Page 30 of After Our Kiss

Listening to Conway threaten his brother brought me back to an old memory of them facing off. Conway had defended me then, like he was now—and that was comforting.

Lonnie was glaring at me. I erased my smile, but it was too late. He'd seen.

With a hand on the small of my back, Conway guided me towards my room. I didn't fight him; I was happy to get away from his brother. He let me inside, backing out quickly. “Stay, I need to get some things.”

Blinking, I nodded. Alone with my thoughts, I ruffled my hair and body with the towels, still shivering. I hoped what he'd gone to get was dry clothes. These were too wet to be cured by a towel.

When he returned, he didn't bring me a new outfit. Conway stepped inside, and right away, his energy was different. Colder... sadder. Regret was written all over his face. He was holding a canvas bag—I snapped my attention to it, then back to his tight frown. “You're going to do something horrible now.”

His eyebrows knotted further. “Yes.”

My feet were stuck to the floor. I let the towels fall, knowing they weren't armor. Nothing could protect me from whatever was motivating Conway to act in his father's stead.His surrogate, Lonnie called him.“I want you to know that I'm sure you have a reason for doing this. Even if you keep trying to convince me otherwise, I know someone is forcing your hand. Your dad... your brother... you don't need to confirm anything. I just know.”

He looked at me with an awful expression; some mixed up combination of being thankful, while also hating himself. He dropped the bag. It landed with a heavy thud.

“It's time to begin.”