Page 159 of Masters of Secrets

Though if he’d gone, he could have asked her some questions about Julie and her parents.

Julie had told him some things, but it felt like he had missed something, or there were things she hadn’t told him. Maybe things she hadn’t realized she should tell him. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t have deliberately kept him in the dark about something that would upset her.

We should go.

What? No.

Her voice and his echoed in his mind, the same way they had all night last night.

Because he was pretty sure that’s where everything had started to go wrong.

Because God forbid I get a minute to think or get to make a decision about what I need, just so that you can make sure my parents like you.

He’d just wanted to help. But she hadn’t asked him to. She hadn’t indicated she wanted him to. He’d been so sure what she really needed was to go out and face her family and show them that her new boyfriend was just as good—if not better, than her ex-husband—he’d ignored what she’d said.

She’d told him how she handled her mom, how she hung up when her mom brought her ex up. How she’d immediately left the last time her mom had sprung her ex on her in person.

Not that he had any issues close to what she had with her parents, but how would he feel if she got in the middle of how he wanted to handle an issue with them? How would he feel if she flat-out ignored what he said he wanted to do?

That was the other reason he’d been up all night. He kept trying to think of how to apologize. What to say. What to do. How to make it up to her. And he kept coming up short. He didn’t know what to do or say.

The urge to text her, to call her, to at least try was strong, but after ignoring what she’d said she wanted yesterday, the least he could do was give her the space she’d requested now. No matter how much it strained him.

She’d said they would talk later.

While it was technically later, that didn’t mean she was ready. She would reach out when she was. He firmly believed she was not ghosting him. He was pretty sure. It would be hard to ghost someone who was a member of the same kink club unless she decided to stop being a member and stop teaching. There was no way she would be willing to take things that far, even if she was incredibly upset with him.

He hoped she wasn’t too upset with him.

Dammit.

He hoped he got a chance to apologize.

Knocking on the door made him jump to his feet before his brain had even fully registered the sound, heart pounding in his chest.

Julie?

Connor rushed to the door… only to look through the window beside it and feel his heart sink at the familiar, brown, bald head he spotted in front of it. Not Julie. Law. For a moment, he imagined the worst—Julie had sent Law to break up with him for her.

Then he shook off that thought. There was no way Julie would do that. First, she would handle her own breakups. Second, if she was going to send someone to break up with him for some odd reason, it wouldn’t be Law.

New worry rushed through him. If Law wasn’t here at Julie’s behest, why the hell was he knocking on Connor’s door in the middle of the day? What was wrong? Why hadn’t anyone called him?

He yanked the door open and found himself looking down at both Law and Iris, who he hadn’t realized was on Law’s other side. They both stared up at him, as though they were surprised.

“What?” he asked, blinking back at them. “What’s going on?”

“That’s supposed to be my question to you,” Law replied. “Can we come in?”

Baffled, Connor nodded, stepping back to let them pass by. Iris paused to hug him, which he sorely needed, and he hugged her back, though he kept his emotions in check. The last thing she needed was him melting down all over her just because she’d hugged him.

“So… what?” he asked again as he closed the door behind them, turning to face them.

Law crossed his arms over her chest and raised his eyebrows.

“That’s what I want to know. You haven’t answered any texts since last night or the call I made this morning, then when I called you at work just to check in and make sure you were okay, they said you hadn’t come in. You never call out sick.” Law’s gaze sharpened. “So, now I’m here to find out why you’re not at work and why you aren’t answering your texts.”

“I’m here for moral support and because Law and I were supposed to meet up for lunch,” Iris chirped, smiling at him, though he could see the concern in her expression as well. She was just as worried as Law, though she showed it differently.