She would be pissed. One because I snuck in without waking her up, and two because she would not be a fan of a photo of her drooling being in the world.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and eased off the bed, snagging my shirt from the floor and pulling it on. She stirred,rolling over, and I froze—waiting until her breathing evened before moving.
When I reached the living room, I hit send.
My mind wandered as I headed downstairs, knowing my life was changed forever whether Rook found out about us or not. I had a taste of what being with Evie was like now and I would never be the same.
Every thought of her clung to me—how her laugh had settled in my chest, how her gaze could pierce me from across a room. Could she really feel the same? Could I make her mine completely, so there’d be no turning back?
I stared at my phone, a photo of her from a few days ago staring back at me, and felt the pull tighten in my chest. I didn’t care if Rook found out or what anyone else thought. All that mattered was her—and making sure there was no choice left but me.
I stepped into the living room, clicking the photo closed as I saw Rook.
“What’s up?” I asked Rook as I headed to the other side of the huge couch. All of us were awake at random times. Sometimes we didn’t sleep, so being up this early was easy. Rook was the only one out here now.
“You working with us today?”
“I was planning on it.”
“All right, we have the run at eleven. For everything else, Anderson has disappeared again, but I’m wondering if we could get a better grasp on the Order and what any of that has to do with him or Evie in the meantime of hunting him down.”
“I can work with Evie and see what she can dig up. She’s been searching around old documents lately and something might connect.”
He ran a hand down his face. “It’s been going on too long. We need to catch up to them. Whoever the fuckthemis.”
I should tell him what Evie had been doing. He should know she had been digging into their parents’ lives, especially now that everything was beginning to look connected. I looked at Rook, checking him over. Thanks to Regan, he was getting more sleep nowadays and slowing down a bit on his workload, but he was still overwhelmed. He took on everything he could and I knew the moment I told him what was happening, he would take that task on, too. A task that wasn’t his job and wasn’t more than a rabbit hole Evie wanted to go down to find closure—closure that Rook had already found for himself.
I hesitated. Telling him meant Evie could be safer, but it also meant any progress Evie and I had made would be gone.
Keeping Evie safe was always my priority, but now I had a new priority—keepEvie.
If I didn’t tell Rook everything, I would have to be by her side every second of the day.
“Aiden Hayes, if you don’t get up these damn stairs right now, I will be coming down there to drag you up,” Evie yelled from the loft in the foyer. “Or throwing the entire contents of your room down to you.”
Rook’s eyebrows jumped up. “You are really pissing Evie off a lot lately.”
“She hasn’t been happy with me watching over her shoulder so much,” I said, getting up and trying not to smile. “I don’t know what I did this morning already, but I guess I better go find out before my stuff is thrown over the railing.”
“Or she comes down here with that damn knife.”
“Very true.”
My smile grew the second I turned away from Rook. Nerves shot through me, but it wasn’t because of the angry woman I had to go face, it was her brother behind me who would dig that knife into me the second he found out what was happening.
I took the stairs two at a time, heading right toward Evie when I made it up. She started yelling at me, her phone held up in her hand, but I didn’t listen. Instead, I kept my pace and grabbed her waist, dragging her with me down the hall to my room.
I pushed it open, spinning us and slamming it shut behind us. Her back hit the frame, and I lifted her, pinning her between me and the wall.
“Problem?” I asked, our lips an inch apart now.
“A slight one. Care to tell me why I woke up to a photo on my phone of you in my bed, but I have no recollection of you being there? It’s a little more romantic if you let a girl know you’re in her bed.”
“No, I do not care to tell you,” I said, leaning in and capturing her lips with mine.
She melted into me, her body relaxing as I held her in place. Her lips were soft at first, each swipe of her tongue getting more demanding. Her nails bit into my shoulders, every aching touch making me want to continue.
But I had to stop.
