Page 56 of Shattered Souls
“Yeah, it was some weird ass shit.” Logan fake—or maybe not so fake—shivers. “I need a shower just from the greasy feel of her eyes on me. Seriously, man, you deserve props for letting her touch you. You must have an iron-clad gag reflex.”
“What do you mean shetouchedyou?” My shocked gaze jumps between Logan and Royce, certain I must have misunderstood.
Sighing, Royce levels Logan with athanks manglower, to which Logan simply shrugs asorrybefore Royce focuses on me.
“After we found your mom’s post on Craigslist, I met her to find out what she was up to.” As he says it, I vaguely recall them explaining this to me when they got home that night…
Understandably, the details of what they’d done were forgotten amongst everything else.
“And that involved her touching you?”
What am I saying? Thisismy mother, and I mean, look at Royce…Of course, she hit on him.Imagining it, a wave of nausea hits me, and I close my eyes. Of course, that makes the images sharper, and I quickly snap them open as I stare into Royce’s suddenly pale face.
“I didn’t want her to, Babydoll.” He shudders in disgust at the reminder, showing exactly how much he didn’t want Lydia touching him, and anger ignites at the thought of my mom draping herself over him against his will. My nostrils flare, and my eyes harden. I have half a mind to drive back to her house and snap her fingers one by one so she can’t touch any of my men or anyone else ever again.
“James.” Royce tries to get my attention. “As hot as this murderous look is, I’d readily endure it all again. We never would have had a chance of getting Aurora if I hadn’t.”
“We would never have known what happened to her,” Grayson adds softly.
“Doesn’t mean I like it,” I reluctantly grumble, focusing on those steel-blue eyes boring into mine as though asking for forgiveness. Except there’s nothing to forgive. “You should never have had to put yourself in that position,” I tell him. Hating that he had to while simultaneously loving him all the more for it.
“There isn’t a situation I wouldn’t put myself in for you—for Aurora.”
I have the overwhelming urge to climb into his lap, but I settle for sliding my foot from my sneaker and stretching it toward his under the table. Grasping it, he squeezes my calf before tucking my foot beneath his thigh. His hand remains on the exposed skin of my ankle as he draws soothing patterns with his finger.
He maintains eye contact with me the entire time, and it’s like everything around us falls away. We’re the only ones in the booth. In the diner.
I love you, I mouth.
I’ve never said the words aloud to him before, and now isn’t the time, but I need him to know how I feel. Need him to know I appreciate everything he has done and will undoubtedly do for me more than words can ever describe.
The corners of his lips hitch up in a faint smile, his finger outlining a heart on my ankle as the worry bleeds from his posture.
The waitress chooses that moment to return with our meals. As soon as his plate is set in front of him, Logan dives into his burger.I guess he wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was starving.
We lapse into silence while we eat. Royce keeps one hand on my ankle while I nibble on my grilled cheese sandwich. I make a solid attempt at eating half of it before pushing the rest away and ignoring Grayson’s disapproving frown.
“You need to eat.”
My eyes flick to Grayson’s narrowed ones before dropping to the table when he pushes my plate back in front of me.
“I did. Now I’m full.” I push the plate away. Again.
“You’re not eating enough,” he grouses.
“Since when did you become a nutritionist?” I snap.
He growls in frustration. “Don’t think none of us have noticed how you only eat a few bites at every meal.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly hungry.”
“I don’t care if you’re not hungry. You need to eat!”
My hand smacks the top of the table. “Dammit, Grayson. I’m not hungry! How many times do I have to say it before the words penetrate your thick skull?”
As some sort of peace offering, Logan pushes my untouched milkshake in front of me. “How about you sip on this instead? Then you can share some celebratory dessert with me after.”
Loosening a breath, I reluctantly agree and take an acquiescent pull on my straw. The sweetness of strawberries floods my mouth.Damn, there is no denying that milkshake is gooood.
