Page 44 of Before Now

She fights a smile. “I visit when I can.”

Returning my phone to the ledge, I set it so the light shines at the ceiling. Shadows cast sharp and harsh around us, only parts of her fully illuminated. A certain part gains my attention. My eyes lower as she readjusts her skirt to better cover her ass. Failing miserably. A pleading look comes my way, so I bend my other knee more, letting both fall open to rest on the sides of the tub. It allows her to find an angle that almost ruins my view, her legs folding before she gives up.

“I’ve seen a lot more of you than this,” I remind her.

Her cheeks pink again, and she avoids my gaze.

“Why are you hiding, anyway?” She sets her camera between my legs in front of hers, and I pick it right up. My turn to avoid. I am hiding. Colt’s jab about my celibacy streak holds more truth than I care to admit to myself, let alone her. She infiltrated before, and here I am again—knowing the damage she causes, yet I still can’tstop.

I run my fingers over the matte black finish of her camera’s body and down the navy shoulder strap she rarely uses.

“I can leave,” she says when I don’t answer her. “They’ve probably found the others by now. So, if you want to be alone—” She cuts off when I power on her camera, and I smirk at the apprehension creeping into her eyes. “What are you doing?”

I shrug a shoulder. “Fucking up your settings.”

She lunges, and I jerk it out of her reach.

“Nope. Mine.”

On a huff, she returns to her side of the tub, settled farther back on the porcelain, and the soles of her boots press against my ankle. I watch her through the viewfinder, studying all of her through the screen. Like in the dark, it transforms her intomyRemi. Remi Saint. The broken girl who wrecked my world in the best way possible. Or it’s the alcohol.

She crosses her arms, quite the glare aimed at me. Again, she asks, “What are you doing?”

I zoom in on her face, and her eyes shift from me to the lens’ movement. “Observing my subject in a foreign habitat.”

“You’re a filmmaker now?” She cocks her head.

“Documentarian,” I correct. “Up-and-coming. Turns out, there’s no money in music.”

She finally smiles all the way, shaking her head when she bites down on her lower lip. I move the camera over her, still zoomed to only show me the pieces. Auburn locks and a heated cheek. A mossy iris framed by fluttering lashes. Slender neck, partially in shadow.

The top two buttons of her shirt are open. I pause on her collarbone and flick my gaze over the top of the camera to hers. Her chest rises in a deep breath before she glances away.

“We need to do your interview still,” she says.

As if a mention of work matters at all. Not when I’m still buzzed with her right in front of me.

I slowly roll my head side to side on the tiles in a headshake, and Itskher. “I’m the one with the camera, which means we need to doyourinterview.”

“Foster,” she warns.

“Remi.”

“You’re not even recording.”

I pan farther down, over her arm covering her middle. I pause where the plaid ends and skin begins on her outer thigh. The little red light blinks on that indicates I’m rolling, and her pouty mouth pops open. I hit stop and raise a brow in challenge. It earns me another glare, but then she sinks against the porcelain, adding her knees to the parts of her touching me.

“So, who are you hiding from?” I ask.

She hesitates, brows slanting. “What do you mean?”

I half-smile at the three seconds it took her to turn a question on me. “You ran in here to hide, right?”

“Wasn’t that the game? Hide and Keep?” Her head tilts on another question before she finally uses a period. “I know they’re messing with me about the sex part. I’ve been around long enough to know they like their womenenthusiastic. But I wouldn’t put it past Felix tokeepme on the backhoe while he drives it directly into a police station or something.”

Of course they were fucking with her—they would never cross those lines whether I said anything or not. She’s not wrong about the last part, though. If he finds keys, the night will end with Felix driving the equipment. He’ll go from back shot to backhoe.

“So, you’re hiding from Felix?”

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