“Why are you being cryptic?” I snapped.“Just spit it out.”
He chuckled and walked past me toward the bathroom.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
I stared at the closed door until the shower kicked on, their voices bleeding through the steam and tile.
I replayed the time with Ella in the garden, but all I felt was pride. Satisfaction. The way she’d given herself over to me so completely, so beautifully—it sat right in my chest.
Whatever Alec was circling had nothing to do with me. Probably his past rearing its head again. All that cocaine he’d snorted finally rattling what little sense he had left.
“Hurry up in there. I’m starving,” I shouted through the door.
Then I heard Ella giggle.
Just like that, the irritation drained out of me.
She sounded so damn cute.
I was halfway down the stairs when it hit me.
She hadn’t been mad at Alec.
I slowed.
What the fuck was he up to?
Was he buttering her up?
No. Alec was a dickhead to everyone. Equal opportunities.
I considered going back up to speak to Nick—but he had the emotional stability of a rock. Reliable. Unmovable. Not exactly insightful.
He had softened with Ella on the trip.
Well.
As soft as Nick was capable of getting.
Chapter 52
Alec
There was no time to cook, so we ordered in for a change. We didn’t eat in the kitchen—Nick put a movie on in the living room instead.
I barely watched it.
I watched Rowan.
He was the most intelligent man I knew. Watching him fall for Ella without realising it cracked me the fuck up.
Ella leaned over and stole fries from Nick’s plate.
“Hey—eat your own,” he started, then stopped and slid the plate toward her.“Never mind. Here.”
Rowan didn’t notice. His attention was fixed on the screen.
Warmth settled low in my belly. We were relaxed. Ella was comfortable. For once, the house felt like something real—like a home.
