Page 131 of In Plain Sight

“Unfortunately.” He wrapped his arms around me, not making any effort to get away. “I have to go be an adult.”

I made a face. “Being an adult sucks. I want to know who I need to contact to cancel my adulting subscription. I don’t remember signing up for this crap.”

He laughed and pecked a kiss on the tip of my nose. “Same. But unfortunately I feel like even if we did manage to do that, we’d just get resubscribed.”

“Probably.” Leaning up, I slotted our mouths together, needing to feel his kiss.

This so wasn’t like me. I wasn’t a clingy person, and I’d never been the type to stall saying goodbye to someone.

I’d learned the hard way with my first girlfriend that putting my phone down and ending a text conversation after the first goodbye was a major relationship infraction. The whole “you stop texting, noyoustop texting” thing was annoying, but I’d done it because it was expected.

With Zander, I really didn’t want him to go, and my stalling tactics were genuine. It was weird to think I was acting more like a teenager now than when I’d been an actual teen.

“Luka, how many times have I—oh shit!”

Zander and I broke apart, practically leaping away from each other at my sister’s voice.

I whirled around to find Jade in the doorway to my living room, a shocked expression on her face.

“Jade!” I exclaimed, panic kicking in as white noise filled my ears.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.This wasn’t how I wanted my sister to find out about me. How much had she seen? What the fuck was I supposed to do?

“I’m sorry.” Jade’s cheeks went bright pink, and she looked away. “I just, your door… I needed to…”

“Hi.” Zander’s voice was even and unfazed as he offered my sister a friendly smile. “I’m Zander, a friend of Luka’s from work.”

“Hi.” She smiled at him, some of her shock melting away. “I’m Jade, Luka’s sister.”

“I was just helping Luka with something.” He raked his hand through his hair and flipped the long strands so they fell on the other side of his head. The move looked casual, but I knew him well enough to recognize that he was just as panicked as me.

“Your door was unlocked.” Jade shot me an accusing look. “I never would have just barged in if I knew you had someone over.”

“I was just leaving.” Zander offered her an easy smile.

“You don’t have to go. I’ll go.” She took a step backward and flicked her gaze to mine. “We can talk later.”

“It’s fine.” Zander waved dismissively. “I was on my way out.”

How the fuck he was able to act so normal right now was beyond me, but I was grateful because I sure as hell couldn’t.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” He turned his smile on me.

“Yeah,” I managed to choke out. “Tomorrow.”

I watched as the man I loved left my apartment, wishing like hell I had the courage to run after him.

“I’m so sorry.” Jade wrung her hands in front of her. “I didn’t know you had someone over.”

“It’s fine,” I said woodenly. “Are you okay?”

She let out a nervous laugh and looked between me and the door a few times. “Yeah. Fine. Just…”

I waved her into the living room. “What’s going on?”

She glanced at the door one more time, then trudged into the room and over to the couch.

I sat next to her, my shock finally breaking and my mind working normally again.

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