Page 82 of Bring You Back

“I prefer Banks.”

I bite back another laugh at his reprimanding, then decide to just let it out as I get to work cleaning off my plate. Consequences be damned.

I could save cleaning for the morning, but I’m avoiding my bedroom. I’m avoiding the other guest room. I’m staying out of the hall for as many seconds as I can, because I know what I’m going to do when I have to walk those walls.

Camille

The soft rap of knuckles sounds against the door as I’m finishing up my grapefruit—Grumbles had pounced once she saw the food in my hand, then slowly backed away once she got a whiff of it. Her black head pops up now from the foot of the bed at whoever is knocking.

Part of me hopes it’s Naomi. That she had heard the commotion of raised voices and has come to fetch me for another movie night. I vote for a slasher, knives blazing.

The knocks started off light, barely audible. Hesitant in case the knocker wanted to take it back. But they grew stronger, sure that they wanted me to open the door.

I set my plate on the nightstand and go to greet Julian, my pulse picking up speed in a welcome way.

His eyes are averted, bottom lip pulled between his teeth, hand gripping the frame, finger tapping against the wood.

“That hard, huh?”

His finger tapping halts, and I almost take back the words that just had to escape my mouth. Right now, he’s being the vulnerable one, and leave it to me to taunt, to try to shut it down when he’s here, risking exposure to give me what I told him I need.

Good thing Julian knows me. He knows what to expect. He wouldn’t be standing here if he wasn’t prepared for me.

His hand slides from the frame as his eyes finally connect with mine. “You were never off my mind. Not then. Not now. Not once.”

The words are heavy. True. My pulse grows louder under his gaze, and I wonder if he can hear it.Stupid.I clear my throat to cloud the sound only I can hear, catching my first response before it reaches the air.You should probably tell Reyna that.

His eyes turn expectant, waiting for me to live up to my word. We’re in a give and take now. A nice balance that I’m willing to meet.

“You’ve never left my mind, either,” I say, the words just as heavy and true. My hand moves to the door, ready to close myself back inside. His eyes track the movement, then meet mine again, his mouth opening around words he doesn’t get to speak thanks to Banks’s grating shout.

“Come back!”

Julian and I are cursed with interruptions.

His stare jerks toward the commotion happening from the living room and I glance around the frame to see a petite, yet busty blonde girl hurrying to the front door as fast as her tiny feet can take her.Smart move.

Banks, sans a shirt—my eyes—stops at the door as it’s slammed in his face.

Leave the porch light on.

Thank you.

His stare drifts to us and he straightens up as he walks over.

I hold up a hand as he approaches. “You can stop there.”

Hecan, but hedoesn’t.

“What part ofquietdo you not get?” Julian scolds him as he reaches us, a side glance at Naomi’s closed door.

“Dude,Iwas the quiet one,” he defends, clearly having missed his own desperate plea mere seconds ago.

“What the hell did you do?”

“What makes you think that wasmyfault?”

“It always is,” I chime in. He flips me off, then starts in on the chain of events that led to his unfortunate presence, right here, right now.

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