Page 115 of Vengeful Secret

“Thank you, son. You’re the one handling everything. Lean on me whenever you need to.” He pauses. “And lean on your brothers and Sutton.”

Sutton.

Things aren’t exactly great between us right now, and I don’t want her upset with me. I need to talk to her.

I hurry out of my father’s room and peer into our bedroom, but she isn’t there.

I frown and go downstairs, but she doesn’t appear to be anywhere in the house.

Panic rises in my throat, but then I remember that she likes to swim, and I walk out to the pool house to find her and Lara drinking mimosas by the pool.

“Isn’t it a little early?”

“Not for mimosas,” Lara sings out, clinking her glass with Sutton’s.

“They’re mostly orange juice,” Sutton says in a small voice, and I hate the way she sounds, like she’s upset.

“Can I have one?” I ask, and Lara pulls down her sunglasses to look at me curiously.

“You hate mimosas.”

I shrug. “Want to try it again. Maybe it’ll be different this time.”

She hums and goes over to the table to pour me one, bringing it back.

I suck it down in one go and grimace, shaking my head.

“Nope. Still don’t like it.”

Lara bursts out laughing and when Sutton doesn’t laugh with her, she looks back and forth between us.

“I think I’ll go scare up some more pancakes,” she murmurs, walking back up to the house and leaving Sutton and me alone.

“I’m sorry,” I say instantly, sitting down next to her. She’s on one of the pool lounge chairs.

“I’m sorry, too,” she says quickly. “I’m sorry that I was upset, that we argued.”

“It wasn’t exactly an argument.”

“It kind of was,” she says with a weak smile. “But I just can’t help being worried, Gray.”

“I know that. You have Ciara to worry about. You’ve always had her on your mind. But I swear to you, Sutton?—”

“You don’t have to swear anything to me.” She leans up and cups my face. “You don’t have to convince me that you'll protect me. I know that you will.”

“Then everything’s okay?”

I search her face, but I find nothing there but affection.

“Everything’s okay.”

I smile. “In that case, can I join you in the pool? I haven’t been to the gym in a week, and I feel gross.”

She chuckles. “Yeah, of course.”

She stands, and the curve of her ass in her bikini catches my eye, and I bite my lip.

I head inside and hurry upstairs to change into my trunks.

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