Page 20

SIMON

“I can tell you I don’t fucking like you breaking into Myra’s house.” I stare down the man I was once close to. Once considered my brother.

I’m not sure I even know him anymore.

“I didn’t know anyone lived here.” Butch flings both arms out, motioning around the space. “Last I knew, Jill owned it and it was sitting empty.”

I scoff. “You didn’t know because you fucking disappeared. No one’s heard from you for months and now you’re acting like you can just show back up like nothing happened.”

Butch angles a brow at me. “That’s awful fucking funny coming from you, considering you disappear just as much as I do.”

I’m gonna end up punching him. I can feel it. And it’s gonna happen sooner rather than later. “I don’t disappear.” I step closer, squaring up. “Everyone knows where I am and what I’m doing.”

And I have good fucking reasons for leaving. I stay gone to protect people. To spare them the worst of me. Butch’s reasons for leaving are as unknown as his whereabouts and actions while he’s gone.

“How about we all calm down?” Myra steps between us, putting her soft body too close to Butch.

I loop an arm around her waist, pulling her back against me. “I am calm.”

Myra tips her head back, brows lifting as she looks over my face.

“I’m gonna have to call bullshit on that one.

” She turns back to Butch, but doesn’t try to get out of my hold, layering her arm across mine instead.

“I get how you might assume this place was still empty, but that doesn’t explain why you were trying to break into it. ”

“I wasn’t trying. I did break into it.” Butch acts offended at Myra’s minimization of his recent actions.

A threatening noise I would almost call a growl resonates through my chest as I stare him down. “Watch how you talk to her.”

I don’t even try to temper myself. I couldn’t anyway. I was pissed when I thought some unknown stranger dared to invade Myra’s home. Now that I know it’s someone I considered family? I’m fucking livid.

Butch sighs, raking one hand through his hair. “Can you just tell me which of these places is vacant?”

“What the fuck for?” Is this prick serious right now? Ten minutes ago I was sleeping with Myra’s perfect body next to mine and this fucker?—

Myra hooks her free arm around mine, fingers spreading across my bicep. “I think Butch was going to explain that to us before you started yelling.” She sounds way too calm right now and it grates over my skin.

I don’t like thinking about why all the yelling I’m doing doesn’t faze her, but it does calm me down. Forces me to lower my voice. “Fine.” I flex the hand at her waist, curling her closer as I maintain the glare I’m shooting Butch’s way. “Start explaining.”

Looking like he’s seriously regretting his life choices, Butch drops his head, letting it hang between his shoulders. “Fuck.” His head tips back, eyes going to the ceiling as he repeats, louder this time, “ Fuck .”

“You know what?” I huff out a bitter laugh. “I don’t even care why you’re here.” I gesture across the street. “My camper’s parked behind the only building Jill still owns on this block. The electric’s even on, so make yourself at home.” I tug Myra away from him. “We’re going back to bed.”

“I’m not trying to be a dick, Simon. I’ve just got a lot on my fucking plate right now and?—”

I hold up a hand, cutting off Butch’s explanation.

“I said I don’t care.” I probably should, but right now I don’t.

All that matters is getting Myra away from this situation and tucked safely into her bed.

“You do you, man. Just shut off the lights as you leave.” I turn toward the stairs, pausing to look over one shoulder.

“And you’re going to pay to fix anything you fucked up getting in here. ”

Butch gives me a single nod, mouth pressed into a flat line.

Pushing Myra ahead of me, I urge her up the stairs and into her bedroom, closing the door behind us because I want to add another barrier between her and the man downstairs.

As pissed as I am at him, I don’t believe Butch is here to hurt her.

But I still don’t fucking like him breaking into Myra’s house. Especially not at night.

What if I hadn’t been here? She would have been scared to death. On her own with nothing but?—

My eyes land on the pile of items dumped out onto the bed, and a slow smile works onto my lips. Because Myra would have probably been just fine if I wasn’t here. Butch would have had his head split open, but Myra would have been okay.

And that’s all I care about.

“Sorry.” She rushes to the mess, trying to collect all of it into her arms at once. “I was in a hurry.”

I appreciate the quick thinking and bravery she showed, but I don’t like her walking into an unknown situation the way she did. “I feel like I told you to stay up here.”

