Page 123 of The Piece You Stole

And then I remember Monica.

This lilac room must have been hers before she died. Maybe it’s too painful for him to come in here, and yet here I am, forcing him to confront the ghost of his dead girlfriend.

How about thinking before you speak next time, Saige?

I try out a casual smile and hope it’s convincing. “It was just an offer. If you’re busy, you don’t—”

“Will you sleep too, angel?” he interrupts, a new intensity in his eyes as he straightens.

Does that mean he’s saying yes? “I will if you will.”

After another searching look, he stalks over to me and gets into my bed, not under the cover like I am but stretched out on his back on top. He immediately closes his eyes, but I continue to lie on my side, observing him. “Kade?”

“Hmmm?”

I hesitate. If I start asking him about Rylan, he won’t sleep. He’ll assume I only invited him here so I could ambush him with more questions.

I’ll try Aden again later.

Kade blinks his eyes open and turns his head toward me. “Angel?”

Smiling, I shake my head. “You won’t wait for me to fall asleep and sneak out, will you?”

It’s far too easy to imagine him going yet another day without getting enough rest because he’s too focused on whatever plan he and the others have in motion they don’t want me to know about.

“As long as you promise that every dream you have will be of my cock.”

A smile twitches my lips as I let my eyes close. I’m not planning to sleep, only lie still, so Kade can get some much-needed rest. “Promise.”

He doesn’t call me out on what is so clearly a lie, just wraps his arm around me and drags me closer so I’m tucked tight along his side before giving my forehead a hard kiss. “I’ll get you more roses, angel.”

I want to tell him it isn’t the roses I care about dying, it’s him.

* * *

I don’t mean to sleep, but when I blink my eyes open, I’m alone with the sheets tucked up under my chin, and the faintest echoes of bassy dance music drift out of Kade’s bedroom and into mine.

Someone has turned on my overhead light and pulled the drapes over my window. When I climb out of bed and cross over to peel back the fabric, the sky is such a vivid, dark hue, it has to be late afternoon or early evening.

Two doors away, a shower starts up, sounding like it’s coming from Aden’s bedroom. Which means he’s awake, and I can try my luck with him.

Again.

After taking a few minutes to use the bathroom, I clean my teeth and run a brush through my hair before switching out of my sleep shirt and into one of Kade’s black, jersey button down shirts that hits me nearly to my knees. I creep out of my room, tiptoe past Kade’s open door, and into Aden’s dark blue and silver room, where I plop myself on his bed, cross my legs, and wait for him to finish in the shower.

We are going to talk about Rylan, and this time, I refuse to leave until I know exactly what they’re planning.

But then Aden pushes the bathroom door open and steps out in a cloud of steam and fresh peppermint, with a navy towel wrapped snug around his tanned hips. Suddenly, getting answers about their secret plan isn’t what takes up prime real estate in my mind, it’s what kind of pleasure he told me he would give me.

“Saige?” Amusement, warm and honeyed, softens his voice.

I tell myself I can look away from his golden, muscled chest whenever I want.

I just don’t want to.

“What did you mean?” My eyes flick up to his because I have to know. Right now. “When you said you’d give me pleasure, but it wasn’t sex. What did you mean?”

He gazes down at me, those warm hazel eyes trained on my face with such intense focus I’m desperate to know what he’s thinking.

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