Page 32 of Theo

Hopefully, I can hold onto it.

A soft, scratching sound pulls me from a deep sleep. I can’t remember the last time I slept that hard, and I don’t particularly want to wake up now, but the scratching persists.

Cracking open one eye, I survey my surroundings. It takes a moment to understand what I’m looking at. There is a woman in the bed next to me, long dark hair creating a wall between her and the window on the other side of the bed. She’s sitting up, her back to the headboard as she hunches over her knees, a look of pure concentration on her face as one hand moves across the sketchbook in her lap. She’s wearing a sweater I recognize as my own, but it looks far better on her.

Charity doesn’t notice I’m awake, and I spend several minutes watching her sketch. It’s been a decade and a half since I last witnessed her like this. I can’t help but catalog the similarities, even while noting all the differences.

I’m just about to see if I can slip out of the bed without her noticing when a sound at the front of the apartment stops me dead.

“Charity.”

“Hmm?”

I’m not convinced she’s actually heard me; she’s just responding on instinct. The jingling sound grows louder as the front door opens. “Charity, your brother is home.”

“Hmm.”

Exaggerated footsteps can be heard throughout the apartment as Dane stomps around the living room and kitchen. I roll out of bed, dragging on my underwear and slacks. I didn’t have a shirt under my sweater, so I’m left with nothing to cover the top half of my body.

Well, if Dane didn’t know I was fucking his sister before this, he’s certainly going to know now.

“Charity?” Dane’s voice calls from the front of the apartment. “You awake?”

Honey-brown eyes snap to the door at the question, her concentration finally broken. One hand slaps the bed next to her, a look of surprise lighting her eyes when she finds the mattress empty.

“Over here, Viper,” I whisper, and she whips around to see me at the end of the bed.

“You have to go.”

I snort, tilting my head toward the living room, where Dane is stomping around. “Little late for that.”

“Out the window,” she hisses, scrambling off the bed.

“The...window?” She reaches my side in a moment, her hands pressing into my back as she tries to shove me toward the other side of the room. “We’re on the second floor, and there’s no balcony under that window.”

My gentle reminder doesn’t seem to deter her in the least. “You’re big and strong. Figure it out.”

“Oh, I’m big and strong, huh?” She doesn’t catch the teasing in my tone, her focus narrowed on maneuvering me across the room. I’m not convinced she wouldn’t push me out the window if she ever managed to get me over there.

Spinning, I pin her to the wall with my hips, sliding my hands up her arms until I can lace our fingers together above her head. “Good morning, sweet girl.”

“I am not sweet, and you need to get the fuck out of here!”

“Your brother knows I’m here.”

“He does no?—”

“If the two of you are done with whatever this is,” Dane’s voice snaps our attention toward the door, where he’s standing with a hand over his eyes. “There’s breakfast in the kitchen.”

He leaves quickly, pulling the door closed behind him. There’s a moment of complete silence before Charity loses it. Soft, tinkling giggles shake her shoulders and transform the worried lines of her face into something almost ethereal. I can’t help but lean forward to capture that laughter in a kiss.

“Come on,” I sigh against her lips, dragging my hands down her body as I step away. “I’m starving.”

I shouldn’t have let her talk me into waiting. Now I’m halfway to New York City, and she still doesn’t know.

If I hadn’t purchased these tickets three days ago, I would have been making arrangements on my phone the moment she fell asleep last night. I knew Charity was running from someone in New York when Dane said her “ex was being shitty”, but I hadn’t been sure which ex I needed to pay a visit to.

Now that I know this won’t be a friendly reminder to not harass women, I’ve had to call in reinforcements.

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