He was right, and I desperately needed to make sure I didn’t fall asleep before we got upstairs, no matter how relaxing it was to rest against his chest. I wanted to know more about where we both stood with each other. Not just wanted. Needed.
It was a desperate driving need.
31
Idirected him to my room, and he strode in, making the entire area seem positively tiny, before he gently set me on the bed. Scooting back, I leaned against the many fluffy pillows before patting the spot next to me so Dylan knew I wanted him to sit there.
"So," I said, staring at him, as he shifted closer and settled in next to me. He was so close and warm, and I found myself leaning toward him, even when I knew I shouldn't. "Where should we start?"
He let out a low breath, rubbing his hands across his dark pants, and I wondered if maybe he was a little nervous. "Firstly, we have followed all known leads on Blake and whoever he’d been dealing with. I believe that you should be safe now, but we’ll keep digging until we’re totally sure."
"Did you find the bracelet?"
He nodded. "Yeah, it was in the hospital. They must have taken it off when you first came in, and it was being held in their storage."
"Were all the plans on it?"
Dylan’s face was serious as he let out a low breath. "That and more. There were a few important documents on there that we had no idea Blake was in possession of. In particular, there was some information pertaining to the Delta vaults that, if it fell into the wrong hands, would mean a lot of trouble for us."
I was near speechless at how open he was being with me right now, sharing secrets like... a couple. "What's the Delta vault?"
He made a frustrated sound. "It's a vault filled with all of Delta's secrets that we've been trying to track down so we can destroy it. It has blackmail material on all five Delta families so none of us would ever betray the others, among many, many other things. The vault’s last secret-keeper died, and now all we have are a few photocopied pages from Riley's brother's journal to go on for cracking the code—pages that were on Blake's data chip."
These people legitimately lived in some fucked up thriller novel. "Wait, Riley has a brother?"
Dylan shook his head. "She had a half-brother, Oscar. He was murdered. It's a long, complicated, and, frankly, almost unbelievable story. I'll tell you all about the years when Riley first came into our lives one day, but for now, I want to talk about us."
Us. Such a tiny word, but fuck, it meant so much.
"Okay," I agreed with a small yawn. "Ussounds perfect."
Dylan just gave me a slow smile. "I'll start, shall I?"
"Sure, yes, perfect." I nodded like an idiot, feeling my cheeks flame. This was both horrifically awkward and insanely romantic, all at the same time. I'd never in a million years thought Dylan would be the kind of guy to openly discuss his feelings... yet, here we were.
"Brooke..." he murmured, stroking a blonde curl back from my face. "I'm in love with you."
Boom. Just like that.
My jaw flapped a moment as I frantically searched for words.
"No, you're not," I finally replied in a strangled voice.
His dark brows hitched, and an amused smile touched his full lips. "Uh, yeah, I am. Why do you find that so hard to believe?"
I frowned, and acid soured my stomach. "You're not; you just think youshouldbe because I'm pregnant. It's not the same thing, Dylan."
His amusement slipped, and irritation flashed through his green eyes. They were so similar to Mary's, but a clearer green, probably thanks to his asshole of a father.
"So, you're saying you feel nothing for me, then? I'm just the asshole who accidentally knocked you up and ruined your life?" His tone was hurt. Defensive. Still, it pressed myfuck-youbutton.
"That's not even remotely what I said, Dylan!" I argued, scooting up the bed to a sitting position so I would feel less vulnerable. "Fucking hell, talk about twisting my words! For your information,Ifell in love withyoufreaking months ago. It's why I walked away and deleted your number, you moron."
Now he sat up as well and faced me. "Wait. Let me just get this right. You deleted my number and ghosted me worse than a bad Tinder date because you werein lovewith me? In what fucking world does that make sense, Brooke?"
"In a world where I thought you were in love with Riley!" I replied, shouting now. "That last night we had together, I wanted to tell you everything. About my real name and...Blake. But you..." I broke off with an exasperated noise, remembering how utterly crushed I'd felt when he took that call from Riley. It had been like the ultimate sign from the universe to get the hell out of there.
Dylan nodded slowly. "But I took a call from Riley and asked you to wait."