“I thought you were hurt.” Myra doesn’t look my way as she drags both arms across the blankets, frantically working everything toward her body. “Turn off the light.”

“You won’t be able to see what you’re doing if I turn off the light.” I step toward her. “Let me help.”

“ No .” The word jumps out of her mouth. It’s loud and clipped and stops me in my tracks.

It also drops my eyes to the bed and the items on it.

The bulk of them are benign. Uninteresting and expected. Hand lotion. A couple more books. Chapstick. A spare phone charger. Nothing that explains Myra’s panicked expression and flailing movements.

Well, except for the lavender vibrator right smack dab in the middle of everything.

My eyes fix on the device, fusing to the item I know has been pressed against parts of her I’m desperate to touch myself.

“Myra.” I say her name gently. I don’t want her to be embarrassed around me. Not about anything. When she doesn’t react, I move closer, reaching out to encircle her wrist with my fingers, stalling her movements. “Sweetheart, look at me.”

I don’t know if it’s the accidental endearment or my closeness that has her head snapping my way, but Myra looks ten times more terrified now than she did closing in on an unknown attacker with nothing but a nightstand drawer for a weapon.

And it makes my heart hurt. Makes me want to find a way to break her ex-husband out of jail just so I can put him in the ground.

I shake my head, lifting my other hand to cup her cheek. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of on that bed.”

Myra’s chin lifts, her shoulders straightening, a little of her panic slipping away under the weight of defiance. “I’m not ashamed.”

“Good.” I don’t know what has caused this sudden shift in her emotions, but I’ll take her aggravation over shame any day. I still want to know what caused her immediate reaction, though. “Why are you trying to hide it then?”

“Because it’s private.” She snatches the vibrator off the bed and shoves it into the hole where her drawer used to be. “You’re not supposed to see things like that.”

“Why not?” A smile teases my lips at the memory of what happened earlier.

“We’re not exactly strangers anymore.” I lean in, loving that she doesn’t step away from me as my lips brush against hers.

“Don’t forget, you came against my dick not long ago.

I don’t see any reason I shouldn’t see what else you’ve come against.”

Myra sucks in a breath, one hand coming to spread flat over my stomach.

I was planning to eventually convince myself I couldn’t repeat that indiscretion again, but it never would have actually happened. Now that I know how sweet she sounds when she comes undone, there’s not a thing in this world that could stop me from chasing another climax through her lips.

Not even myself.

“How often do you and your little friend hang out?” I can’t even begin to guess where Myra is when it comes to sex and physicality. I know she’s had it. I’m also pretty confident she didn’t enjoy it.

But I’m positive she enjoyed what happened between us earlier. And finding out how easy it is to make her come has only made me bolder. The question I just asked is proof of that.

“Why does that matter?” She doesn’t answer me, and that’s okay. I’m happy to give her more motivation to offer the information I’m after.

“I was just thinking I’d be happy to offer my services.” I run the tip of one finger over her mouth. “If you ever decide you’d like a more manual type of application.”

Again, Myra inhales sharply. At first I think it’s a gasp of surprise, but then her eyes lift to mine, pupils completely blown, and I become suspicious it’s actually arousal controlling her lungs.

“What do you mean, manual ?” Her question is breathless. Soft and sweet and it nearly makes me groan because she didn’t immediately shoot me down.

“I mean whatever you want me to mean.” I’ve worked hard to make sure Myra knows the ball is always in her court.

Even when I was the primary party pushing things forward, she was always the one to make the first move.

Backstage when she kissed me. Against the side of the truck after she told me to kiss her again.

In each instance, Myra was the initiator.

I was just the one who followed through.

“I’m at your disposal.” My dick is coming alive, and there’s no way for me to hide it. Not standing here in nothing but my underwear. But there’s no going back now. “Any time. Any place. I’m more than happy to provide any service you require.”

“Oh.” The tip of Myra’s tongue skims across her lower lip and my dick flexes as my eyes track the slow path it makes across her plush, pink skin.

I don’t think she understands how fucking desperate I am to touch her.

Honestly, I didn’t feel the full force of it until tonight when she kissed me.

I worked so hard—stayed away so long—to tamp it all down.

But once I felt her soft lips against mine, she sealed her own fate.

There would be no going back. No slowing the train barreling down the tracks. I tried, and I failed.