“Eh, you always had a habit of making things a lot harder than they needed to be.”
“And thank you for that too.Fuck,” I snarled.
“You’re not in trouble?”
“No. Well, fuck. Yes. But there’s nothing more you can do than what you already did.”
Dad wiped his nose with the back of his hand and glanced away, straightening so he was standing on his own again. “You never come around no more. It makes your mother sad. Don’t do that.” He found something interesting to stare at on the ground. I did too. Oh look. My shoes. The tips were scuffed. My face heated.
Dad cleared his throat pointedly.
“I—yeah, I hear you.”
He shook his head and turned away to get into his car, somehow managing to make me feel like shit even though this, right here, was why I stayed away. I stood there watching him back out of his parking spot, feeling like human trash. I’d gotten myself into this huge mess, and now I was even making my mother sad? What else could I do to be an awful person? Growling, I turned and stalked back upstairs to the motel room.
When I slipped around the door, the Russian woman—fuck, we never asked her name—had the small television flipped onto a reality TV show about a bunch of men trapped in a house together, all competing for a spot as an anchor on the weather channel.
“Just when I thought I’d seen everything,” I said, simply to be able to talk.
Jayce turned toward me and grinned, and I sighed a little to myself. His blond hair was short enough to be a little spiky on the sides, and I wanted to run my fingertips over it. His easy smile chased away some of my tension, and I knew if I had the balls to go over there and lean against him he’d hold me. That thought was too much right now, but I turned it over. I could have some comfort from Jayce, maybe—and maybe it wouldn’t turn to shit. Apprehension ate away at me. Last night was good. I almost felt like I would jinx it chasing more. Every time I got greedy and thought I’d finally found something for myself, things went to hell.
“I know, right?” Jayce’s smile warmed the longer he looked at me.
Shivering, I went to sit next to him on the bed that didn’t look like anyone had touched it last night. The woman got up and went to the other one, curling her legs under her and making herself comfortable.
“What the hell are we going to do with her? Just let her go?”
Jayce shifted and leaned against the headboard, holding out his arm for me. The woman glanced at us with mild interest but went back to watching the show before I worked up the courage to sneak over to his side. He finally got tired of waiting and grabbed my hand, dragging me the rest of the way onto the bed. I sat and bounced there, glaring at him, but situated myself comfortably against his side. He slid his arm around my shoulder like he’d been doing it for years, and it was a little scary how well we fit together.
“You’re all on edge,” he said into my ear.
“No.”
He rested his hand on my head and urged it down onto his chest, and I let him move me around. The hum of the TV in the background grated on my nerves. I closed my eyes and breathed, still fucking furious at Dad, but honestly, mostly pissed off at myself.
Jayce rubbed the back of my head and down onto my tense neck. His fingers were magic, and I nuzzled against his hard pec. I must have fallen asleep for a while because my head was all bleary when the smell of food registered, and my mouth was bone dry. I groaned and blinked as I raised my head a little and there was a damp patch on Jayce’s shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut again.
“Hush it. I don’t care about you putting a wet spot on me,” he said in my ear, and I didn’t miss his amusement.
“Hey.” Madden smacked my ankle—I knew it was him from the little tickle he added on my leg—until I opened my eyes and glared at him. He grinned and parked a bag of greasy fast food on the foot of our bed. “Thought you’d be hungry. I’m going to go into the office and burn the midnight oil. You coming?”
“Uh.” I blinked at him some more. He was all fuzzy, and it took me a second to realize it was because my glasses were gone. “Fuck, how long did I sleep?”
“Shh, no worries. You needed it after the time you’ve had recently,” Jayce murmured. He twisted and came back with my glasses, nudging them onto my nose one-handed. The frame was crooked and I had to rearrange it, but my heart twisted. He’d done that, made sure my glasses were safe, like it was no big deal. When I glanced into his face, he had a… sweet look stuck there. Feeling weird and awkward and strangely happy, I turned back to a waiting Madden.
“We have to go meet King. I can meet you there after that.”
Jayce made a face like he had an opinion on me working late, but I cut him off. “I’ve been out of the office too much. I have to.”
“We’ll talk about it.”
Madden’s snickers rankled. “Tell King I said hello.”
Slater came in the door with more bags of food in his hands, just in time to hear that, and sent me a sour frown.
“Don’t tell King anything.”
Madden placed a hand on his chest. “Ah, you doubt my affections.”
