Page 30 of My Brother's Enemy
He didn’t. He stayed.
When the nurse left a few minutes later, I still waited.
It felt wrong to be here.
I waited another twenty minutes, but he didn’t come out.
The nurse had closed the door when she left. I knew I should knock and go in there, say my goodbyes, make sure everything was fine. But I was hurt, though I knew that was stupid. I shouldn’t be the one hurting in this situation. I already knew what Tyler wanted from me, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
But Istillcouldn’t bring myself to knock on the door.
I shouldn’t have come. I didn’t belong.
I’d pulled my phone out to send him a text when the door opened. His eyes flashed, and he stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. “She’s not saying it, but Ski needs to sleep. I wanted to stick around until they bring Zoey back, give her a quick hug, but I’m sure she’ll need her rest too. Did you want to stick around until then?”
“I—no.”
His face fell.
I looked away. “I think this is more a family thing. I’m going to go. Unless you need me for something?”What am I saying? What am I doing?
The spark came back to his gaze, but he only said softly, “If you’ve got more pressing matters, by all means.”
“I don’t.” I did, actually, like trying to remind myself about my place, which wasnothere, for one.
He stepped closer, and his voice dropped again. “Could you stay then? I don’t think it’ll be long.” He searched my face.
I needed to go. Not stay. I shouldn’t do whatever this was that was happening between him and me. “I’ll wait in the lobby. Take your time with your sister and your niece.”
He stepped back, his eyes still searching mine. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
We watched each other. I wanted to step toward him, hug him. That felt like the natural thing to do, but I didn’t. Icouldn’t.
“Tyler?” Skylar called from inside the room, and he turned to answer her.
I slipped away, turning off my feelings. It was an old trick I’d used when I was little. It was the way I coped. I ignored all the schooling I’d done and resorted back to my most raw self. I needed to remember what I was to him, to my family, to the world, and most importantly to myself.
Just another dumb fuck.
20
TYLER
Rain wasn’t in the lobby when I came downstairs, not that I’d thought she would be. I’d been here for hours now. It took longer for Zoey to come back to the room than I’d thought, and once I’d stepped back in, Skylar had started crying all over again. She’d been okay while Rain was there, and to be honest, I liked having the break because Ski had either been sleeping or crying the other times I’d come. Maybe that was part of the reason I’d asked Rain to come with me—I knew if there was someone else here, Skylar would have to feel something else, even for a moment. Or hell, maybe it was the reason Skylar pointed out.
I didn’t know, but something had happened between when Rain first stepped into the room and when that nurse came in. I thought maybe she wanted to use the bathroom or needed some air, but when I finally went looking for her, she was right there in the hallway, and something was different.
I couldn’t place it, because on the outside, she looked like the usual Rain. Nice. Infuriatingly sexy. She could make my dick hard with just a glance, but whoever was in the hallway was notthe woman I’d been obsessively watching ever since she started working with the team.
I wanted her. Maybe I even wanted something more than just her body, but she was confusing.
She sent me a text after a while saying she needed to get back, and she’d see me at the arena for our morning skate, but I wasn’t going along with that plan.
I knew her hotel, and I knew what floor her room was on because I’d paid attention. So I went there, and as soon as I got to her floor, I called her phone. I heard it ringing from behind the last room in the hallway, and just as she answered, I knocked on the door.
“Hello?”
