shaking with frustration. "You’re the one who stereotypes Omegas as being household status worthy. You only expected me to be able to cook because of what I am. You think because I’m an Omega, I’m supposed to instinctively know my way around a kitchen."
Rhys let out a dry, humorless chuckle and stepped closer, his shadow looming over me. "It’s the world that stereotyped you, Kayden, not me. I’m just looking at the facts, and with how sharp your mouth is, I have to say it’s crazy to find out that you can’t cook." He sighed and turned his head slowly, staring at the charred remains of the chicken in the sink.
"Since dinner is ruined," Rhys said as his gaze snapped back to mine, "I guess we should move on to what’s next." He leaned closer, his pine scent flooding my senses as he released his pheromones intentionally.
Was it to seduce me?
I froze, my breath catching in my throat as I thought he was about to do something.
Kiss me. Bite me. Scream at me.
Instead, he reached out and wiped a smudge of soot from my forehead.
"Join me in the pool in five minutes," Rhys murmured against my skin. "Naked."
The last word was a whispered command that made the hair on my arms stand up.
His eyes dropped to my lips for a split second before he pulled away, turning and walking out of the kitchen without waiting for an answer.
I stood alone in the kitchen, my heart racing and a sudden, betraying heat blooming in my chest.
Rhys was crazier than I thought. How could anyone switch personalities that fast? One second he was a cold blooded blackmailer, and the next he was whispering for me to get naked.
I let out a deep sigh and pressed a trembling hand to my racing heart. "Oh, Kayden," I groaned as I rubbed my face.
And five minutes later, I walked toward the back of the penthouse where the infinity pool stretched out against the city skyline, but I wasn’t naked. Instead, I wore brown briefs.
The water was a shimmering dark blue, almost like Rhys’s eyes, but it wasn’t icy.
He was already in the pool, swimming with powerful, graceful strokes through the surface.
He looked like a shark in his natural element. Even with the black waterproof cast on his hand, he moved with terrifying strength, the specialized material barely creating any drag as he cut through the water.
When he reached the edge, he slicked his wet hair back and rested his elbows on the marble coping, watching me approach.
A slow smile spread across his face, then shifted into a frown when he noticed what I was wearing.
"I don’t recall giving you an option, Kayden," he said, his voice echoing slightly against the glass walls. "I specifically asked you to come here naked, so why the hell are you not?"
I stopped a few feet from the edge, my hands clenched at my sides. "I’m not doing that, Rhys. If you want to talk, we can talk, but I’m keeping these on."
Rhys let out a loud laugh and pointed at my briefs. "Really? What’s the matter?" He smirked. "Are you afraid I’ll do something to you?" He tilted his head, water dripping from his shoulders. "I meant it when I said I won’t touch you again."
The reminder made my body shudder.
"But," he continued, his voice dropping, "I changed my mind, Kayden. I would like to touch you again, now that I know you are an Omega and not an Alpha."