“When is Boaz ever not pissed when it comes to Linus?” All that navel-gazing earlier had given me fresh perspective. “He’s not my boyfriend. We went on one date. That means he doesn’t have the right to an opinion. Especially one he can’t be bothered to call and voice himself.”
Jealousy might be a new concept for him, but his past antics had turned me green often enough to know it did nothing for my complexion. And, okay, yes, I was still in a snit over the fact he had made no effort to communicate with me since the night he dropped his sister off at my house. Yet another keepsake of his for me to store until he wanted it back.
The Elite deploy where they’re sent, I got that, but wherever he was stationed had plenty of cell service as far as I could tell. How else could he touch base with his sister every other day? And I know it was him, their banter so familiar I would recognize the back-and-forth anywhere.
Now, I’m not saying I was eavesdropping on her phone calls. I’m just saying her voice carries, especially when I press my ear against her bedroom door.
“He may not be your boyfriend, but he’s your something. I think that earns him the right to be concerned when you get hurt or when you spend the night in another man’s bed.”
My head snapped toward her. “How do you know I was in his room and not the guestroom?”
“I saw you through the window.”
“No, you didn’t.” I had plenty of time to soak up my surroundings while pretending to be studious. “The curtains were shut. Heinz closed them before he left so the rear porch light didn’t bother me.”
The angle was all wrong too. From the porch, maybe. But she wasn’t supposed to be out there.
“Okay, you got me.” We reached the landing, and she shepherded me toward my room. “I called Taz and asked for details.”
Groaning, I toddled into my room and eased down onto the mattress. “I don’t remember seeing her.”
“Who do you think carried you?” She snorted. “Linus?”
“Yes.” Actually, that’s exactly what I’d thought. Taz, having been the one to KO me, must have beat him to the punch. “You’re saying she put me in his bed then lit up the phone tree to broadcast the details.”
“We have the right—”
“I get it.” I sagged back against my pillows. “You’re my best friend, and Boaz is my something, but that doesn’t entitle either of you to every detail of my life.”
She flung her arms out to the sides. “You know every detail of my life.”
“Uh, no. I don’t. Or I didn’t. Not until it was too late.” I bit the inside of my cheek, but the buildup of annoyance had bubbled over my lips. “Ame, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“I’m grateful for what you did for me,” she said, voice flat. “But no one asked you to save me.”
“You’re right.” The snide comment erased all that came before it, and that was my breaking point. “In fact, your mother ordered me not to.”
Tears glistened in her eyes as she spun on her heel and hit the stairs.
I was too exhausted to go after her and too afraid of what I might say when I caught her.
Instead I curled up against my pillows and closed my eyes.
A scream tore from my throat, raw and aching, and fresh pain lanced along my jaw before I clamped my mouth shut. As awareness settled over me, I grasped that I wasn’t huddled on the hard floor in a corner as I expected, but balanced across warm thighs and cradled against a wide chest.
“Hush, Squirt.” Boaz caressed the length of my spine. “It was just a dream.”
“Just the dream.” I ran my newly healed tongue along the edge of my teeth before asking, “How are you here?”
“Magic.”
“Mmm-hmm.” All the anger I had been carting around for the past two weeks smashed to pieces at his feet. He was here. That was all that mattered. “You can’t drop your life and come running every time I stub a toe.”
“Watch me.” His lips brushed my forehead. “For as long as I can, I will.”
Fear of how long that might be had me snuggling closer. “You’re sweet.”
“I can be.” His chuckle deepened. “With proper motivation.”
“What were you doing before Amelie and Taz blew up your phone?”
“It’s classified.” His gaze dipped before meeting mine again. “It’s also boring as hell.”
“Poor baby.” I reached up and patted his prickly cheek. “How long can you stay?”
“Twenty-four hours.” He turned his face and pressed a kiss into my palm. “That’s the best I could do.”
A tiny corner of my heart deflated at the brevity of the visit, and I fisted his shirt like that might hold him here with me. “We need to talk.”
