Page 3 of Treasured By Them
“You’re such a terrible liar.” Edmund grins.
“You’re mad about something.” Troy cocks his head to the side. “I want to know what.”
I laugh. He assumes I’m mad about one thing?
Edmund leans forward. “Take us home, Jon.”
As the car starts forward, Edmund raises the privacy screen. I hope he isn’t going to put the moves on me, because I am not at all interested.
But then he puts his hand on my knee. All-too-familiar heat grows low in my belly and my thighs clench reflexively.
Goddammit. This guy.
“Cut that shit out.” I push his hand away and round on Troy. “Why were you kissing that woman? Why were you letting her touch you?”
He blinks. He wasn’t expecting this. Well, good.
“It’s complicated.” Before I can tell him where I think “complicated” can reside on his anatomy, he continues, “But the short answer is, I needed her to think we were all good. She’s an ex, and a bad one.”
“What did she do?”
He shakes his head. The tension in the car ratchets up a notch. I’m stepping into dangerous waters. It’s partly my fault. If I hadn’t gotten so mad and yelled before, maybe he would think he could talk to me now.
I let it go, but I keep my mouth shut for the rest of the drive. The privacy screen is wholly unnecessary. My thoughts whirl between Detective Spalding’s dismissal of my memories, what actually happened to Britney Gardner.
Then my thoughts settle on how I should improve myself and my own communication so the guys I’m falling in love with might be more willing to confide in me.
Because that’s what this is…I’m falling in love.
2
Troy
She’s upset. I think it’s because I don’t want to talk about Amber. Fuck. I never want to talk about Amber. She’s the worst thing that ever happened to me. She’s worse than my mom dying and my dad turning to drugs, worse than getting shot on my eighteenth birthday when I was protecting Edmund. At least those other things couldn’t be helped, I had very little influence over them, and they made me stronger.
Amber robbed me of years of my life. And I let it happen. I was grateful the entire fucking time.
Until I wasn’t.
But even now, with the Amber chapter of my life officially over, she’s still screwing things up for me. Dani’s upset, quietly watching the lighthearted mystery film Edmund chose. After Dani’s morning at the police station, I doubted the choice in movie. But I don’t think it matters what he picked—none of us are watching it anyway.
“Come here.” I tug Dani over until she’s leaning against me. “I missed you, little girl.”
She sighs and snuggles closer. “I missed you, too. And I have a whole big speech about how I was wrong, how I shouldn’t have behaved like I did.”
“I don’t need to hear it. Really. I forgive you, Dani. And I should’ve answered your texts and calls. You tried to make it better, but I didn’t let you.”
“So we’re good now?” She tilts her head back so she can see me better.
“We’re good.” I pause. “Except for one thing.”
Edmund looks over from the TV, his expression guarded.
Dani’s face holds panic. “What is it? I promise, whatever it is, you can tell me. You don’t have to hide?—”
“Dani, calm down.” I grin at her. “The only thing that’s wrong right now is you aren’t close enough to me.”
She laughs and points to the nonexistent space between us. “I’m as close as I can possibly be.”
