Page 42 of Mending Hearts

But if I’d been honest with her, I’d have warned her, tried to talk her out of this arrangement. Our new game was more dangerous than the last one, the risks equally volatile for us both.

Feelings didn’t play by anyone’s rules.

Chapter Thirteen

Mia

Mia

I heard him fumbling for his clothes in the dark room, and I almost asked him to stay longer. Almost. Then he slipped out my bedroom door back into the main living room, and the moment passed.

Alone in the darkness, I stared into the nothingness. Tyler had agreed to the friends-with-benefits plan, so I didn’t understand why I felt so empty. Getting him to say yes was a triumph, a success, something to be celebrated. He hadn’t seemed like the type for friends with benefits. Instead of elation, I felt robbed, as though I won the lottery only to be blindsided by having to give half of it to the government for taxes. Why was I so unsettled? I couldn’t put my finger on what I was mourning.

My mother’s voice rang through the living room, piercing the morning quiet. “So, you’re the reason Pasha didn’t want to let me in here? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The hysterical edge in Laura’s voice was a bad sign. I threw back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. If I was going to quit the tour, I needed to make sure I looked awful. No matter how much I wanted to throw myself in the line of fire to spare Tyler her wrath, I had to be prepared for battle.

“You’re fired.” Laura’s voice dripped with venom. “Pack up your stuff and leave.”

Shit.

I scrambled off the bed and rushed into the bathroom. Quickly, I powdered my face with a shade I knew made me look sickly. I stared at myself in the mirror when the last puff settled, pleased with the result. As long as she didn’t get too close, this would work. Carefully applied makeup had worked before.

At the door between the bedroom and the living room, I listened to my mother rage, trying to gauge whether Tyler had lost his temper. It would be surprising, but Mom could drag the worst out of anyone.

“Laura, it’s not what you think. We aren’t having sex.”

Because he’s a saint. I pressed my hand into the door and turned my ear to catch her response.

“Something is going on. I don’t know what it is, but something isn’t right between the two of you. If you’re the real reason she’s so insistent on going to Little Falls for her break, I’ll never let her go. I will throw up every roadblock I can come up with.”

“I told you I won’t even be there. I have another job.”

“It’s funny. I can’t find anyone who knows anything about that job. Who’d you say you were working for again?”

Okay, I’d heard enough. Sliding open the door, I took in Mom’s combative stance and Tyler’s relaxed pose on the couch. He hadn’t even bothered to stand up. The calmness on his face when our gazes connected was immediately soothing, brought my heart rate back down to normal. He was the center of a hurricane, the place where everything went still.

“It’s not about Tyler, Mother. I need a break. I was so sick last night. Tyler was looking after me.”

“Sick?” Laura stepped toward me, concern falling over the anger she’d been directing at Tyler.

“I might be contagious.” I held up a hand and turned my face away, putting my other hand over my mouth as though I might vomit.

“Should I call a doctor?”

“No. It’s starting to pass.” I shook my head and avoided looking at Tyler.

“Get to bed,” Laura said, shooing me into my room and going to the kitchenette to pour a glass of water from the fridge. “You can leave.” Laura eyed Tyler. “But this conversation isn’t over.”

“I want him to stay.” I crossed my arms and considered digging in, even if I was supposed to be sick.

“You should have called me last night.” Laura glanced at Tyler over her shoulder before ushering me back to my room and into the bed. The bathroom light was still on, giving the room a faint glow.

The low lights would make it hard for Laura to suss out the truth about my invented illness. Her wrist brushed against my forehead.

“You looked a little yellow in the living room. You’re warm. Did you have a fever last night?”

“No, just a bad stomach. Maybe something I ate at the club.”

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