“I don’t understand why you’re keeping this from the police.” I lean against the table, still not willing to sit down and pretend like this is normal.
“It’s best if you don’t know all the details of what I do.” Stefen steeples his hands together and looks so much like Raf in this moment, it’s hard to think straight.
“Well, this has been enlightening.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll just go wherever I’m supposed to be sleeping since I’m not getting any answers here. At some point, I’ll need to pick up a few things from home.”
“If you tell me what you need, I can go get it, or Raf can take you to the store.”
Raf puts a couple of slices on his plate and stands up. “Same room as last night. I’ll come up with you.” Neither of us act like Stefen has spoken.
When we get upstairs, I go to the bedroom and sit on the bed. It’s hard to even look at Raf when we’re in this room. It’s all so fresh and yet in some ways that feels like another lifetime ago.
“I don’t want your dad picking out my underwear and clothes.”
“I can go get your things.”
“Not much better.” I shrug.
He sits next to me on the bed. “You’d prefer my dad over me?”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t make it weirder than it already is. I…how are we going to do this?” Every part of me feels how close he is right now. I could lean over an inch to the left and my shoulder and thigh would touch his.
“Last night shouldn’t have happened,” he says.
I know he’s right and I even knew he felt that way about it, but it still hurts like hell to hear him say it out loud.
“Obviously.”
He takes a sharp intake of breath and I sneak a look at him. His face is unreadable and I wish he’d give me a hint of how he’s feeling.
“Why did that happen last night? All night long,” I whisper the last words.
“We gave ourselves permission to feel the attraction, but that’s all this is, and it was just one night.” He snaps once. “Done in the morning.”
I nod, pressing my lips together. “Right. One and done…or in this case, three and done.”
He looks at me then and his eyes are as emotionless as a snake. “It would’ve been nice to get one more time in before we returned to reality, but…” He shrugs. “That would’ve been greedy.”
“And three times wasn’t?”
“Three times is nothing for me in a night. Not for you either, I’d expect. If anything Luke has told my father about you is true.”
I feel a lump forming in my throat. I stand up and stare down at him, slapping him across the face. He holds onto my wrist and stands up, leering over me.
“My past is none of your business. And if you and your father expect us to stay here and figure out whatever this is that’s going on, which is craziness, then you’ll stay out of my way and stay out of my life. You know nothing about me.”
“I know plenty. I know how you like it when I fuck you hard and fast and the way you love what this tongue can do. I know that you like sex and I’m not the only one you’ve liked it with.” He shrugs again and I hate him more than ever before. “I know you say Luke’s name in your sleep after you’ve fucked me all night.” His eyes are bitter when he says that, and I think perhaps he’s not as unaffected as he’s appearing to be. “Let my dad do his job and we’ll stay out of each other’s way. Deal?”
“Get out of this room and don’t come back.”
“Gladly.” He stalks to the door and turns around, smirking. “I have a date with Heidi tonight. I don’t think I’ll bring her back here. That’d be too insensitive of me, wouldn’t it?” His eyes are pure evil as he laughs and opens the door and doesn’t bother shutting it as he walks out.
I slam the door and hear his laugh all the way down the hall.
I won’t last a week in this house if it’s going to be this kind of hell.
Chapter Twenty
My mom comes in later, after I’ve showered and cried and raged. I don’t feel much better, and when she comes to sit next to me on the bed, she doesn’t look all that great either.
“What’s going on, Mom? Why are we here?”
I thought my tears were gone, but I feel the lump rising in my throat and I try to shut down the emotion.
“It won’t be long, honey. It’s not safe at our house right now.”
“But that’s right next door. How can we be any safer here?”
“Stefen is watching out for us and he’s going to help us. As soon as things have settled, we’ll go home.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening. Is this Dad? Why is Luke working with Stefen? That’s a red flag if ever I saw one. Tell me you’re not getting involved with another man who’s as awful as Dad is.”
Her eyes snap and I regret the words coming out of my mouth because I don’t want to deal with her waterworks for another second, but…yep, here they come.
“How can you say that when I was the one who got us out of there?”
“After how long? You were married, what, eighteen years?”
She stands up and her shoulders are drooping as she walks to the door. “I know it’s too much to ask that you show a little respect for me, Josephine, but I’m trying here. I know I’ve made the worst decisions, but I’m trying to make the right ones now.”
“I wish they didn’t involve another man…one that we barely know.” My words hit their mark and she straightens, turning around to me with resolve.
“I knew Stefen before we moved here.” She focuses on the comforter instead of my face and speaks as if it’s torture
