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Roman stood facing him for a moment. Debating how to approach this. How to make Pax understand.

He closed the distance to his brother and lowered himself into a crouch.

“Listen, Pax,” Roman began softly. “I know this sucks. I know you don’t want to leave Shay, and neither do I. But we have to.”

Paxton’s eyes sparkled with tears. “Why?” he croaked. “I like her.”

“So do I,” Roman whispered. He more than liked her, but that didn’t matter. This wasn’t about him.

“I feel like...” Pax hesitated. “When Shay’s with us, I feel like…” He dropped his voice to a whisper and said, “Like we’re a family. Arealfamily.”

Roman’s heart pinched. “Ah, Pax,” he said on a sigh.

“Dad ruins everything.” His voice cracked. A tear rolled down his freckled cheek, and he angrily wiped it away with a fist.

Roman’s heart sank like a ship. “I know,” he whispered. “But we’re doing this for Shay. To keep her safe. You want to keep Shay safe, don’t you, bud?”

Pax didn’t answer. The set of his mouth told Roman he was trying very hard not to cry.

Roman pushed to his feet. Gave Pax’s shoulder a comforting pat. “Come on. Let’s go.”

But Pax wasn’t finished. “You’re not being very nice.”

Roman suppressed another sigh. Turned back around.

Pax still hadn’t budged. “We’re leaving her in the middle of the night when Dad’s already looking for her. If he comes here, she’ll be all alone.”

“He won’t,” Roman said—but terror threatened to strangle him, and he barely choked it down. “He won’t come here.” Who was he trying to convince,himself?Don was probably on his way right the fuck now.

Going to the clinic was a mistake. Roman had done it for Paxton, to make sure his brother wasn’t dying some slow death he wasn’t aware of. But he’d messed up. And now, the cops knew they were in Arbor.

They should have left hours ago. He’d bribed the owner of the motel to stay silent in exchange for a fat wad of bills, but they might’ve been spotted by someone else.

It wouldn’t surprise him—the Wanderer was right on the damn highway. It wasn’t exactly the best place for a couple of wanted criminals and a missing kid to hide.

“We don’t know that!” Pax argued. “And she doesn’t even have a car!” The kid made a point. “I think we should let her come with us to Darien’s,” Paxton persisted. “How would you feel if someone abandonedme?”

“Pax.” Roman ground his teeth. “It’s not the same. Shay’s an adult. She’s a grown woman. She can handle herself.”

“So why are we leaving her behind?” he wailed. “If she can handle herself, then she should be allowed to come with us.”

“Pax, I already told you…” The next sigh that came out of him was damn near a growl.

He couldn’t believe this, but he found himself hesitating. Which was exactly what he wanted—needed—to avoid.

Suddenly, the door to room nineteen opened, and Shay walked out wearing Roman’s shirt over her black pajama shorts. She still slept in that shirt every night, as if doing so was good for either of them.

When she saw them standing there, her strawberry blonde brows flicked up. “Oh, you’re still here.” The statement was flat. Icy.

Roman watched her walk away in bare feet, the tattered hem of his shirt falling past her thighs—the thighs that had been bracketing his hips not long ago.

Toolong ago. What he wouldn’t give to feel her body beneath his again.

She disappeared around the corner of the building.

Roman stood there with Pax in silence for a few minutes before Shay returned, plastic cup in hand. As if her body wasn’t already the hardest temptation he’d ever had to resist in his life, her nipples were firm, the hard tips poking against the soft fabric of his black Legion band tee. It looked better on her than him.

She vanished into the motel room without a backward glance, the door snicking shut behind her.