Page 7 of Don't Say You're Sorry

Carter’s nostrils flare. After a couple beats, he removes his arm from my throat and takes a single step back, still in my space. Easton and I don’t look away from each other. It’s buried beneath the smile, but I see something simmering just beneath the surface. He’s angry. Angry that Carter was touching me? Is he territorial over me…orhim?

Easton catches the question in my expression, and it makes his smile grow.Bastard.

A light laugh leaves me as I tip my head back against the doorframe, my eyes never leaving his. “God, I missed you.”

His brows jump slightly, and I snap my mouth shut.

Movement on the stairs gets our attention, and we all look that way as two more guys walk into the entryway. One of them is a lot taller and bigger than the other. Nate Grayson, the captain of the Hawthorne Hawks. The smaller guy with the lip ring isn’t on the team. Judging by the way Nate’s trailing behind him with their hands linked, his mouth on his neck, I’m guessing he’s Nate’s boyfriend.

The boyfriend stops when he sees me standing in the doorway with Carter and Frankie, his eyebrows pinching as he moves his gaze over the four of us. “What’s going on?”

Everyone stares at me, and I find myself staring at the several hickeys decorating the boyfriend’s neck.Fresh.

“Who the fuck are you?” Nate bites out, his arm wrapping around his boy from behind, his forearm across his chest as he pulls him back.

Nate’s shirtless. His boyfriend’s wearing it—and nothing else. The hem skims mid-thigh, just enough to cover him. So, just about everyone in this house walks around half naked.Great.

I look at Easton again, trying to read him, trying to figure out if he’s in a relationship with Carter or Frankie or both—hopefullyneither—but he’s giving nothing away. The fucker’s enjoying making me sweat.

He hasn’t spoken to me directly in years, and the first time he does, he chooses the words, “Brother, meet my new family.”

I flinch. He might as well have taken a knife and stabbed it into my heart.

I deserve it.I deserve everything he throws at me.

“Carter, Frankie, Nate, and Xavi,” he finishes, nodding at the boyfriend.

I already know who Nate and Carter are. I watched every single one of their games on my iPad, and I’m sure he knows it, but he doesn’t call me out in front of them.

“Brother?” Nate echoes.

“My stepbrother,” Easton explains. “Adam.”

Nate narrows his eyes.

“Did you tell them about me?” I blurt out.

Easton raises a brow at that. I shut my mouth again, silently cursing myself.

Carter knows something about us, but if the others don’t, I’m sure I just gave us away. There’s more to us than stepbrothers. A fuck of a lot more.

“Can we go somewhere else?” I ask, sighing when his only response is to cock his head at me. I know that look. He wants me to beg. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been above doing anything he wants me to do. I could never say no to him.

Apart from the one time I did say no to him…

I blow out a breath. “Please, E. I just want to talk to you.”

Shrugging, he heads upstairs. Assuming I’m allowed to follow him, I do, not missing the four sets of eyes watching my every step. Like predators waiting to pounce if I make one wrong move.

“They seem nice,” I mumble once we’re out of earshot.

He doesn’t look back as he leads the way down the hall. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Hownicemy friends are?”

No, I was just trying to break the ice and erase some of the tension between us, but it seems he’s not about to make this easy for me.

I aim a small smile at his back.That’s my guy.

“So, you all live here? Together?”