Read Broken for Free Online

almost fell over when the three of them were standing in the kitchen when I came back in the house. “No way.”
    Aspen shrugged. “There’s three of us.” I raised an eyebrow, walked past him, down the half flight of stairs, up the other few steps, and out the door to the garage—and about fell over.
    It was spotless . I mean it looked like they had taken a mother fucking power washer to it and squeegeed it dry. Every tool was organized along the back wall, the shelves were cleaned off… It was perfect.
    “Holy shit , guys,” I whispered, glancing back at the three of them standing in the doorway. “This would have taken me all day. Thank you.”
    “We really, really appreciate an actual meal,” Teak replied with his normal huge grin.
    “Apparently,” I chuckled, shaking my head and walking back to them. We headed to the kitchen again, and I reached above the microwave for the foil. “Okay, can you guys take orders to prepare food without burning down the house?”
    Cypress glanced at his friends and shrugged. “Most likely.” Just in case I made sure they were all watching as I walked over to the sink and pulled out the fire extinguisher from the cabinet and set it on the counter with a thump. They all nodded, not even seeming annoyed with me for picking on them, just that they understood and would be careful.
    Shit. They were that bad then.
    “Cut up pieces big enough to wrap each piece of chicken individually with room to spare.” I demonstrated with the foil, going back to work, and laid it out on the counter before handing him the roll. Then I checked on the burgers which weren’t even ready to flip yet. Amazing how cooking eleven instead of two made a huge difference in the time it took. I turned up the heat ever so slightly and rejoined them. Next I brought out my little food processor and showed Teak how to chop up the frozen mango.
    “Why frozen?” he inquired as he watched me. “You seem to like everything fresh so why get this frozen?”
    “Good question.” I hip checked him and smiled. “When you smoke meat, it dries out real fast so I find cooking with something extra moist like frozen fruit and sealing each piece of meat separately locks in the juices. I also throw a few pieces of fruit in with my wood chips that I soak.” I turned slightly and pointed to the cabinet that had those. “Aspen, second shelf there, please.”
    “Yes, boss,” he chuckled, giving me a wink.
    Teak mashed up the frozen fruit as Cypress finished putting each piece of chicken on its foil counterpart, while I showed Aspen how to mix the alcohol, water, and fruit with the wood chips and stick it in the fridge. Then it was time to flip the burgers. Next we moved on to seasoning the chicken, adding mango before wrapping each piece, and sticking it all in the fridge.
    I’d never had so much fun prepping. We were like a well-oiled machine, a dance we’d done a hundred times instead of new friends who were doing something for the first time. I flipped the burgers again as Cypress finished setting the table, excited to try the hard cider in my fridge. Teak washed the food processor as Aspen cleaned the counters and made sure everything was put away.
    By the time I added cheese and started bringing burgers in, there was no proof we’d just done major shopping or food prep, and my counters were cleaner than earlier in the day. Fuck knows my garage was better off than the day I’d moved into the house. I was totally on board with this deal.
    Everyone had fun at dinner, sharing in a few laughs—mine mostly from the way they ate. It was as if no one had fed them in years instead of a week of takeout blues. Teak actually pulled a are you going to finish that when my second burger sat there uneaten since I didn’t normally have two, corn, and potato salad. I normally just had two and no sides.
    I’d passed him my plate with a smile.
    “We should get an extra freezer for your garage,” Cypress offered when we were