Page 54 of Blood Revealed

“Nobody was supposed to know about that,” she says, eliciting a barking laugh from me, giggling from her.

When the timer goes off, I serve both of us up heaping platefuls, setting one in front of her and one in front of me. We eat and chat until she looks over to the clock on the coffee maker.

“Shoot,” she says. “I have to get dressed.”

“I’ll get going,” I offer.

“Trust me, I’d rather be here gabbing with you today. I’m still tired and I miss Levi. He’s comfortable.”

“It’s amazing how used you get to sleeping next to another person so easily. It sucks without Raif.”

“Did I hear right that you went back to the club last night?” Since we were having such a nice, light conversation, opening that can of suck doesn’t get me giddy. Elise is a gossip. Good to know.

“Yeah. It was great. I came up with a new routine. My tips were crazy good.”

She’s silent for a moment, biting her upper lip.

My sister has something to say. She needs to just say it already. “What?” I ask.

“Well… it’s just that Levi would blow a gasket if I took my shirt off in front of other men. Not that any other men want to see all this.” She runs her hand up and down her torso and God, I wish she wouldn’t talk about herself like that. She won. She snagged the unsnaggable Hero. How much more convincing does she need? “Blood doesn’t mind?”

“He’s the one who got me into it in the first place,” I say, defending myself.

“Right. I know, but you weren’t his old lady then. And you certainly weren’t his wife. Does he know?”

“I texted him last night.”

“How’d that go?” she asks.

“Not well. He stopped texting me.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t call to yell at you.”

“Brin, what else am I supposed to do?”

She shrugs, her sadness toward my predicament clearly evident. “Sissy, you’re so smart, there’s nothing you couldn’t do if you put your mind to it.”

“You should get dressed,” I say in lieu of a response. She gets what I mean, leaving the table to shower. While she’s in there, I clean up the dishes and wrap the rest of the casserole in a container, putting it in the refrigerator, and slip out without saying goodbye.

No one understands. Yet at the same time, I get what she’s saying and that’s the shit part.

Now I don’t know what to do. I have a shift tonight, but risking my marriage for a job isn’t remotely worth even the great tips. Not when I’ve been in love with my husband since I met him almost a decade ago.

As the day draws on, I’ve cleaned the clubhouse, done laundry, and pretty much twiddled my thumbs knowing I’m going to have to make that call to Elise—the call I’m dreading—when the door to the common bangs open, hitting the wall behind it, and Raif storms in.

“What are you doing here?” I sort of screech, startled.

“Needed to get home before you left for the club,” he growls.

“I’m not going to the club.”

“What?” It’s his turn to startle.

“You didn’t like it. I’m not ruining our marriage over a job. Although I don’t know what I’ll do now. Where are the other brothers?”

Raif stalks toward me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist, trapping my arms. Those beautiful, dark eyes search my face as he cocks his head. I think I’ve stumped him. Did he think I was going to argue?

“Still out on the ride. Took off last night. We needed to talk.”

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