“Why would she be listening at the door?” I say.
He lifts his shoulders and holds out his hands. “Don’t ask me her motivations.”
“Does she really want to catch us having sex or something?”
“God, I hope not.”
I’m still thinkingabout Steph listening at the door later while Wolfe and I are sitting down by the lake. I pull the blanket tighter around me.
“Steph was weird all night, right?” I ask, taking a sip of my beer.
Wolfe rolls his head to the side, glancing my way. “I guess now that I think about it, she was way more in our business than she used to be.”
“What do you think her angle is?”
“Who knows what any of her motivations are. Don’t ask me.” Wolfe pulls another beer out of the cooler and opens it on the edge of the fire pit.
“She’s got to be up to something. I’m not asking you to talk to her about it,” I say but then it occurs to me. “Could this have to do with Mark’s weird behavior?”
Wolfe tilts his head from side to side, considering the idea. “But how? She’s clearly lied to him about something, but why would that make her be so on top of us?”
“That’s what I can’t put together. But there’s more there.” I stare into the fire, trying to piece together my sister’s motivation.
“It doesn’t fucking matter.” Wolfe reaches out, taking my hand. “She’s not coming between us.”
We sit in silence for another little while.
“You said something last week.”
Wolfe visibly flinches pulling his hand back. “Yes.”
I ignore his reaction, because if I don’t, I’m going to get distant again. “You said you miss being touched.”
He turns to look at me, but it doesn’t last. He tears his gaze away, tipping his head back to look at the sky. “I did. Are you about to say some more stupid shit?”
“No. I’m trying to be nice and understand. Talk about things!” I throw back.
He crosses then uncrosses his arms. “I just don’t want other people thrown in my face to use.”
It’s my turn to wince. “It was just a suggestion.”
“A bad one.”
I laugh, and then he laughs. “Fine. A bad one.”
“Glad you agree with me. Why are you bringing it up?”
“Because I want to understand what you need,” I say carefully.
What I want to know is if what I did helped. Or maybe selfishly, I want to do it again. Doing all of this while celibate was probably our worst idea ever.
Wolfe closes his eyes. “I don’t want you to stop touching me. But maybe it’s weird for you now.”
It’s not weird. It’s agony. But how can I say that to him?
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it? You didn’t have a problem with it before?”
