Page 94 of Daring You

“You seem…distracted. Everything good?” Locke asks as he pushes open the door to the men’s change room.

“Yeah. I’m just—” my phone buzzes, and I check to see if it’s Astor. It’s not.

“You got a chick blowing up your phone?”

“Nah. I mean, yeah. I guess.”

“I get it now.” Locke throws his sports bag from the locker to a bench. “You look exactly how I used to, when all I did was fuck around and not bother to know any naked chicks in my bed. You’re getting tired of it.”

“Believe me, brother, it’s not that.”

If I told you what it is—your sister—we’d both have a helluva lunch break.

I glance at my phone again before tearing off my coat and throwing it next to my gym bag. Zero notifications.

“I think it’s time you get a woman,” Locke says, and when I look up, he’s so serious I want to laugh in his face.

“So you’re a professional matchmaker now?” I say. “Because you found the love of your life, me, Ash and East have to find ours? Get a big family BBQ on?”

“Not those two idiots, they’re lost causes,” Locke says. “But you. I dunno, you seem like you need someone to come home to.”

“Well, thank you for the Hallmark card, but I’m good.”

“No, you’re not.”

You’re right, bro. My parents’ murders are front-page news. You don’t know it, though, because they’re part of a past I had to go into witness protection for because I was there to see them die. At four years old. I’m not who I say I am, in so many ways. Oh, and did I mention me and your sister tried anal last night?

“What kind of guy am I?” I blurt.

“Huh?”

Fuck. I didn’t realize I said it out loud. But it’s true. I’ve got the best buddies in the world, won the lottery in so many ways with a happy, stable family life with a bomb-ass career, and it can be taken away at any second.

I’ve survived fire, but now I’m playing with it.

Giving in, and having Astor in all the ways I want except for the heart she protects. Pretending my past doesn’t exist. Letting strangers in the legal system sort my parents’ killers out.

All I gotta do is tell Locke the truth, unload some of this weight, and maybe I’ll come out of it okay.

Which truth?

What’s gonna come out first? My true name, or my true feelings for his sister?

My phone vibrates with a text, and finally, it’s the woman of the hour.

I’m dealing with something at the office right now. Have to talk to you later.

I frown.Then glare. What’s more important than telling her brother about us before fuckin’ Mike does? Her work? Astor’s goddamned, all important files that take more priority than Locke’s feelings? Our betrayal?

I don’t care if it has to do with the Delaneys. They’re long dead. It’s been twenty years of trying to figure out their tragedy. They can’t be brought back. The cruelty can’t be taken away or branded out of my mind. This, here and now, can be fixed.

What the fuck, Astor?

She’s not going to be any help. Once again, her heart has frozen over.

“Locke, I have to tell you something.”

“No kidding?” Locke says jokingly, then takes a seat next to our bags. “What’s up? You know I’m here for you, whatever’s going on.”

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