Page 167 of Forbidden Protector

“Hey!” Arnie yelps in mock anger. “What happened to it being mean?”

I shrug nonchalantly. “Perspective, I guess.”

“Oh, you’re paying for that,” Arnie reaches around me, threatening to squeeze my sides and tickle me into submission.

Buzz, buzz. Buzz, buzz.

I look over Arnie’s shoulder at the bedside table.

“My phone’s ringing,” I say, albeit a little unnecessarily.

Arnie moans into my shoulder. “Don’t pick up.”

But I’m already sitting up. “What if it’s something important?”

“Then they can deal with it themselves. It’s our honeymoon.”

I snatch up my phone before he can stop me, and I check the caller I.D. “It’s Aimee.”

“Tell her to leave us alone!”

I roll my eyes as I click accept. “Hey, sis!”

“I’m sorry, Roche,” Aimee’s familiar voice fills the room. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“You’re really not,” I say, sticking my tongue out at Arnie. “We were just having a lazy evening.”

Arnie throws a pillow at me in retaliation.

I only just manage to duck out of the way. “What’s up?”

“Um…” Aimee suddenly sounds unsure of herself. “You know how we had that conversation about how you wanted me to stop keeping secrets from you?”

“Rings a bell,” I say, suddenly very focused on what she’s saying.

“So funny story,” Aimee says with a tone that immediately tells me it’s not funny at all. “Jack’s mom is back in town.”

I frown a little, glancing at Arnie, who just shrugs. “That’s great, isn’t it?”

“Sure, I mean, there’s a lot for them to catch up on and a few abandonment issues that probably need resolving. But that’s not the problem.”

My heart sinks. “Oh God, what?”

“Jack’s brother is here too.”

“Jack has a brother?”

Arnie suddenly sits up, suddenly at full attention.

“And he says he knows you,” Aimee finishes. I can hear the wince in his voice.

“Okay…” I say slowly in order to give me time to process this information. “What’s his name?”

“Marc Walsh.”

“Shit.”

“You know him?”

---