After maybe five minutes, I realized I needed to go back to my room. I pulled my arm back and leaned away from him.
“Thank you for this.”
“Anytime.”
I wanted to joke about it. Say something like he was giving me an opening to invade his bed at any time or something like that. But it wasn’t funny, because we both knew I wouldn’t do that.
As I slid out of bed, I felt the absence of his touch as strongly as I’d felt the touch itself.
Please don’t leave. I’m not sure how to do this without you.
“Good night.”
“Night,” he replied.
As I turned to close his door, I saw him looking after me. He looked so fucking sad it broke my heart.
Chapter 20
Jack
The bathroom door closed behind Rey, and I knew.
I loved that young man in a way I had never loved anyone before.
I grabbed my cell and called Rhiannon.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in a groggy voice.
“Nothing,” I lied. Then I sighed, and she became more alert.
“Jack? Tell me.”
I knew that normally I wasn’t the one she had to worry about. That’s why she was instantly awake now.
“Can I come over?” I hated how weak my voice sounded.
“Of course, bubba, whenever you need it, all right?”
I sniffled and cleared my throat. “I’ll…appear. I need to figure some shit out but…”
“Yeah. Call me. Any hour, Jack, I’m serious.”
“Yeah. Love you, sis.”
“Love you too.”
* * * *
I felt like shit when I woke up, both physically and mentally. I trudged into the kitchen later than normal, so I caught Theo making one of his breakfast smoothies he still made even though he ate an actual breakfast with us a bit later.
I gave him a glare, aiming for playful, but not succeeding.
“I swear I rinse the blender every time,” he said quickly, then demonstrated doing so.
I knew he did it. That wasn’t the issue. None of this was the issue. “Fuck,” I said empathetically under my breath.
His hand on my arm made me realize I was standing in the middle of the kitchen.
