Page 35 of Ink & Stardust

“Not a word,” Kai promises. “Your brother would have my ass if he knew I let you get this drunk anyway.”

When we reach our dorm, I quickly unlock the door and again hold it open so that Kai can get Maisie inside. He stops just inside the door, looking around the small room.

“Pretty inconvenient time for loft beds,” he grumbles, and I quickly realize the dilemma.

“Probably not safe to put her up there in case she gets sick,” I agree. “Is there a way to pull her mattress down?”

“That could work.” He nods. “Can you take her?”

“Yeah, of course.” I slip in beside her, allowing her to lean into me, though given that I’m not really all that stable on my own feet at the moment, it’s a lot harder than it should be.

Kai pulls the mattress off Maisie’s bunk without ever asking which one belongs to her, which I find a little odd but don’t question. I’ll just add it to the growing list of unanswered questions I’ll take away from tonight.

He pushes the mattress against her bunk frame so that she won’t get hit by the door when Charlotte gets home and then together, we help her into bed. She curls up on her side, and I no more than pull a cover over her, and she’s out.

“Well, that was fast,” I say more to myself than Kai.

“I should go.” He immediately starts for the door.

“I’m not as fragile as you seem to think I am,” I say, watching his back go rigid as he freezes mid-step.

“Maybe not.” He glances over his shoulder, meeting my gaze. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you all the same.” With that, he tugs open the door and disappears into the hall.

Chapter Six

“Thank you for taking such good care of Charlotte last night.” I look across the table at my brother, at his blond hair and striking green eyes, realizing just how much I don’t want to say goodbye to him today.

I ran away from my old life so fast that I never considered how much I’d miss my family when the dust finally settled. And my God, do I miss them. So much so that I’m already counting down the days to Thanksgiving when I get to go home and see my parents and Dalton and Avery and the girls, both of which will probably have grown so much by then.

“I was happy to do it. Gave me an excuse to stay and pretend I was twenty again.” He masks his grin by taking a drink of his coffee.

“You’re only three years off,” I remind him.

“Just wait until you graduate. People actually expect you to be an adult.”

“I mean, technically, we’re all adults,” I correct him.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.” I nod. “Any updates on Chipotle girl?” I change the subject.

“She has a name.” He snorts out a laugh. “Heather. And yeah, that’s not going anywhere.”

“Why? You seemed like you really liked her.”

“I did.”

“What happened? What’d you do?”

“Why does everyone always assume it was me?”

“Because you’re you...” I leave it at that.

River is a little bit of a flake when it comes to women. I wouldn’t call him a player, but he’s had a hard time committing to anyone ever since his high school girlfriend, Ann, broke up with him in their freshman year of college. Let’s just say she did a number on him.

And sadly, he’s not the only Parker child who had their heart put through a meat grinder by someone who claimed to love them. If it weren’t for Dalton and the fact that he’s been happily married tohishigh school sweetheart for five years, I’d think maybe our lineage had been cursed.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.” He huffs. “And for your information,sheis the one who ended it after she decided to get back with her ex.”

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