Page 82 of Love Unspoken

"Nolan didn't have to pay rent?"

"No. We took care of it. I mean…we had the money and…what?"

"I'm so angry with him. He made Daddy feel guilty because he had to work to pay rent and living expenses when you all didn't have to."

Amias frowned.

"Yeah, Nolan told us he was paying rent. Daddy sent him money for that whenever he could. I didn't have a college fund because of Nolan, which is fine, but he didn't have to make our father feel bad. That was despicable."

"Your brother is a bigger asshole than I thought. Fucking hell, Naya. I can't believe I've stayed friends with him…but he was part of the group, and…." He pulled me back down to hold me. "I'm so sorry, baby."

"I asked him to pay for part of Daddy's medical bills, and he said he bought a house, so he had no money."

"He bought a house he can't afford," Amias muttered.

"I know that."

"Let me pay your father's—" I pinched him hard, and he yelped. "What was that for?"

"Didn't we just say no money between us?"

"I was trying to be nice," he grumbled.

I stroked the skin I'd pinched. "Sorry."

"It didn't hurt. You pinch like a girl and," I pinched him again and again, "ouch, ouch, ouch, stop."

He pushed me onto my back then. "I'm bigger than you."

"And what are you going to do with all that bigness?" I challenged him. It felt so good to have a man naked with me, a man who didn't care that half my body looked like a blistered tomato. A man who was fun and funny and looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.

He rolled on top of me and slid into me. My breath caught.

"There, that should shut you up."

"Amias, I⁠—"

"All I need to hear you say is, 'Oh, Amias, your cock is so big, will it fit?'"

I broke into a smile so wide my face hurt.

"Oh, Amias, your cock is so big, will it fit," I said in an exaggerated porn star voice.

"Let me show you, my little warrior," he said in a big bad wolf voice.

TWENTY-NINE

NAYA

"Hey, sweetheart." Amias was at a desk, the glittering lights of New York City behind him.

We spent almost every night from Christmas through New Year together, and alone, just the two of us.

When I started working at InnoWare, he continued to come to my place. I had been to his place a couple of times, but the size and the opulence intimidated me. He guessed as much and didn't push me.

It was March and spring hadn't yet shown its face in Boston. We'd been together for nearly three months now and it had been like being in my own fantasy novel.

I was already in bed when he called me over FaceTime.