Page 116 of Burden of Proof

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him.” Silas could barely get the threat out with a straight face, and his fake bravado had me laughing too.

“No, you won’t.”

“I would try,” he said instead. “Marshall would.”

“I doubt that.”

“Hey.” He grabbed my shoulders, gave me a little shake. “Marshall adores you. If you think he wouldn’t come for Hunter if he hurt you, you’re underestimating his affection.”

I nodded my agreement.

“You got lucky with him, didn’t you?” I murmured.

“Very. And so did you. With Hunter.”

“Very,” I agreed. “But I have to get these boxes and Feeny over to his apartment before lunch, and there’s no way I can do it myself without an hour of whining.”

“Good thing you’ve got me then,” Silas teased, knocking his elbow into me.

It was all I could do to agree with him, even if the words were twisted into a knot in the back of my throat.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been a good friend,” I blurted, which earned me a very unhappy and confused look from Silas.

“How have you not been a good friend?”

“I just…I let you move and I know we see each other on Friday?—”

“It’s not enough.”

I huffed a breath that puffed out of my cheeks, and I shrugged at him. Because I wasn’t necessarily sure that was the case.

“It’s less than before,” I said. “Different from before. But you want to be with Marshall, and I don’t blame you for that. I want to be with Hunter as much as I can be too.”

“Obviously.” Silas grinned, gesturing at the boxes. “We will find something that works for us now. Something new.”

“I don’t want to be an imposition.”

He stood up and scoffed. “You’re my best friend.”

“I know, but?—”

“Maybe we can double date,” he suggested, picking up a box without being told. I stood and grabbed one for myself, following Silas toward the door without being asked. “But I think if you call Hunter Daddy in front of Marshall, he might have an aneurysm.”

My keys were on the counter, and I hooked my pinky finger through the loop. Silas managed the door open, and we shouldered our way into the hall together.

“It’s not like that,” I assured him. “That’s…it’s private for us.”

“I love that for you,” he said again, and there was no indication he didn’t mean it. “But I do have to ask whyDaddyHunter isn’t the one helping you move.”

The way he said Daddy was laced with amusement, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at how warm it made me feel inside. Even being a joke, I loved the idea of it, loved the feel of it when I thought of how Hunter treated me.

“Finn came over this morning,” I said.

We’d made it downstairs to my car, and together we managed to get the trunk open. Silas dropped his box inside and I did the same, then straightened up and brushed myself off. He leveled a worried look at me, and all I could do was shrug. “Something’s going on with him, but he’s like a vault.”

“All that attitude.”

“Clearly a defense mechanism,” I said, and Silas nodded his agreement.