Page 64 of Things We Hide from the Light
“That’s a lot of shoulds. Tell me about your parents.”
“There’s not much to tell. They’re great. Good people. Kind, generous, smart, supportive.”Smothering, I added silently.
“The kind of people who call their daughter every day,” he prompted.
“I moved on, but my parents didn’t. I guess there’s something about seeing your only child nearly die in front of your eyes that changes a parent. So they worry. Still. Chalk that one up in the Things We Never Got Over column.”
They’d never gotten over seeing me die in front of them. And I’d never gotten over the suffocating prison sentence the rest of my teenage years had been.
Because after figuring out the problem, fixing it, and recovering from the fixing, my parents weren’t open to letting me take any chances.
They still weren’t. Which was why they thought I pushed papers for an insurance company and went to a lot of trainings. White lies kept the peace and let me live my life.
“Does Knox know any of this?” Nash asked, his voice a low rumble against my ear.
I frowned. “No. Why would he?”
“Seein’ as you two have been friends for knockin’ on two decades, I would have thought you’d share some stories.”
“Uh, have you met your brother? Knox isn’t the talk-about-anything type. And judging from the way you’re pretending to be just fine right now, I’m guessing you’re not much of an open book yourself.”
“It’s the Morgan way. Why shine the light on things when you can pretend they don’t exist?”
“I’m all for that. Keeps things simple. But just so you know, that’s probably something you should work on before you catch yourself a wife.”
“Good to know.”
I sat up and slid out from under his arm. “It’s unsolicited advice time.”
“Who invited Mrs. Tweedy over?” he quipped.
“Ha. It’s your life and none of my business, but do yourself a favor. Instead of using up your energy trying to hide this fromeveryone, maybe try working your way through it. Both ways take a hell of a lot of energy, but only one of them gets you through to the other side.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
I gave his thigh another friendly pat. “I’m going to go home and you’re going to go to bed. And when I say bed, I mean you’re going to sleepinyour bedunderthe covers. Not out here on the couch with the TV on.”
I felt the weight of his gaze, the hot caress of his need as if they were physical sensations.
“I’ll do all that on one condition,” he said.
“What?”
“You stay the night.”
THIRTEEN
BED BUDDIES
Lina
Okay, even “daredevil, throw caution to the wind” me knew this was a terrible idea. I knew it just like I knew mozzarella sticks were bad for me. But just like mozzarella sticks, the temptation was real. “Nash, that’s not a good idea.”
“Hear me out,” he said, tightening his hold on my hand. “I’m too tired to make a move on you.”
“I’ve heard that one before,” I said dryly.
“Fair. How about this? Whenever you’re close, everything is better. The closer you are, the easier I breathe, the less I feel like life is just a never-ending pour of lemon juice into an open wound that won’t heal. You take away the dark, the cold. And you remind me what it’s like to want to be here.”
