Page 44 of My Brother's Enemy
The look he gave me was all suggestion, all heat, and it had me clenching for the table because it was making me all too unsteady. “You can learn what a Griffin is any day of the week, but yes. You’ll learn the difference between a griffin and a hippogriff.”
“A hippo-what?”
He cameover the next night after the game.
He also came over the next three nights after that.
Sometimes we had sex, though I was aware every time I heard his knock and every time I opened that door it needed to be the last night. I still opened the door.
I was fast losing the ability to stop this.
Some nights he brought take-out and crawled in bed with me to watch the rest of the Harry Potter movies. He was right. Griffins were awesome. We moved ontoThe Lord of the Ringsand he was still coming over almost every night.
There would be a time when I needed to end this. I knew it.
Except every night I kept thinking to myself, the next time. I would tell him the next time. Then he’d reach for me, roll me underneath him, and that thought would melt away because no matter what, I loved how he made me feel.
He made me feel wanted.
30
TYLER
Idropped down to the bench, exhausted. That losssucked.
“Hey, man.” Sunny sank down next to me. “That was shit.”
I grunted. It’d been a shut out for them. Four to zero. Meester had been in goal and he was currently sitting in front of his locker, his head hanging down. He was still learning, but I said, “Not getting an argument from me.”
“Yeah.” He was just as glum as I was. We begin silently undressing.
If I wasn’t thinking about hockey, worrying about Skylar, who still wouldn’t respond to me, then my mind trailed to Rain. She was fast becoming an addiction.
I liked her. I did.
I shouldn’t, but I did.
It wasn’t just the sex, which was hot. It was more. It was her. Talking to her about my worries, she’d been there for me on numerous occasions by now. Going to the hospital with me, not injecting her own judgments into what my sister should do, and then saying all that to me about how I was helping the team. I felt safe with her.
Who was I kidding? I just wanted her. Any way I could get her, I would take it. She felt good in my arms, felt right. The last two nights I hadn’t even left after sex or after the movie. The first night it happened, we’d both just fallen asleep. The second time it happened, she’d fallen asleep and I was the one who made the decision. I stayed.
Ilikedstaying and I liked waking up next to her.
Who was I becoming?
Bruge thudded over to us and stood there, folding his arms across his chest. He glared down at us. “Boston is playing against L.A. Our game was early today. We have time to watch. You come over to do that. I’ll make food.” His gaze indicated both of us. When neither of us argued, he clipped his head down once. “Good. Be there in one hour. I’ll text you my address.”
He moved on, saying something similar to the others.
I glanced at Sunny. “That happen often?”
“Bruge’s orders?” He grinned. “Sometimes. If we’ve had a particularly brutal loss.” He slapped my shoulder. “Come on. Let’s shower and stop on the way for drinks. Bruge only ever has water or tea, maybe beer leftover from another gathering. We can pick some up.”
Quite a few ofthe team was there when Sunny and I showed up. We rode together. I liked it when Sunny made the suggestion. It reminded me of when my old team would get together. Nolan and I rode together a lot of times. Sunny reminded me of Nolan, except Sunny was nicer. Nolan had more of an edge to him, which was probably why he and I were best friends. I understood him.
“We brought beer.” Sunny held up the case.
A bunch of guys cheered from the living room.
