Page 53 of Say It Slowly

She’s still pressed against the wall as she rights herself, zipping her jeans back up. She’s apprehensive, her gaze meeting mine briefly before darting away. She looks so vulnerable right now, and I curl my hands into fists at my sides and resist the urge to reach out and touch her.

Fuck, my cock is damn hard it’s painful.

What I really need is an ice bath. Even a cold shower isn’t going to cut it at this point.

Feel nothing.

Yeah, easier said than done when the object of my torment is standing in front of me, eyes wide, cheeks flushed, curves on full display, looking like a goddamn goddess.

I clear my throat, and take a step away from her. “Hungry? I’m meeting the guys down at the pier to grab something to eat.”

She takes a second to answer, and I can practically see the wheels working in that beautiful brain of hers. Finally, she nods. “Yeah, okay.”

We head out to my car, and I hold the passenger-side door open for her, waiting for her to slide in before shutting it behind her, then walking around to the driver’s side. When I get in, she’s laughing to herself.

“What?” I ask. “What’s so funny?”

She shakes her head. “You always hold the door open for me.” She looks over at me. “I didn’t think guys still did that.”

I smirk. “I might be a monster,” I say, echoing her words from earlier this morning. “But I’m acivilizedmonster.”

“A civilized monster,” she repeats. “This place is so strange. Absolutely nothing here is what you would expect it to be.”

“Thanks, I guess?” I start up the engine and peel out of the driveway. “So what’s wrong?”

There’s a long pause before she asks, “What do you mean?”

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” I say. Best to just confront it, right? “Is it about this morning?”

She clears her throat and glances out the window, avoiding my gaze. That’s how I know I’ve struck gold. Avoidance. No one everwantsto talk about difficult things. It’s usually easier to just pretend like that difficult thing doesn’t exist. I should know. I’ve become an expert at avoiding shit.

But, here, with Lux, I can’t. There’s no choice but to confront whatever it is head on, and deal with it.

We’re stopped at a red light when I reach over and brush my thumb down her cheek. “Hey, you can tell me.”

I see her swallow, then she glances at me, and when she does, there are tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m just…afraid something bad has happened to Bree. Have any of the guys mentioned her? Like, seeing her, or talking to her?”

Her tone sounds suspicious, like she thinks one of the Sacred Sons is involved with her friend’s disappearance. “You think one of the Sons had something to do with her leaving?” I ask, eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” she says, then shakes her head. “I mean, no. Maybe. I don’t know.” She pushes out a breath. “I just wonder if they know anything, that’s all.”

“If they did, don’t you think they would have said something by now?”

She rubs her eyes, probably to mask the fact that she’s on the verge of tears. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s stupid.”

“Listen, I didn’t want to tell you this, but I asked a private investigator to look into her disappearance, and he didn’t find anything. Nothing. All her socials have gone cold, and she hasn’t made any attempt to use her credit cards.”

Lux perks up, twisting in the seat to face me. Her seatbelt strains against her body, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “See! I’m not crazy. If she just ran away, she’d need money, right?”

I pull into the parking lot at the mouth of the pier, then shut the engine off and turn to face her. “Not necessarily, Lux. If the guy she’s with has money, then she wouldn’t need to touch her own account, would she?”

She physically deflates, and all that excitement from fifteen seconds ago fades. “Yeah, I guess.”

“So where’d you go today?” I ask, changing the subject. I already know the answer, but I want to see if she’ll tell me.

Straightening in her seat, she stares out of the windshield, into the near-empty parking lot. “I went to the library.”

So far, so good.

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