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“You seeing him again?” he asked.

“Probably, yeah.”

His chest expanded sharply and a growl rolled out. “He touched you.”

“If he did or didn’t, is my business,” I said, because he couldn’t keep doing this, playing the overprotective big brother or whatever this was.

“I can smell him on you, Jaz. He put his hands on you.” He took a step closer.

My pulse sped up. “I’m not sure why it matters to you?”

“I’m just making sure it’s what you wanted?”

His gaze glowed brighter. His behavior was starting to piss me off. This was why I’d been so confused, this was why there was always this stupid bit of hope I couldn’t shake. I hadn’t been able to see it clearly before, so blinded by my feelings for him, but I saw it now. “That’s not your place. You don’t need to look out for me. I have plenty of people doing that already.”

“Jaz.” He took another step closer, his voice impossibly rough. “Last week, what I said… I hope you’re not seeing this guy because—”

“He’s not some rebound from you, if that’s what you’re implying. You don’t need to worry about my feelings. Yes, I care about you, I do, but not like that. I want you happy and healthy, but I’m not harboring any secret hope of you one day becoming my boyfriend.” Not anymore. “I’m over it, Ren. Like completely. I don’t need to be another thing you feel guilty about, okay? Don’t think about it anymore, please. I’m not.”

His head dipped, his abs flexing with every panted breath he took. “You’re completely over it,” he said under his breath. “Right.”

“I’m just gonna head inside. I still have some books to go through from the demon library. I’ve been searching for some reference to what halcapio means.”

He nodded. “I’ll help.”

I blinked up at him. “You don’t have somewhere else you’d rather be?”

“No. Not in the mood to drink, and I’m too wired to sleep. May as well do something productive.”

There was no real reason to say no. And if the answer was in one of those books, we’d find it faster with two of us. “Okay, sure.”

He followed me inside, tugging his shirt on before we walked into the house, and headed to the kitchen. Stanley was sitting on the counter when we walked in and grinned at me when he saw Ren.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said and winked before he walked out.

I put the kettle on and pulled down two mugs. “Tea? Coffee? Cocoa?”

“Coffee, black, thanks.”

I made the drinks and put them on the table. “I’ll just get changed and grab the books. Be back in a sec.”

“Where are they?”

“Up in my room. I’ll show you.”

He followed me upstairs. I’d taken Rose’s old room when I moved in. It had its own bathroom and was one of the bigger bedrooms. We walked in and I pointed to two stacked piles on the floor next to my desk and art supplies. Ren grabbed an armful and headed downstairs. I grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a hooded sweatshirt and went into the bathroom. I bumped the door with my hip and dumped my clothes on the counter, then quickly washed my face, took off my boots, and stripped off my dress.

“That all of them?” Ren asked, his voice close.

I spun around and he was standing there, staring at me. I thought I’d bumped the door closed, but there was a decent gap.

He bolted from the room.

My face heated. I mean, he’d seen me naked more times than I’d like to think about, but it didn’t matter. I was in my underwear, pretty pink lace bra and panties. Did he think I’d been hoping Xavier would see me like this tonight? I hadn’t, I just liked nice underwear. Why do you care what Ren thinks? I quickly got changed and headed back downstairs.

“I didn’t mean to look,” he said when I walked in.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen it all before.” I was trying to make light of things but it just made everything more awkward.