Page 124 of Crave Me

There was unspoken animosity that the three of them were swallowing down toward my dad in order to protect me. Not just to protect me, it was even more than that. Coming from an even sweeter place than that already was all on its own. They knew what my dad meant to me, how great our relationship had been before everything had gone to hell, and they got that it had left a void for me without having him here. So now that he was, they were letting the rest go. Including the fact that Caspian, Dante and Bastian faulted my dad for not taking out Jeremy when he’d had the chance, and before he’d teamed up with Elijah.

Even though I’d become so much more accustomed to being with the three of them, it still surprised me and hit me down so deep at what they were prepared to do for me, the lengths they went to in order to make me happy and to feel loved and cared for.

And I wanted to surround myself with that, immerse myself in them wholly.

But I’d had to split my time between being with them and with my dad. My bid to get him off his bad path had led to mixed results. After some backup from Riley, he’d agreed with both of us that going back to that mercenary group wasn’t the best path for him. As awful as it was that he’d been hurt, it seemed that his injury had helped to enlighten him in that respect.

But he was adamant about not returning to Rossun.

I’d even told him how visiting my mom’s grave had helped me with similar sentiments. But he was steadfast in his resolve not to go near it. He felt that being back at the house would reinforce his final memory of her dying in his arms when he’d worked so hard to push it away and focus on their time together and all the good memories he had of her.

Even telling him that there was more to be had here in the city than loss, that it was our home, hadn’t worked.

So he wouldn’t be staying.

Bastian had come to me with Damien’s theory that my dad would leave with Riley. She lived and operated off the grid, so it would put a barrier and distance between us all over again.

The last thing I wanted.

But at the same time, I did understand where he was coming from.

It didn’t stop it from being a bitter realization though.

I sucked in a breath and swallowed that down—for now—as I reached my destination.

Then I rapped on the door to Caleb’s room.

“Almost decent!” he called back.

I smiled at that Caleb-style humor from him.

It was muted right now because of what he’d been through, but it came out in spurts here and there and it had more so over the passing days. It was a really good sign.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. “Not sure if I should take that as a good thing,” I said as I took in the sight of him in just a towel as he shook out his wet hair from an obvious very recent shower. “I kind of like it when you’re indecent.”

Relief flooded me when he ran with it and the corner of his mouth turned up. “Don’t kid yourself, darling, kind of doesn’t begin to cover how much you like that from me.”

I chuckled. “Undeniable.”

He smirked, then sat down on the foot of his bed and patted the spot beside him. “So, what’s up?”

“Bastian and Damien are gaming. We’re gonna play in teams and I wanted to know if you’d be my teammate?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “With my weak playing?”

“You’re not that bad.”

He laughed. “Wow, you guys really want me down there, huh?”

“We do. Besides, I’ve got some tricks to teach you.” I lowered my voice to a joking conspiratorial whisper. “A couple even Bastian doesn’t know about.”

He grinned back at me and slapped his hand to his chest. “I’m honored you’d entrust them to me.”

I sat down on the bed beside him. “Well, you’re definitely awesome enough to warrant that.”

“Hell, yes, I fucking am. That’s no secret.”

He had me giggling. “No, it’s not.”

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