Page 125 of The Illicit Play

“Careful,” I snap.

“You be careful,” he snaps right back as I flick his hand off my arm and steady myself.

“How’s he been?” I ignore my brother’s frown and look at his girlfriend.

She tucks herself back against his side and rests her hand on his stomach. “He’s been mostly good.” He whips an injured look at her, and she giggles. “You know you like to push it. You just need to be patient.”

“I don’t wanna be patient. I want to get on with my life already.” He starts hobbling back into the house, and I sense Grady right behind me as he pauses at the top of the front steps.

I want to turn and burrow myself against him.

I want his arms around me again.

But that’s not going to happen, is it?

It can’t.

So I dutifully ignore every instinct in my body and follow Wily and Satch inside.

Once my brother is settled back on the couch, he sniffs the air and wrinkles his nose at me. “You’re right. You do smell like a sewer.”

“Wily!” Satch tells him off while I snicker and shake my head, giving him the finger.

He grins back at me, his smile wide and adoring… and I’m reminded why I can’t tell him the truth.

Because if he knows what I let myself become in Chicago, he’ll never look at me like that again. If he knows what I forced one of his best friends to do in the forest, he’ll never speak to me again.

Shit.

“You okay?” His expression buckles, and I quickly school my face, forcing those lips of mine back into a smile.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m just desperate for a shower.”

Grady moves past me, carrying our packs upstairs and calling over his shoulder, “You go first. I want to unpack my gear anyway. If I don’t do it the second I get home, it takes me over a week.”

I watch his very fine ass disappear up the stairwell and glance back into the living room, hoping my cheeks aren’t as red and hot as the rest of my body feels.

Shit, I’m gonna give myself away if I’m not careful.

Get that mask back in place! You’re not in the forest anymore, sweet thing.

“I’m showering.”

“Enjoy the hot water.” Satch grins at me.

“Believe me, I will.” I overexaggerate my words and bulge my eyes the way they’re expecting me to.

I score two laughs, the way I need to, then hike my butt upstairs and straight into the bathroom.

The second that hot spray hits me, I start to cry, the way my body has been begging to ever since I woke up this morning.

CHAPTER 43

GRADY

I heard Blake crying in the shower. I didn’t mean to; I just realized she went into the bathroom without a towel; so I went to leave one outside the door for her.

This soft whimper reached me, and I pressed my ear against the wood, my heart cracking in half as I listened to her keening wail.