She stands up now, walking closer to me. God, she smells good. Citrus, I think. Her eyes look up at me, and I see whatever she’s about to say to me is hard for her. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
She takes a deep breath before letting it escape. “Just thank you.”
I nod my head in a reply, and she leaves my room, going straight to her own.
I wish I could say I’m going to keep my distance now, let her be strong and silent and stay away from all of us. But I know, without a doubt, that’s not true.
After a shower and I'm changed, I go to the kitchen, walking cautiously. I can’t believe I let myself fall asleep with Jase last night.
Way to go, Mya. Doing really great at that invisible thing.
I relax slightly when I see it’s only Tommy in the kitchen. No one else is around. “Mornin’”
I smile and take a seat at the bar in the kitchen. “Good morning.”
“Long night?” He’s eyeing me closely, and I wonder if he knows. Would Jase tell him? It’s not like anything happened. Not really.
Although, I swear I can still feel his lips against mine. “Not really.”
“Fucking lightning is so loud up here.”
Oh. Right. It stormed last night.
“Yeah, it’s pretty loud,” I agree as he hands me a cup of coffee.
And now, he’s back to studying me because I'm acting like a scared little girl. “You okay?”
I take a drink of coffee before nodding my head and looking around the empty loft. “I’m fine. Where is everyone?”
“James and Finn are working the early shift today. And who the hell knows with Jase?” He’s smiling like it’s a joke, but who does know? The way he evaded my question about where he was going this morning didn’t sit right with me.
I tried to joke about him having another family, but he told me nothing. Is he hiding something? Do I care?
“Oh,” I say and drink more of the delicious coffee.
“Please tell me you don’t have a crush on our Jase.” His smile is amused, and I want to be mad at him. But for whatever reason, I really like him. I feel a connection to him and did almost right away.
“No. I haven’t had a crush on anyone since the second grade.”
He laughs at that. “Good.”
“Why good?” I approach the question with nonchalance, but I'm not sure it comes off that way.
“Because you don’t want to be here long, right?”
I’ve tried to make that pretty clear. I guess I have. “Right.”
He shrugs. “Well, I don’t want to see Jase get hurt.”
I snort, the thought seeming so ridiculous. The man appears to be made of steel. “Him?”
He’s not laughing. “Yeah. Jase is a good guy. He cares, and I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
“So what? You’re telling me he’s looking for the one?” I say it like it’s the silliest thing I've ever heard.
“Maybe. I’m not sure he’s actively searching.”
I think about Finn and Jase that first night, the innuendos and flirtation. But then I think about how he could have had sex with me last night but didn’t. “Do men like that exist?”
He laughs now and takes a bite, pushing a plate of food to me with a fork. “Yeah. They do. All I ever wanted was James. When he finally gave in and wanted to be with me, I was done. That’s all I needed.”
I think about what Jase said this morning about getting to know my roommates while I'm here. He told me he wouldn’t try to stop me when I leave. I pick up the fork and start eating the delicious breakfast Tommy made, moaning when the omelet hits my tongue. “Jesus, that’s good.”
He chuckles, “I’m the cook.”
I nod my head. “James is a smart man.” I smile at him, and he agrees.
After I finish my breakfast, I head down to the bar, not stopping to chat in the tattoo parlor. Quinn is here, getting ready to open, and since I didn’t see Logan in the shop, I'm assuming he has the baby. “Morning!” She sounds so chipper.
“Good morning.”
“Did you sleep okay? I know the storms around here can be brutal.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Nothing too crazy.”
She nods absently as she wipes down a couple of tables, and I start to organize the salt and pepper shakers.
“The guys still behaving?”
I nod my head quickly but look away too fast.
Quinn prods further. “Oh God, did they do something?”
“No, not at all . . .” I smile to myself and shake my head. “I actually kind of like them.”
She laughs at that and then goes behind the bar. “Yeah, they grow on ya.”
“Do any of them have deep dark secrets?” The question escapes my mouth, and I wish I could reel it back in. But I want to know. I’m sure Jase is hiding something.
Her expression is cautious, her answer guarded, “Don’t we all?”
That’s so not an answer. “Does Jase?”
She takes a deep breath and turns away from me, pretending to take inventory of the bar’s stock, but I know she’s avoiding me. “None of them have had it easy, Mya.”
“That’s not exactly what I asked.”
“I know, but that’s all I can say. If he wants you to know his story, he’ll tell you. The same way I won’t divulge any information to him about you.”
“Did he ask about me?” Another question I shouldn’t have asked, especially because my tone made me sound almost hopeful. I kind of want to smack myself for it.
She turns back around to face me, looking suspicious. “No. I just mean I wouldn’t if he did.”
I nod my head. Of course he didn’t ask about me. He really doesn’t ask a lot of questions. “Okay. Good.”
“Is something going on?”
Good job, Mya.
“No. I was just curious.”
“I’m here to talk anytime you need to. I know where we come from . . .” She looks almost solemn as she looks past me, staring at the wall. “We don’t always want to talk about
