Page 66 of Ward Willing
When I’m not quite sure howyoufeel.
“You can’t fool me, Zoe,” Liam says softly. “I know that look in your eyes. The one that says you’re trying to be strong when you’re falling apart inside.”
Fuck.
His words tear through me, unzipping the part of my soul only he recognizes.
I start to sink down onto the ground, but Liam’s arms are there to catch me before I fall, pulling me into a hug as I cry.
“I can’t leave you alone,” he says into my hair, the anguish in his voice making me cry harder. His hand comes to my hair, and he begins to run his fingers through my strands. “I can’t stand by and watch you suffer alone. You. Have. Me,” he finishes, his words resolute.
My crying subsides as he holds me, and when I go to wipe my face, I realize that I feel so much lighter after crying. It still hurts—the pain of losing my parents is like a gaping wound. But right now, after a night of drinking and crying and getting everything out on the table… I feel… almost okay.
“Let’s go home,” Liam says, pulling away.
His hand brushes against my cheek, and when his eyes find mine, his mystified expression mirrors my own.
CHAPTERTEN
THE ADVICE
Liam
Three Weeks Later
“To Liam’s mid-life crisis,” Chase says, a rueful smile on his lips.
I scowl and clink my beer with his whiskey and Orion’s soda water, regretting the idea of going out to Orion’s new club with my two youngest brothers. But I hardly see Chase anymore since he and his wife, Juliet, moved up to Northern California.
“Fuck off,” I grumble. “And what, exactly, is this mid-life crisis you’re referring to?”
“Right, about that…” Orion mumbles, looking at Chase before turning back to me with an apologetic smirk. His arm is slung casually over the back of the VIP booth, one leg crossed over the other, showing off the holes in his jeans and converse. I suppose if youbuyan entire franchise of struggling businesses in cash, including this bar, you can wear whatever you want. “He knows everything.”
I stiffen as I press my lips together. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
There’s no way they know about Catalina, right?
“I know about the quiz,” Chase says in a low voice.
Ah.
He leans forward in his seat across the table from me. Unlike Orion, he’s in a dark blue three-piece suit that I’m sure cost him more than most people make in a month.
I glare at Orion as I take a large sip of beer. “So much for the NDA, then.”
“He asked how you were, and I told him you were pining over your ward and struggling with your dominant side…”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I bark, using my big brotherly voice.
“That’s why I invited him,” Chase says confidently, gesturing to Orion. “Figured you could ask us anything. You know, as the two other Dominants in the family.”
Wonderful.
Just your run-of-the-mill family gathering where we discuss BDSM and sex.
“And here I was thinking my two baby brothers wanted toseeme,” I tease, smiling. I can’t help that my interest is piqued, though. Despite doing my own research, a lot about thelifestylestill confuses me.
Maybe they have a point.
