Page 24 of Trouble

Looking at her made my chest tight, and I rubbed distractedly at it before I turned to find the rest of myclothes.

I’d done this thousands of times before—gotten out of bed after a hot night with a bird before she ever woke up, if I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any promises I may or may not have made while in the heat of themoment.

Neither of us had said anything last night, but what’d happened between us wasn’t just a regular shag. I’d screwed plenty of girls, many of them more than once, and nothing had ever felt like last night. I couldn’t put words to why my heart felt too light and too heavy at the same time, but I knew that at some point during that fuck, we’d crossed a boundary. As I’d laid with her in my arms after, listening to her breathing turn slow and steady, I’d felt… at peace. More than the kind of satiated relaxation I always got after a good shag. Different from the instinctive sense of calm I got from having Louis nearme.

It was the kind of peace I’d seen in Blaine’s eyes when he looked at Mira as if it was just the two of them in the world, and the implication made my gutclench.

I couldn’t afford to care for a girl right now, not with how fucked up everything with our Family was. If anyone found out about her, she’d be in constantdanger.

And then there was the fact that neither Louis nor I had ever really been too bothered about any of the girls we’d beenwith.

We’d had so many one-night stands and short affairs neither of us would likely be able to recall even a third of the women’s faces. Many of them we’d both been with without their knowledge. The one thing that was always a guarantee was that, by the end of it, it was just Louis and I. Even with our large family, even when our mum was alive, to some extent it’d been just me and Louis from the day we were born. We were two parts of the same whole, and if something ever dented the bond we shared, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be wholeagain.

No. Whatever it was about Audrey that felt so good, I’d need to put a stop to it right the fuck now, or things would get too complicated. I didn’t like complicated, especially not when I was already trying to orchestrate my own father’s goddamnmurder.

I walked over to the bedroom door, intent on getting out of there and away from the turmoil of unaccustomed emotions rolling in my gut, but something made me hesitate before I stepped over the threshold. I glanced at the sleeping woman over my shoulder and my chest tightened harder around mylungs.

I’d never really worried about what the girl I ditched felt like when she woke up alone. Most of them probably expected it—I knew I didn’t exactly give off the most commitment-happy impression. But Audrey would be hurt, I knew that much. She’d clearly not had a no-strings flingbefore.

I grimaced at the memory of how she’d asked to see me again—told me she needed it. I should have said no then. I was going to, but the vulnerability that had radiated off her despite her best attempt at seeming unfazed had kicked me in the gut like no amount of tears from other girls had ever managed to. And hell, I’dwantedto see her again.Badly.

Fuck.

I walked back to the bed, to her side, and bent to gently shake her bare shoulder. “Audrey.”

“Mmm.” She groaned in protest but cracked an eyelid. “Hmm?”

“I have to go,” Isaid.

She frowned, clearly fighting the haze of sleep. “Is somethingwrong?”

“No, love. Just need to go deal with some business,” I fibbed. “Just go back tosleep.”

“Mmm,” she agreed, her eyes closing as she buried deeper into the pillow. “See youlater.”

“Yeah,” I lied. “See you later.” I bent to brush a kiss over her temple. She sighed in response, and my chest constrictedagain.

When I shut her front door behind me a moment later, an elderly lady was just getting out of the door opposite Audrey’s, a small, poofy dog on a leash by her side. A flash of our first night against that door made my lipstwitch.

“Lovely morning to be doing the walk of shame, eh?” I greeted her with awink.

Her lips pinched up as a scandalized look passed across her round face. She looked me up and down with obvious disdain. “I see Miss Waits has taken to bringing ruffians home. That’s what comes of young women living on their own—they start keeping questionable company. Not that you would care what having your sort loitering on the premises does to the propertyvalue.”

She ignored my amused grin with a huff as she turned away from me and started down thestairs.

I trailed after her down the stairs, both hands in my pockets. “Sure, love. Property value’s nothing to joke about. Not that I necessarily agree that a bird getting a bit of action will crash the market. Does your flat lose value every time your husband gives you a good rogering,hmm?”

We’d reached the ground floor. The old biddy turned around to me, and I thought she was gonna give me a good tongue lashing. I didn’t notice her bag in her leash-free hand before she’d swung it at me with a surprising amount of force for her age. It hit me square in the face with a heavythump.

“You need to learn respect for your elders, you delinquent! I shall be having words with Miss Waits about her taste in gentleman callers.” She turned her back to me with another look of disdain and exited the building with her head held high and the poofy dog intow.

I rubbed my sore face, chuckling despite what felt like a shiner beginning to bloom around my left eye. Okay, so maybe I’d deserved that, butdamn.

* * *

“Did you get into afight?”

I sighed at the incredulous tone in my twin’s voice when I entered our kitchen and saw him sitting by the cafe table with a cup ofcoffee.

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