Page 22 of Blood Sugar

“You’re not feeding, are you?”

Her lips pressed between her teeth as she considered her answer.

“Honestly? No. After work there isn’t much time, and I really haven’t wanted to find a random person to bite…” She trailed off, and I noticed her irises were far more blue-purple than fuchsia as she met my gaze.

“I knew it,” I blurted, and then snapped my jaw shut. It wasn’t the right response to her apologetic answer, but she’d been pretending everything was fine and it obviously wasn’t.

She scowled at me.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quickly. “Look, we can be done early tonight so you can go get blood, and then we can adjust your schedule.”

Eyes on the dark window, Sadie crossed her arms, curling in on herself defensively.

“I’ll have more time once I move closer. The place I’m staying is a bit of a drive.” She hesitated. “So if I could start a bit later a couple times a week until then, it would be helpful. I’ll make it up somehow.”

It took all of my self-control to not grab her and shake. Was she really that terrified she would lose her job even after all this time I’d spent training her? Aside from her initial disaster, she wasn’t a half-bad baker.

“That’s not necessary,” I said, forcing my features into an approximation of professionalism. “Look, why don’t we take a break right now, maybe for an hour or two? And then we can come back and finish up. We’re ahead of schedule.”

Her brows creased. By now, she knew my routine and that we weren’t ahead. I would have to come back and do more baking in the morning to make it up, or go without some of the more complicated items, but Sadie’s health was more important. She wasn’t moving very fast right now anyway.

“Okay, if you’re sure. Give me a minute and then I’ll finish this up.”

Setting the rolling pin aside, she brushed off her hands and fished her phone out of her pocket. It took all of my self-control to not peek at what she was doing.

With a sigh, she tucked the device away and resumed her work. I gritted my teeth and resumed my own work while she rolled the cinnamon buns and cut them, placing them on the tray for their final rise.

“There. Alright, if you’re serious about us taking a break, I think I’ll head down the road.”

“Back to the bar?” I asked.

Sadie’s brows furrowed. “Yeah.” She set her apron aside and headed to the door. “I’ll see you in like an hour. Is that okay?”

A wave of jealousy hit me, bringing bile to my throat. I knew she needed to feed, but I hadn’t realized that would include a hookup at the bar. It was suddenly all too clear. She’d bitten me on the night we’d met. Why would I think I was special? She’d probably done the same things with who knows how many men before me.

I shouldn’t care. We weren’t together. Couldn’t be.

My teeth ground together hard enough my jaw hurt. Sadie blinked at me, unaware of the chaos going on in my head but sensing something was off.

She set her apron aside and headed for the door. Against my better judgement, I tossed my own apron aside and followed her.

A polite smile flashed across her face, but the lines around her eyes gave away how stressed she was. I held the door open, and she brushed against me, sending my conflicting emotions spiraling with barely a touch.

Without so much as a glance at me, she turned south and began striding down the street. Moving on pure instinct, I muttered a spell and then closed up the bakery before jogging after her.

“Rowen?” she asked, her lips pouting as she frowned at me. “Whatcha doing?”

“Figured I’d head there too,” I said casually, trying to hide the fact that I had no clue what I was doing.

Lines formed around her eyes as she squinted at me. Clearly, I wasn’t fooling her, but she chose to ignore me. Her arms folded over her stomach as she focused on the road ahead of her.

We reached the bar and she pulled out her phone again, and a familiar dating app flashed on her screen. Amelie had once made me an account on the app, but I promptly deleted both the account and the application off of my phone. Maybe I should have kept it so I could’ve matched with Sadie.

“Um, I’ll just go meet my friend,” she said awkwardly, jerking her thumb at the door. A friend from a dating app.

“Wait!” I blurted.

It was so wrong, but I couldn’t let her go out to bite some random guy. I could pretend it was a practical choice. It would be safer for her to stay here with me.