Page 75 of The Masks We Break

He continues to stroke my hair, laying a soft kiss on my temple. “Good. Are you ready?”

I sigh, but nod, hating when it’s time to clean up and escape our little bubble. But he must read it on my face, making the whole ordeal quick and leading me back to bed.

He curls behind me, his soft breath skating over my shoulder and down my collarbone. “You never told me about what you did.”

This perks me up, giving me a little kick of energy to explain everything that happened. When I’m done, he’s quiet for a moment, and I almost think he’s fallen asleep when he draws me closer. “Do you know how incredibly strong you are?”

“Me?”

“Hmmhmm.”

I try to turn to face him but he tightens his hold around my waist. “You really think so?”

He huffs a laugh. “Yes. Think about everything you’ve endured. All that you continue to do. You are going to be fucking incredible helping with the academy.”

The words of affirmation break my mask and small tears of joy roll down my face. I’ve never had anyone tell me they believe in me, let alone think I’ll do well at something. He feeds me confidence until I learn how to make it myself and that is one of the reasons I... “Thank you,sir.”

His length twitches against my butt and my back vibrates from a warning growl. “Careful now, puppet.”

I laugh, but obey, closing my eyes. But it doesn’t last more than a second. A hard vibration knocks against the nightstand. Before I even see the name, a strange type of grief grips my throat.

“It’s Lily.”

He grunts, “Let it go to voice mail.”

I shake my head, sitting up despite his narrowed eyes.

Blaze groans, but finally sits up to tap on the screen. “Hey.”

His phone is loud enough for me to hear Lily’s sniffles through the speaker. “Hey, B. Is Remy with you? I tried to call, but her phone kept going to voice mail. ”

My eyebrows furrow as I press my ear closer to the receiver. Blaze bops my nose before speaking. “Yeah, she’s right here. Are you alright?”

“It happened. His mom passed this afternoon.”

I squeeze my eyes closed, wrapping my arms around Blaze.

Oh, Spencer.

THIRTY THREE

"Remy, be nice to me, girl. I’m tired.” William nudges me in the side as he stares down at his trig final exam review.

He came into town the day after Spencer’s mom passed last week, helping with all the arrangements and keeping him company. Or maybe supplying him with alcohol is a better description.

Either way, it’s the first I’ve seen him, and only because Lily is making Spencer rest, and Will needs to study for his final on Monday.

Rolling up his black Henley sleeves, William looks over the question again. His green eyes scan the page twice before he finally sighs and tries to solve it. He knows how, but his problem is being lazy. He doesn’t like to work for things that serve him no purpose, and according to him, trig is one of those things.

“Eighty degrees?” He leans back, dipping into the couch.

I narrow my gaze. “Are you asking me or telling me?”

He throws his hands up, a broad smile lighting up his face. “Hell, Remy, if I was tellin’ ya, I wouldn’t need tutoring.”

“At least have some confidence in your answer.” I mark his answer with a check. “You know what you’re doing, William. You’ve got this.”

Will shrugs before rubbing one hand over the wide spectrum of butterfly tattoos on his right arm. “Eh, maybe. But speaking of confidence, I’m happy to see you finally found some.”

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