Page 55 of Not A Whisper

My footsteps falter on my way to the door.Our girl? Really? I shoulder Trip out of the way, glaring at him before turning to look at Lance who frowns.

“I’m sorry.” Internally, I wince at the slight whine in my voice. “I didn’t realize they’d be here tonight.”

“Nonsense. A little fight isn’t enough to scare me off, dollie,” Jason says cheerfully, his arm coming to drape over my shoulders.

My face grows hot as my anger grows abrasive beneath my skin.

“Still, I didn’t expect you here,” I growl out, glaring at Jason before looking back at my neighbor who’s studying the situation closely.

“Do youwantthem here?” Lance asks, his voice dropping.Suddenly, the sweet-natured man draws himself up to his full height. He once joked about being a poor bodyguard, but I have a feeling he’d do a mighty fine job as one.

Jason’s arm tightens around me. “My girl’s good.”

Behind me, I can hear one of the others stepping up. Lance’s pupils narrow on the arm around my shoulders, then his gaze jumps to just above me to look at whoever stands behind me. Fuck, this is going to get ugly if I don’t fix this.

“Care if we raincheck?” I ask Lance, hoping he doesn’t look too closely at the stiffness in my body or read too much into my brittle smile.

His dark eyes lower to meet mine and his expression softens just a little. With a nod, he says, “Yeah, of course.”

“Great. See ya around!” Jason says, stepping back, dragging me with him. With that, Jason slams the door in my neighbor's surprised face. He turns us around to face the others but says to me, “I’ll share with these guys, dollie, since they’re an extension of me, but don’t you think for one second anyone else is allowed to touch you.”

The audacity rolling off his tongue tips me over the proverbial edge. I shake off his arm from around my shoulders before spinning around to roll up onto my tiptoes to get into Jason’s face.

“YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN HIDING ANOTHER WOMAN FROM ME! How dare you try to tell me?—”

“They haven’t been hiding anything,” Grant interrupts firmly, walking toward us.

I whirl around to face him, watching as Trip steps back—away from me—to give Grant space. All my hurt and rage wells up inside of me and works its way into my face until it burns in my cheeks.

“I saw the comments!”

Grant has the decency to at least look contrite. “Look, yes,I’m technically engaged, but I’ve had no say in this. Carmilla knows I don’t have feelings for her, and she certainly doesn’t have any for me.”

Does he really think that makes this any better? He must have seen my unspoken scorn because he pushes on quickly.

“My father arranged this engagement years ago with Carmilla’s family. I didn’t know about it until just before Christmas. I thought I had time to figure a way out of it before he made it public, but then he announced it during his New Year’s Eve party. Suddenly I was trapped.” His confession is spoken between his teeth, soft but clear. “I've been keeping it from youandthe guys for weeks. It's the real reason why I haven’t snuck away as often as the others. I've been with Carmilla and our families pretending to be a good fiancé while I struggled to find a way out of it.”

It hurts to hear about his engagement just as badly as it had when Garry brought it up. The pain it stirs up is startling and I flinch. Grant steps closer but I step back out of reach.

“What do you want me to say to this?”

“I-I don’t know,” he admits, his mouth turning downward. “I wanted to avoidthis. I knew you,all of you—” he glances around the room before returning his attention back to me, “—would be upset. I wanted to fix this before it even came to light so it would be a non-issue.”

Grant’s body seems to deflate. His exhaustion from several days ago is back, tenfold. The dark circles, the hollowness in his cheeks, the heavy slouch of his shoulders… It’s all there.

Trip scoffs, his face twisting in disgust. “Not only did youhidethis, you brought us into your scheming. You hacked our accounts to make it look like we were onboard. Why?”

Grant grimaces. “I needed it to look like the three of us were all onboard. My dad would’ve grown suspicious if you didn’t saysomethingabout it.”

Grant’s eyes never leave my face, but I can’t stomach looking at him. My eyes slide away to find Jason and Trip looking equally as appalled with their friend as I am. Their anger is almost palpable. Seeing and hearing their reaction settles something in me. Ibelievethat they’ve been in the dark about this as well. I feel a little guilty accusing them of something they didn’t do. I’m going to have to apologize for that.

My hold on my anger lessens slightly.

Grant takes advantage of my averted attention. He steps forward and grabs me by the side of my neck. My traitorous heart leaps at the possessive contact. Grant closes the distance until our chests bump one another’s. I look up at him, embarrassed by the tears that blur my vision.

“Dollface—”

“Don’t call me that.” I don’t have it in me to yell anymore. My request is spoken softly, my voice strained. “I’m sure your fiancée wouldn’t appreciate it.”

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