Page 43 of A Favor Owed

He nods, his mouth turned up in a half-smirk. “A lot of people lost someone where I come from.”

“A firefighter?” I ask softly.

“Yeah.”

He would have been about five or six when the attacks happened. An uncle? An older brother or cousin? It has to be someone close if he’s going home for the anniversary.

Suddenly I remember the old FDNY sweatshirt I borrowed.It’s important to me, he said. “Was the sweatshirt his?” I ask, stunned that it was in my possession.

He nods, twisting a piece of my hair around his finger. “Yeah.”

I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago,” he says, holding me against him and kissing the top of my head.

“I was barely two,” I say. “I don’t remember it.”

“I remember it.” His voice is tight and distant.

I squeeze him harder. Sad, subdued Brady is an anomaly. He’s the laughing, freckle-faced boy, sunshine and light. When something upsets him, it’s like a dark storm cloud blocking out the sun.

“I’m glad you have a family to go back to,” I say. “Even though it’s for this. It’s good that you guys have one another.”

“I would do anything for my family,” he murmurs into my neck. “They’re my whole world.” Something about the way he said it makes me pause. It sounded like…a warning.

“That’s how it should be,” I say.

“Can you come back tonight?” he asks, the clouds already clearing.

“I don’t know,” I say hesitantly. “We can’t…you know…be a thing.”

“Who said we’re a thing?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow. “We’re just friends with benefits.”

“Friends with benefits?” I say doubtfully. It sounds so…cliché and…indifferent.

“You’re right. Benefits is kind of an understatement,” he says. “Fucking jackpot is more like it. And, you know, I’d probably lose my shit if anyone else was benefitting.”

“So we’re exclusive friends with benefits?”

“Yeah. I don’t have a strong ability to multitask in the chick department, so you’re safe there.”

“Um, that’s not what I’m concerned about,” I say. “That sounds a whole lot like a thing.”

“Call it whatever you want, princess. I have needs, you have needs, and neither one of us is going to get those needs met by someone else while I’m gone, so you might as well come over here tonight. I’ll pick you up and we’ll get dinner.”

“Just text me later,” I say, slightly overwhelmed. “And hand me my clothes.”

I finally manage to escape from Brady’s bed. He insists on taking me home and making sure my apartment wasn’t broken into. Before he leaves, he fists my hair and plants a kiss on my mouth, his light copper stubble scratching my face.

“See you tonight, princess.”

“Maybe,” I say, rolling my eyes.

He winks at me and strolls down the drive, wearing navy mesh shorts and a gray T-shirt, copper waves tousled from my fingers gripping them. I’m turned on just watching him walk away.

Snap out of it, moron, I chide myself as I go inside and head to my bathroom for a quick shower.This is a staggeringly bad idea.

I need to focus on myself, on making ends meet, on getting good grades, on staying completely off the grid. I can’t let a man get in the way, or in the crossfire, if it comes to that.

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