Page 142 of Twisted Knight

I’m not slipping.

I haven’t lost my edge.

Fuck that Audrey thinks differently.

Fuck that my solution to a weird day is wanting to go to Rowan’s house instead of my own.

And fuck that my personal life is most likely going to crumble—when Rowan figures out the lies—at the same time everything else I’ve dreamt of doing for so long comes true.

Fuck, man.

Maybe I do need to pull on the reins a bit.

Maybe I do need to mitigate expectations no matter how much I don’t want to.

FORTY-FIVE

Rowan

“I need an update,” Caroline says the minute I answer the phone.

“I’m at work. I can’t talk now,” I say and strain my neck to look down the hallway to see if Holden is in his office.

“You’re always at work,” she snorts. “I have a feeling it’s because you’re doing more than banging out contracts at the office these days.”

“Oh my god.”

“I’m sure you’ve yelled that a few times too.”

“Caroline,” I warn.

“What?” she asks, the voice of an angel. “I’m just saying what you’re thinking.”

I roll my eyes but don’t speak.

“It must be good if you’re not talking. Like, mind-blowing, back-breaking, multiple-orgasm-inducing good.”

“Perhaps,” I murmur.

“AHA. I knew it. I knew your silence meant you were getting busy.”

“I really have been busy at work trying to onboard some new suppliers.”

“Suppliers, uh-huh. Someone to fill up that empty warehouse of yours.”

All I can do is hang my head and bark out a laugh. “Whatever.”

“So…” she says.

“So?”

“Is there more going on here than just ‘supplying the warehouse’?”

“No. God no,” I say quicker than I should. If I can hear the panic in my own voice, I know Caroline can too.

“Uh-huh,” she murmurs. “Well, if supplying the warehouse should turn into … I don’t know, something more, that’s more than okay.”

“Caro—”