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My phone buzzed again.

Since I was wide awake and Ainsley fell back asleep, I checked my phone.

Sammy: You don’t answer your phone anymore?

I ground my teeth together, a sharp pain shooting up the side of my face. I loved my brother, but his mood swings were starting to piss me off. I hoped Red kicked his ass and made him beg for whatever it was he wanted from her.

Me: I was in the middle of something.

Sammy: It’s called sex, C.

I rolled my eyes.

Me: It wasn’t sex. Helping my girl through her nightmare.

I didn’t have to explain myself to him, but I knew that he wouldn’t let it go if I didn’t give him some sort of an answer.

Sammy: Huh.

Not wanting to disturb Ainsley now that she had fallen back asleep, I wasn’t going to call my brother but that single-worded text he just sent, annoyed the fuck out of me. Dialing him up, I waited for him to answer.

“Now you call me,” he said, his voice curt.

“What the hell is your problem, Sammy?” I demanded, keeping my voice as quiet as possible, so I wouldn’t disturb Ainsley.

She shifted on top of me.

Running my hand up and down her back, I waited for her to settle.

“Did you not have a nightmare?” Sam asked.

I almost forgot I was on the phone with him, Ainsley had me so wrapped up in her, I lost focus on what I was doing.

“No,” I told him as she shifted her weight until my cock was snug against her hot center.

Her body relaxed then, and I realized that feeling me, helped calm her. It made the alpha in me roar and the Dom in me stir. If my cock was what she needed, she had it. Always.

“I was awake already,” I told Sammy before he could respond.

“I’m sick of this shit,” he muttered, and I wondered if he was referring to the nightmares or the fact that I now had someone else in my life besides him.

“Call up Red,” I suggested.

“Yeah, right. She has her own shit to deal with,” he grunted. “I gotta go. I’ll see you around, Cyrus.”

The click in my ear reverberated through me.

It dawned on me that the closer I got to Ainsley, the farther apart I was getting from my brother. It shouldn’t be that way. We should want each other to find the happiness I knew we both deserved, but Sammy was so wrapped up in his head, I wasn’t sure how any woman, including Red, would help him unravel those thoughts.

Bottom line, he was scared. Of something. I just didn’t know what.

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