I thought about his cuddling comment from earlier. I’d never cuddled with anyone before, but I sure as fuck wanted to with Liam. What if I pretended to be asleep and just reached over and hooked my arm around him? Would he resist? Would he push me away?
I schemed, but considering his issue with kissing—which was about more than lips locking—I wanted to be cautious, to tiptoe around his defenses, especially now that I knew they stemmed from the sort of work he’d been involved in before we met.
Like before Kyle had broken in, Liam’s presence beside me made it that much easier for me to drift off. When I woke, I was facing the window, and I resented my body for having turned from him. I was expecting to see him lying beside me as I rolled back over, but he was gone—the covers disheveled, remnants of his presence near me.
I rested my head next to the pillow he’d been lying on and pretended I was just going to lie there for a moment, when really, I just wanted a whiff of his sweet fragrance, to capture a part of his soul. It brought me far more than the subtle hint of coffee filling the air, which at one time I would have fucking lived for. However, considering how little sleep I’d gotten, it just annoyed me. I threw on the clothes I’d worn the night before and headed downstairs.
Mick was typing away on his laptop. He took a sip from his coffee mug, looking alert as ever, almost frenetic with energy as his gaze shifted between me and his computer monitor. He had been friendly enough the night before that I didn’t suspect he was trying to be rude, but it seemed he was in the middle of something, so I offered a polite good-morning, which went unreturned, and walked into the kitchen.
The skillet sizzled as Liam worked his magic at the stove. It was a comforting sight, particularly seeing him in just boxers again as he went through that pleasant dance of working the skillet and checking the stove.
“Morning, Ty,” he said without turning around.
I headed over to the coffeemaker and poured myself a mug.
“Tara’s getting ready now. Mick, of course, is doing what Mick does best. Kyle’s already in the office, searching through the stuff we pulled. They’ll all be in here for breakfast in a few minutes.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Tolerating us, for now, is the best we can hope for.”
“If there is anything else, I’m happy to.”
“I don’t mind you being present, but I certainly don’t expect you to catch up on ten years of material in a day.”
It wasn’t a satisfying response. I wanted to participate, not just be this dead weight Liam had to drag around because I’d pushed a Boystown vacay on him on what had clearly become the most inconvenient weekend ever.
I settled at the kitchen table while Liam rounded up the troops.
They’d brought some clothes with them in the bags we’d carried in the night before, but Mick remained in the same all-black outfit while Kyle wore a button-up and black pants and Tara sported jeans and a tucked-in tee.
Even though Mick had stepped away from his computer, he held a tablet he keyed away on nearly as much as he’d typed on his keyboard in the living room. He didn’t seem interested in his food. Tara had a very unusual pattern for eating her meal, in silence, picking at everything Liam had made, almost taste-testing it first before she made her way around her plate in a counterclockwise motion. Kyle was more like Liam, devouring his meal like some kind of fucking animal. But unlike usual, that morning Liam seemed to be enjoying the silence, like he needed some peace and quiet to reflect.
Kyle finished everything on his plate as though it were a competition, then said without looking at me, “So tell us about yourself, Ty.”
Tara turned her gaze from her plate to me, and even Mick paused what he was doing as his gaze shifted to me.
Liam’s face twisted into a suspicious glare as he looked to Kyle.
The moment reminded me of a job interview, the sort where everyone acted casual and collected, but really, every response would be picked apart and critiqued, used to decide whether or not I was worth hiring.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.
“It’d be impolite to ask what I really want to know.” His gaze shifted between Liam and me, and Tara and Mick snickered.
“Be good, Kyle,” Liam warned.
“Hey, I’m just trying to get to know the guy. How long did we work together, for how many years, and when the fuck have we ever known you to be running around with some boy? How old are you even?”
“He’s not someboy,” Liam snapped before Mick interjected, “He’s twenty-five.”
“How the fuck did you know that?” Liam spit out.
“I swiped his ID and checked him out online.”
When the fuck had he had a chance to swipe my ID? Had he done it in my sleep?
“Had to go through all his accounts, make sure there wasn’t any information that should be scrubbed,” Mick added.
