“I’m staffing a rural health clinic, not a prison.”
I shrug into the phone. “Sounds like the same thing.”
Cal laughs with the familiar boom to his voice.
“Well, you look good,” Cal says, nodding in approval. “Whether it’s copious amounts of anonymous sex or not, you look more like yourself. I was really worried about you when I left.”
Cal has been my ride or die since I was fourteen, and as much shit as we give each other, he’s never let me down. And here I am lying to his face. I should tell him. I should come clean. But I promised Sophie I wouldn’t say anything to her brother. I can’t break her trust like that either. It’s loud wherever Cal is calling from, and I strain to hear if the shower is still running over the din. I don’t want Sophie to walk in right now.
“Thanks, man,” I say, but my eyes dart around the room.
I try to angle the phone away from the door, but Sophie’s stuff is everywhere. If I move at all, Cal will see her clothes,her art supplies, and her teddy bear that she’s had since she was a kid, Mr. Snowflake, on the dresser. If Cal sees any of it, he’ll know.
“Liam, what’s going on there?” Cal’s voice changes. It shifts from the teasing tone he’s been using to one that is filled with that classic Cal Rhodes big brother concern. “Are you okay? Wait. Who’s there with you?”
He knows. He fucking knows. He knows his little sister is here, and he knows I’ve been taking advantage of her. I don’t know how, but he knows.
“Nothing,” I let out a long sigh, like I’m getting bored with this conversation. “You’re right, I had someone here last night, but it’s no big deal.” I stare at Cal through the phone. My heart is beating so wildly, I’m sure he can see it through my bare chest, but I keep my expression neutral. “You know me. It’s just sex, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Chapter 16
Sophie
I stand naked in the turned-off shower, unable to move or even breathe.
I could hear my brother’s booming voice even over the drone of the water, but I had to hear what he was saying and, more importantly, what Liam was admitting to.
“You have a girl there, don’t you?” I can hear my brother say through the wall.
How could I forget Liam was incapable of keeping a secret from my brother? Back in tenth grade, he broke Cal’s Lego Eiffel Tower. Cal assumed the cat did it and wasn’t even mad, but Liam confessed everything within five minutes.
Of course he was going to tell Cal I was here, and probably—against his own self-interest—about our agreement.
Our agreement.
Our agreement was supposed to be casual. No emotions. No stakes. But last night didn’t feel that way. The way he figured out exactly what I craved and gave it to me, again and again. The way he touched me—like I wasn’t fragile, but he could be the one to hold me together if I broke. And the way he clutched me to his chest afterward as if he was afraid I’d leave. Nothing about last night felt casual.
That wasn’t what we agreed to.
When I woke up, our naked bodies still tangled together, I already knew I had to put some distance between us. That’s why I got up to take a shower, and thank god I did. Thank god I was out of there before Cal called.
I carefully slide open the shower door and wrap myself in a towel. I lean against the closed door, straining to listen.
“You’re right, I had someone here last night, but it’s no big deal.” Liam’s voice is detached, and my stomach drops. This is where he tells him. “You know me. It’s just sex, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Something in my chest cracks.
But I also exhale the breath I’d been holding since I heard the phone ring.
Liam didn’t spill our secrets. But he did tell the truth.It’s just sex, it doesn’t mean anything.
This is why I suggested the agreement. Liam Blake doesn’t do relationships. He’s the Playboy athlete who never gets attached—and that’s why this works. Whatever I thought I felt last night is just sex. Really good sex I want to keep having. I just need to keep my boundaries in check. That’s what we both want.
I pull on yesterday’s leggings and the hoodie I left in the bathroom. I’m not walking back into Cal’s room naked for clean clothes. I wait at the door until I’m sure Liam’s off the phone with my brother, then head to the kitchen and grab the Froot Loops I’ve ignored ever since he started leaving egg sandwiches on the counter before his runs. He’s not my boyfriend. If this FWB thing is going to work, I need some distance.
“Hey,” Liam says, walking into the kitchen in just a pair of low-slung flannel pajama pants. He leans down to kiss my cheek, but I step back, reaching for the milk. Liam watches me, but he doesn’t press. “How’d you sleep?”
“Great!” I say a little too chipper. “A good orgasm will do that to a girl.” And not the curling up in the cocoon of his body heat all night.
