Page 4 of Lane

Jordan wasn’t like my pretend father. For all the crime and illegal shit Jordan did, he cared about East Dremest and the people in it. Edison was pure evil.

I hung my head, letting the water beat down on me. I’d cleaned myself while I was in my thought spiral.

Finally, shutting the water off, I grabbed the towel from the bar and dried myself. The air was cool when I left the bathroom naked. Finding a pair of gray sweatpants, I slid them on, as well as a white T-shirt. Then I stood in the middle of the room, wide awake, not sure what to do with myself.

Maybe there was something to Sheldon walking around the building during the night. He had to find peace in it, or why bother?

Putting on a pair of navy slippers Vail had given me, I opened my door and stepped into the hallway. The door shut at my back, automatically locking, but the sound was distant, hardly reaching my ears because, standing in front of me, as if I conjured him with my thoughts, was Raiden.

Six foot six of sin with nearly black hair, equally dark eyes, and a small scar that ran through his right eyebrow. I’d heard he got it protecting Jordan. So what if I’d thought about tracing it with my finger more than once?

My eyes drank him in, from his black boots to jeans that hugged his strong thighs to the way his navy Henley stretched over his chest and arms. He was stunning, and I was openly staring at him.

He didn’t say a word, so I asked, “Raiden?”

“You’re awake.”

I smirked. “I’ve never been known to sleepwalk.”

“That’s not what I… I thought… Never mind.” He turned to head toward the elevators, but I was far too amused by him losing his ability to speak in full sentences.

The other times I’d spent with him, he’d said nothing or very little. I wasn’t sure how to take it since I’d seen him joke and talk with others. What if the reason he didn’t talk a lot before wasn’t because he didn’t have much to say but because he couldn’t get it out?

I rushed after him, reaching for his arm before he could hit the button. “Wait.”

He turned, his eyes meeting mine. They didn’t hold anger. What I saw bordered on torment.

I took another step, bringing us closer together. He had a solid six inches on me. “What were you going to say?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” Why was I forcing this? It could be due to me being wide awake and thinking about him. Or it could be I really wanted to know.

“Why do you do it?” he asked.

“What?”

“Go on dates that lead nowhere?”

“How do you know that? How do you know what I do?” It wasn’t hard to guess. People here talked. There were cameras throughout the building that caught me coming and going.

“Does it matter?”

“No, but why do you care?”

“I shouldn’t.” He raked his hand through his hair. “It’s not like I even know what the fuck I’m doing on your floor.”

I repeated my question and added, “Why are you here, Raiden?”

2

RAIDEN

Even as I rode the elevator down to Lane’s floor, I kept thinking how I shouldn’t. Nothing good would come from it. Damned if I could stop myself though.

I was so fucking tired of hearing about his dates. He wasn’t running his mouth about them, but people knew, and they felt the need to relay the information to me, especially my brother. Reghan was happy and in love with Barrett, so he thought I should be too. It was fair of him. Had it been the other way around, I’d want the same for him. But it was me on the non-love end, and I was so sick of Lane going out.

This led me to where I currently stood, unable to say what I should. Instead, I had nonsense falling from my mouth like I couldn’t form a cohesive thought.

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