Page 31 of Together We Burn
“Are you talking to yourself?” Alex’s voice came from behind the locked bathroom door, and I jumped. Smacking my hand to my chest, my towel fell to the floor. Quickly grabbing my pyjamas from the bathroom ledge, I tugged them on and opened the door to a sleepy-looking Alex.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?” I asked sheepishly, realising it must have been well after two in the morning. Alex rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
“It’s fine. I did try to stay up and wait for you to come home, but I must have fallen asleep.” His eyes lowered to the top of my pyjama set, which had a pair of skull hands looking like they were holding up my boobs. He quirked an eyebrow with a smirk and playfully asked, “Wish they were my hands, huh, Stevie baby?”
He flexed the tattoo of the bones inked along his right hand. Why he didn’t get both hands done as a skeleton rather than the pocket watch he’d chosen for his left, I didn’t understand. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming about the meaning of that one.
I shoved two fingers into my mouth and pretended to gag while rolling my eyes. Trying to sidestep past him to get to my room, I was brought to a stop by Alex’s big hand loosely latching around my bicep.
“Why does it look like you’ve got first-degree burns?” His gaze raked over my exposed skin. I didn’t answer. “Is this because Jake was there tonight?”
“Will there ever be a time when you and your big brother don’t gossip about me behind my back? Or make decisions about me without my knowledge?” I snapped with my back to him.
Alex grimaced and dropped his hand from my arm.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, as I took a deep breath and turned around. Alex rubbed the back of his neck, his brow furrowed. “I should have told you as soon as you woke up. But I promise you, Stevie, I never knew anything about the assignment until the moment you were taken.”
“I know,” I replied quietly, and he gaped at me. “We don’t do assignments half-cocked. If you had known that the end result was to get my mother out of wherever she had been hiding, you’d have never agreed to use me as bait.”
“Never,” he agreed, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around my shoulders and dragging me into him. I rested my forehead on his chest but couldn’t reciprocate his hug.
“I never want to be in that position again. Being blindsided isn’t something I can handle. Not now when we know that she’s after Nate.” I could feel his head bounce in a nod on the top of my hair.
We stood in the hallway way longer than was comfortable for someone who didn’t particularly like affection–unless it was from some tall, dark, and handsome asshole who had made me come harder than anyone ever had less than a few hours ago.
Alex, ever attuned to my behaviours like a zookeeper to his animals, released me from his hold.
“I ordered takeout,” he said, nervously thumbing toward the stairs. Nervous Alex was kind of cute and only made an appearance when he knew he’d fucked up. Royally. I smiled, but scrunched up my nose.
“Thanks, but I think I’m just going to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”
“Oh, c’mon. I got Thai. Your favourite,” he sing-songed as he walked backward with a devilish grin on his face. “I got spring rolls too.”
“Duck?” I asked.
“I’m wounded you’d think I don’t know you,” he said, placing a hand over his heart in mock agony. “Veggie. C’mon, I’ll warm them up.”
Unable to hide my grin, I followed after him as he descended the stairs to our kitchen. Pulling myself up on the barstool at the breakfast bar, I settled to watch Alex mill around the kitchen, reheating the food.
Rocky appeared at the sound of the fridge opening and closing. I swore that dog had selective hearing. He didn’t care when I came home earlier tonight, but when theremightbe food, he appeared out of thin air.
“Want to talk about it?” Alex asked, sliding a cold beer over the counter and taking a sip of his own.
“Talk about what?” I replied, enjoying the chilled liquid as I avoided his question. I didn’t want to discuss the topic I knew he had in mind.
“Let’s see, shall we,” he mused, putting a Pyrex dish into the oven and then coming to lean over the counter. He propped his elbows on top of the marble, resting his chin on one hand as he began counting off topics with the other. “Kissing Mac in Will’s office, for one. The look on Jake’s face, for another. Although I will admit that look was priceless, like he was ready to murder Mac with his bare hands.”
“You looked like you were ready to assist him with killing your brother, Alex,” I reminded him.
“Not just Mac. I had no idea what was going on. There was poor me, drowning in a sea of guilt over upsetting you, and you two were making out like randy teenagers.”
I laughed and took another sip of my beer, thinking how it felt like a lifetime ago and not this morning that this had all happened.
“And lastly, how about those choke marks?” Alex finished. My hand flew to my neck, and he laughed. “Oh, believe me, Stevie baby, I know choke marks when I see them.”
Dropping my hand from my throat, I played with the label of the bottle for a bit, formulating my words so they didn’t make me look as stupid as I felt.
“I kissed Mac to make Jake jealous,” I admitted, avoiding Alex’s gaze as I felt my face heat from embarrassment.
