Page 48 of The Breaking Point

She looked surprised. “Why are you apologizing? Like I said, your mom makes her own choices. Besides, I know she’s sick. Sick people don’t always say the most logical things.”

I almost wished Grace would be judgmental. Then I could tell her to go to hell and end this years-long obsession with her.

Instead, she had to be empathetic, thoughtful, and selfless.The universe loves its cruel jokes,I thought morosely.

Dinner was an awkward affair. I was brooding over Mom, and Grace seemed like she didn’t know what to say. I was glad when it was time to check in to our hotel rooms.

Separate hotel rooms, of course. I didn’t trust myself to behave if we shared a room or, God forbid, shared a bed for the night.

We could’ve made the drive back to LA, but we were exhausted. So I got us hotel rooms for the night, and we’d leave early in the morning.

I was getting ready for bed when I realized I didn’t have toothpaste. I’d packed my toothbrush, of course.

I tapped on the adjoining door to Grace’s room. “Grace? You awake?”

I heard her voice, then some rummaging, before she opened the door. She was flushed and wearing only a large T-shirt and booty shorts.

She was also out of breath like she’d been running. “You okay?” I asked.

That just made her blush harder. “Uh. Yeah. Sure. You okay?”

I inhaled, only to catch a scent I knew all too well. My body tightened.

Christ, had she been touching herself? With just a tiny little door between us?

I felt my entire body alight at the thought. We stared at each other, and I watched as her breathing increased along with my own.

Had she been close to coming when I knocked on the door? Or had she already come once and was going for her second or third?

I wondered how she liked to fuck herself. Did she prefer to concentrate on her clit, or did she like a combo of fingers and clit rubbing? The thought of touching her pussy, licking it, watching her body arch as her orgasm built ...

Fuck, I was going to lose my goddamn mind.

“Toothpaste,” I rasped finally.

It took her a second to register what I’d said. “Uh. Yeah, I have some.”

She went to get the tube. When she handed it to me, though, I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her hand toward me.

I inhaled. Her eyes widened.

I’d been right. I knew that smell anywhere. I let her hand go reluctantly.

“Lock the door on your side,” I commanded. “Don’t let me in, no matter what I say.”

She blinked. Then she nodded and said good night before doing as I’d asked.

I collapsed onto my own bed and groaned. There was no fucking way I was going to get any sleep tonight.

GRACE

When I’d agreed to intern for the Blades PR and marketing department, I hadn’t realized that I’d end up having to listen to why Brady Carmichael was terrible for the brand.

“How do we rein this guy in?” Julia, my boss and the PR manager, asked. She swiveled her laptop around to show us her social media feed. “Or better yet, how do we spin this to our advantage?”

In an unfortunate twist, the internet had turned Brady’s fight with Riley into a meme that had spread like wildfire. I’d seen the memes splashed across the internet. Some were rather funny, but I couldn’t admit that out loud.

What was worse, though, was thatThe Fightwasn’t about to disappear anytime soon. It’d also fueled Brady’s reputation as an asshole who didn’t care about rules.

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