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ROMAN

“They don’t make water hot enough, do they?” Remy asks from the living room when I come in the back door.

“What?”

“You heard me,” he says. Margot stayed with him last night, and her car is still here.

I don’t see her anywhere, but Remy seems fine.

The dark circles beneath his eyes won’t ever disappear, I’m pretty sure, yet he gives me a smile that seems genuine.

I’m relieved—until he opens his mouth. “You smell like Margot’s shampoo and sex. ”

I stop, staring at him down the length of my house.

I slept nearly all day at Margot’s apartment before taking the longest shower of my life, and the sun has already started to set.

Remy turns off the television, casting himself in darkness, before strolling into the dining room.

Hands in his pockets, he hangs his head, and I feel like a piece of shit.

“Listen, it was?—”

“You smelled like Margot’s shampoo, sex, and cigarettes the last time. I thought you quit smoking?”

“I did.”

“Gwyn made you start back up?” he asks, and I wish he wasn’t so obviously confident about the identity of the woman I’m fucking. I imagine this is what a teenager feels like being caught by a cop in the park while steaming up the back windows of a shitty little beater.

But worse—definitely worse.

“Remy, it’s not?—”

“It definitely is.” He pulls out a chair and sits, waiting for me to join him. This is not how I wanted this to go at all. There’s plenty of time to decide what I want to do about this. About her.

Remy should be more emotionally stable before I talk to him about this twisted mess between me and Gwyn.

With a sigh, I sit down.

Remy leans forward, elbows on the table and hands folded beneath his chin.

“How many times?” he asks, and I don’t know how the fuck to answer that. His brows are raised, and his heart is racing. He must be furious. “Last night,” he clarifies, and I think my dick shrivels up and fucking dies.

R.I.P. to my libido.

“It all…kind of bleeds together.”

“How many orgasms then?” he asks, and I can’t control my grimace. His mouth is hidden behind his hands, but I don’t know what the fuck he can possibly hope to gain from this.

“Why the hell does that matter?”

“More or less than ten?” Rapid fire, he keeps questioning me.

“Total or just her?” I ask, surprised I’m even participating in this insane inquisition.

“Total.”

“More? I think? Shit, dude, what the fuck?”

“MARGOT!” His shout is ear-splitting, and I cover my ears.

“What?” Her response is equally shrill from upstairs.

“You owe me five hundred bucks!”

He drops his hands, and he’s grinning. Bright, his smile is wide as he starts to laugh.

“You had a bet?” I ask drily.

“She thought it would be a quickie again like last time. That you’re too scared for more right now,” he explains, and it all sounds fucking ridiculous. My brother is smug as hell as he leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. “I was right though—obviously. I know you,” he says.

“I can’t do this,” I say, rubbing a hand over my face. I start to stand, but Remy gives me a look and I lower myself back into my seat. “What do you want me to say?”

“She gotten under your skin, and there’s only so many ways it’ll end,” he says. “Personally, I vote for the way that won’t end you too.”

“It wouldn’t end me. It’s not…” I say, knowing I’m a fucking liar, just like he said yesterday. It feels like a lifetime ago. “It doesn’t matter. It’s done. I’m not going to do that.” To you.

“From what Margot tells me, you were definitely worse to Gwyn than she ever was to me. I mean, you let her die, technically speaking.” I open my mouth to argue, but he shakes his head and holds up his hand.

Gone is the joking demeanor he had only a moment ago.

“Look, Ro. Your ego is wounded, but you have everything else you could possibly want. You’re not sworn to anyone, she gave you the coven.

I mean, fuck, dude. This is everything you ever dreamed of, isn’t it?

Especially when you add Gwyn into the mix.

She’s hot, she challenges you, and she’s probably stronger than you which I find fucking hilarious.

If it’s me you’re worried about—don’t. Seriously.

I’m so goddamn tired of holding you back. ”

I sit in silence for a long time, unable to say a word. Remy lets me contemplate, simply going back to the living room to finish watching the last episode of his dragon show.

Eventually, as the credits roll, I find my words.

“You’ve never held me back, okay?”

With soft eyes that remind me of our mom, he gives me a ghost of a smile. “Sure, Roman. Okay.”