Page 13 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

“We can do that, but I meant more than sex. I’m having fun with you, Milo. I want to see where we go.”

“The road is wide open.”

I hummed and pressed a chaste kiss below his ear, then leaned back. “Good to know.”

When Milo dropped his eyes to his plate as a sweet blush rose over his cheeks, I took a moment to sweep my gaze over the people who’d come to the party. That was when I noticed Cody looking our way with something like heartbreak in his eyes. He stood and turned, going into the house. My muscles tightened, straining like I should follow him.

“Go,” Milo said, nudging me with his foot.

“I shouldn’t.”

“What if I go with you?”

I turned to face him again. “You’d do that?”

“I told you, I’m up for anything.”

6

MILO

Epic disaster or genius thinking? One would win when we went into the house.

As Slater stood, he held out his hand for mine, which I readily took. I had no qualms about touching this handsome man. None. At. All. Except now it felt like we were heading into the lion’s den, especially with the way Xaiden glared at us as we walked by. Lovely. Just what I needed—him to kick my ass. And he could. Oh, he really could.

What I didn’t expect was a teenager putting her hand on my chest the second we were through the door. There was no mistaking Olivia and Cody as siblings. They both had curly brown hair. While Cody’s was shorter, Olivia wore hers long.

“You two… Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” she asked.

“No, but I love the attitude,” I said. Good for her for standing up to us on her brother’s behalf.

“Shut up. If you idiots hurt him, Xaiden and the others will be the least of your worries. It’s me you should fear. I might be small, but I learned how to hit from the best. Don’t hurt him.”

I held up my hands, including the one holding Slater’s. “We won’t.”

“Good. You can go now. His room is the second on the right. Knock before entering.”

“You’ve got it.”

“Oh, and, Slater, I love your music.” She gave him the sweetest smile. Props to her for being able to go from being ready to eat us alive to pure sugar as she beamed at him.

“I’m happy to hear it,” he told her.

She blew us a kiss and went outside. Looking over my shoulder, I watched her high-five Xaiden on her way past him. I couldn’t even be mad. That was great on both their parts.

Slater didn’t move. He stood like a statue, frozen, while staring ahead.

“Hey,” I said, squeezing his fingers. “Nothing’s changed. We should talk to him.”

God, those light blue eyes of his were doing me in. So much pain resided in them. “I don’t want to hurt him. The last time I talked to him, I called him a kid. I said since he couldn’t drink, he was a kid. He thought I was looking down on him, but I wasn’t. I was trying to put distance between us, except it backfired. I fled when I couldn’t control the panic attack I brought on.”

“We’ve all said and done shit we’re not proud of. Now’s your chance to apologize. Tell him the truth.”

“He’s so much younger than me.”

“Uh huh, we’ve been through that.” I saw this for what it was—stalling.

“Milo,” he whispered.

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