Page 170 of Between Secrets and Obsession

Tyler laughs. “I don’t envy you, man.”

“You ever bring a chick home to meet the parents?” I ask him.

Tyler’s lips turn into a frown, and I fear I’ve hit a sensitive topic. “Hell no.”

“He has a hot sister, though,” Liam taunts, and I scowl at him. “Or so I’ve heard.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, nice save.” Then I look at Tyler. “You didn’t tell me you had a sister. What’s her name? Where does she live?”

Tyler pushes his hands on his knees and stands. “And that’s exactly why I didn’t.”

“Oh come on!” I pout. “If we’re gonna be roomies, I need some personal info.”

He contemplates it for a moment. “Six feet five, a hundred seventy-five pounds, brown hair, and brown eyes. Favorite coloris orange, and I like spicy foods,” he rambles off, then gives me a shit-eating grin.

“That’s not what I meant!” I groan. “Wait. Your favorite color is orange?” I chuckle. “That’s cute.”

“Can I go now?”

I groan, narrowing my eyes. “At least give me your sister’s name!”

“Fine. Her name is Everleigh.” He gives in, and I grin victoriously.

“Maybe I’ll get to meet her someday.” I smile hopeful, but he doesn’t take the bait to give me more information.

He nods firmly with tight lips, and I know he gets uncomfortable talking about himself. That part was genuine while at the cabin. When he avoided telling me anything personal, it wasn’t an act.

“Alright, lovebirds. I’m gonna shower, then go to sleep.”

“I think that’s code for get off the couch,” Liam says, grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

Tyler walks toward the bathroom, then smirks. “Well, I’m definitely not sleeping in that bed. I’ll be wearing the headphones, though.”

The past six days have all been long and repetitive. It’s felt like Groundhogs Day except Liam’s been too paranoid to let any of us out of the condo, so we have food delivered, and Tyler’sfriend who owns the place dropped off some other supplies for us. Condoms included this time.

I can tell Liam’s been on edge the past couple of days as he waits for Victoria to make the next move. I also know he hates sitting around and is eager to get back to work.

Sophie and I text every day, and I called Lennon to give her the same updates. Once we’re home, we plan on telling everyone the whole story. Now that Victoria isn’t playing puppet master, they need to know everything in case anyone in her world tries to talk to them.

Then Liam has to talk to his father and give him a brief summary of why he’s no longer staying married to her and how the babies aren’t his. He’s stressed about the fallout of having an arranged marriage and now having to apologize to everyone for lying.

There’s a lot on his plate, so I try not to push him to talk about it because there’s nothing that can be done until Victoria sends the papers. Until then, we’re in limbo.

“What’re you hungry for?” Tyler asks as I sit at the breakfast table.

“A triple berry smoothie from Frenchie’s Cafe,” I say. “They have the best muffins too. Mmm.” I release a dreamy sigh as I think about being back in Sacramento.

“Alllllright, well…” he ponders. “I can make you a fruit and yogurt smoothie, and there’s some blueberry muffin mix in the pantry. How’s that?”

“Deal.”

“Good, then you can do my laundry while I cook.”

“Oh my God. You too? Liam does the same shit to me.” I groan.

“What do I do?” Liam wraps his arms around my waist, then presses a kiss to my neck.

“Sneak your dirty clothes with mine so I’ll wash ‘em.” I elbow him in the stomach. “Now Tyler is trying to be sneaky and barter for his cooking.”