Page 71 of The Wild Charge

“Kris,” Reese said, after a natural, unbothered sort of silence had fallen, and Tenny had decided his mix of pansy colors was far superior to theirs. “I want to tell you something.”

She stilled, and the way she went rigid, and slowly lifted her head had Tenny going on alert. As did the way Reese hitched himself up beside him, straight-backed and serious, expression something like determined.

Kristin swallowed, the pendant she wore around her neck trembling above her pulse point. “Okay.”

“You told me that Roman was your boyfriend. Eventually.”

Her eyes popped wide.

“So I’m telling you about mine. Tenny and I have sex.”

Kristin made a choking sound.

Tenny’s heart cartwheeled up into his throat.

“We have sex,” Reese continued, oblivious to the fact he’d just sent them both into cardiac arrest. “And he loves me.”

Oh, youbastard…

“So we’re boyfriends.”

“I – um, well, Reese, that’s–”

“For the love ofChrist,” Tenny groaned. His face was on fire, and he dropped his forehead into his palm, belatedly realizing the latter was coated with dirt. “You can’t justsay itlike that, you idiot.”

“Why not?” When he turned his head just far enough to peep at his expression, Reese was giving him that doe-eyed, truly curious look that left his mouth dry and the pit of his stomach aching. “I want my sister to know I have a boyfriend. That I have you.” He tilted his head toward Kristin. “I have two people, and they should know about each other.”

Tenny was going to die. The swell of affection that boiled up inside him was going to choke him entirely.

With a sigh, he sat up, and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. Kristin was looking between them with goggle-eyed astonishment…but a smile was slowly plucking at her mouth.

“Reese.” Oh, God, her eyes were welling up. “I’m so glad you told me.” She took a few unsteady breaths, and fixed Tenny with a look that, though it obviously took some effort, seemed very brave, suddenly.

“Thank you,” she said, with an alarming amount of gravity, “for loving my brother. He’s very loveable.”

This was a sister who worried about her brother’s social skills; about his ability to fit in. One who still wrestled her own demons and worried that Reese’s might be worse, might be insurmountable.

Tenny understood that.Now, he did, now that he’d become someone whose belly clenched and palms sweated when he looked at the person sitting beside him, who was smiling, a little, as he looked between the two of them.

“Yes,” Tenny said. “He is.”

Nineteen

“They’re cominghere?Now?” Fox sounded as close to alarmed as he ever got…which was to say, mildly. But Eden could read the subtle tells in the way his posture shifted toward tense, back straightening, fingertips pressing harder against the tabletop where he leaned.

Ratchet had been performing a sweep of the common room, bar, and kitchen, and returned now to his chair, in front of his open laptop with its ash tray and several Red Bull cans. That was where he’d been when she and Axelle entered, Fox leaning over his shoulder and gesturing at the screen.

“Did you tell her shit was upside down right now?” Ratchet asked as he settled, and reached for the smoking cig in the tray.

“Not in so many words, but I said it wasn’t the best time.” She looked to Fox. “I got the impression I shouldn’t tell her anything specific over the phone.”

A single dark brow lifted a fraction, and she knew right away that he’d caught the gist of her suspicion. “You think she’s being monitored?”

“I’m not sure. But she didn’t seem herself. I know I don’t know her as well as you–”

“But she doesn’t do things on a whim. She’s planned and punctual down to the decimal point.”

Eden nodded. “There’s a reason she didn’t let us know before now.”

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