“Am I in trouble?” He ruffled the longer hair on top of his head into a tousled mess. “I should have called before inviting myself over, but I didn’t think. I heard you got hurt and I—”
“I’m glad you’re here.” I blasted out a sigh. “The problem is how you knew to come in the first place.”
“Taz called me right after it happened. Amelie reached out thirty minutes later with an update.” A frown knit his brow. “Did you not want me to know?”
“It’s not that.” I traced the logo on his T-shirt with my fingertip. “Of course I want them to call you when it’s important, but it feels like every time I get a paper cut, one of them is texting you.”
“I didn’t ask them to if that’s where you’re headed with this.” He tangled his fingers in my hair. “I haven’t discouraged them, though. I’ll give you that.”
“I would appreciate a touch more privacy, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Ah.” The weight of his hand pulled on my scalp in a pleasant way. “You’re waiting for me to lose my cool over you convalescing in Linus’s bed.”
Aware he was cataloging the damage and not going in for a kiss, I still allowed him to tip my head back. “I will admit I expected fireworks.”
“Grier.” The rare use of my name released butterflies into my stomach, and he smiled down on me until the bruising drew his eye. “Are you attracted to Linus?”
Thinking I misheard him, I straightened on his lap. “What?”
Our gazes clashed, and he repeated the question. “Are you romantically interested in Linus Andreas Lawson III?”
Had the pain not stopped me from dropping my jaw, it would have scraped the floor. “What?”
“Your shock is priceless.” Amusement lightened his eyes. “You’ve really never thought about it?”
“He’s got pretty hair but…” I tried and failed to frame a response. He was smart and kind and funny and so many other unexpected things. “He’s Linus.”
A smirk tugged up one corner of his lips. “And I’m Boaz.”
I frowned. “Exactly.”
“See, I don’t care how you ended up in his bed. I don’t care that you stayed there all night. I don’t even need to know what happened while you were there, alone with him.”
“You don’t.” I heard the doubt thick in my voice.
“I trust you.” His eyes searched mine. “You would tell me if you wanted out.”
I huffed a frustrated sigh. “You’re barely in.”
Boaz trapped his bottom lip with his upper teeth right over the scar I remembered so well, but it didn’t stop his shoulders from bouncing with laughter. “You have no idea how much restraint I’m showing by keeping this conversation PG.”
“Perv.”
“I’m your perv.”
Unable to resist being amused, I rolled my eyes. “That shouldn’t sound as sweet as it does.”
“I told you,” he said with a wink, “it’s all about proper motivation.”
“Stop distracting me.” I pinched his nipple and relished his yelp. “We need to talk about Taz.”
“No, we don’t.” A grimness settled over his expression. “I cut her loose.”
“You don’t get to make that call.” Contrary, yeah, but I hated that he had pulled the trigger without asking me first. “I can continue working with her if I choose.”
“Tell me the truth.” His fingertip skated through the air over my jaw. “Was this the first time she’s hurt you? I don’t mean scratches or bruises from training, I mean damaged you enough to require medical intervention.”
My silence answered for me.
“Taz believes in tough love, and I know you appreciate that, but this is taking things too far.”
“I like her.” That she didn’t pull her punches after hearing my name was a bonus. “She’s taught me a lot.” But facts were facts. “You guys might be right, though. She may be too advanced for me right now.”
“Linus knew?” His derisive snort required no response. “He should have stepped in sooner.”
“I asked him not to interfere.” And guilt had eaten him up on the sidelines. I never should have put him in that situation. “He’s taken care of me…after…but he wasn’t happy about the choices I’ve made.”
“Have you ever stopped to wonder if there’s a reason you let it go so far?” His voice dipped into a lower register. “You should have set her straight after the first time it happened, but you didn’t. Why is that?”
I got a bad feeling about where this was headed. “I thought I could handle it. I was handling it.”
“Are you sure you weren’t taking the punishment because you felt like you deserved it?” Boaz gentled his hold on me. “You internalized so much of what happened to you, it’s become your default to bury what you’re thinking and feeling. I never know what’s going on in that head of yours.” He scanned my face. “Can you look me in the eye and tell me you weren’t using Taz as an outlet?”