Page 3 of Code Word
So that answered that.
“Oh. Okay.”
“She said he hasn’t been sleeping for a while.” She looked at her brother then. She studied him, then me, before she tried to smile, one that didn’t quite sit right. “He hasn’t stirred.”
I wasn’t sure why that felt so accusatory. She’d never had a problem with Luke and my closeness. Hell, her understanding of my relationship with her brother was what made it so easy for me. And for him. She knew relationships for celebrities were fucking hard.
She knew that.
Instead of replying, I just closed my eyes.
I wasn’t going to fight with her over this. Not over Luke.
Because it wouldn’t be a fight. Not from my end. If it ever came down to choosing between them, it wasn’t a contest.
Pretty sure she knew that too.
Probably wasn’t fair, but it’s just how it was.
Quiet whispering and the feeling of being watched made me open my eyes. Bec was there again, this time with Vana.
Bec looked awkward this time, and Vana was very clearly pissed.
She had a suitcase with her and a filthy scowl. Her hair was brown again—I could never keep up—and she let out a contentious sigh.
“I’m done,” she said, her tone acidic. “Done being the third wheel. Done being his second choice. You can tell himthat when he wakes up from his cozy little sleep on you. I couldn’t get him to touch me for months, andlook...” She gestured to him, asleep on me.
I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say to that, so I looked her right in the eye when I kissed the top of Luke’s head and gave her a wave. “Okay. Bye.”
It didn’t help that Luke, still sound asleep, slung his leg over my thigh and snuggled in some more.
She made a weirdmeepnoise and huffed as she dragged her suitcase out. I tried to feel bad, but honestly, fuck that attitude, and fuck her.
Ten or so minutes later, Bec was back. She gave me a neutral expression, but her sigh spoke volumes. “Did you have to kiss his head? In front of her? They just broke up?—”
“Did she only just figure the third-wheel thing out?” I asked. I hadn’t meant it to sound so blunt—or to sound so directed at Bec either—but the look she gave me told me I had pretty good aim.
That she was also a third wheel in this. That Luke and I were closer than I was with her. That Luke was my priority, and he always would be. He was her brother. Sheknewthis.
She looked toward the windows and seemed to come to some conclusion in her head before nodding and walking away.
It wasn’t like I could get up and follow her.
I wasn’t entirely sure I would have.
But I’d just spent an entire freaking week with her, which hadn’t been a great time for me, all while Luke was going through something here on his own.
He needed me right now.
She was gone for a while, and I couldn’t get up, so I felt around on the armrest for the remote control. Then Bec was there, and she handed it to me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“I’m going to see Mom and Dad,” she said, distracted. “Itold them I’d stop by when we got home. I, uh, I might have dinner with them and stay the night.”
“Hm.”
She nodded, looked at Luke again, still sound asleep on my chest, and smiled more genuinely this time. “I won’t tell them about him. Just...” She grimaced. “Look after him.”
