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“Brennan doesn’t know…I must have fallen asleep before I could turn them on this morning.” I looked at Memphis and explained, “The apartment I lived in when I was a kid was overrun with rats…I’d wake up in the middle of the night sometimes with them on me. Even…even after I moved in with my dads, I could still feel them and the light was the only thing that made me feel better.”
I couldn’t read the expression in Memphis’s dark eyes so I dropped my gaze. “Please don’t tell Brennan.”
“You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about, Tristan,” Memphis said.
Memphis’s cat chose that moment to come into the room and I smiled when she jumped on the bed, walked over Memphis’s lap and then settled on mine. “Morning, Tink,” I said softly and then dropped my face so she could rub her nose against my chin. I felt a measure of calm go through me and I looked at Memphis again.
“I’m nineteen years old, Memphis. And I can’t get over a child’s silly fear.”
Memphis didn’t respond, but as soon as I dropped my eyes again, his arm went around me and he pulled me against his side. I felt his lips skim my temple and another rush of heat went through me.
“Nothing about your fear is silly. And if you do figure out how to get over it, let me know, because I have a few of my own I could do without.” With that, Memphis released me and stood. “I’ll be out on the balcony if you need me.”
Memphis left the room and I immediately felt the loss. From the moment the man had opened the car door yesterday and his smooth voice had rolled over me, I’d felt safe. I couldn’t explain it, but something about being around Memphis comforted me. But that wasn’t all. Because his touch wasn’t just comforting…it was incendiary. I didn’t know how else to describe it. The rush of energy and heat every time his skin came into contact with mine was overwhelming and something I only felt in the presence of one other person.
The idea that I could be as attracted to Memphis as I was to Brennan was confusing. Physically, they were nothing alike. With his coal-black hair, piercing green eyes and rangy, fit body, Brennan looked like someone who should be on the pages of a fancy fashion magazine while Memphis had a darker, more exotic look. His skin was several shades darker than my own pale skin and while he wasn’t a heavily built guy, I’d gotten a hint of how hard and muscled his body was when he’d held me earlier. Both men were so beautiful that I felt incredibly ordinary around both of them.
As tempting as it was to lay back down, I gently lifted the cat off my lap and forced myself to stand. My body ached from all the stress I’d been through in the last week and my finger hurt like hell, but it felt good to finally not be trying to deal with everything alone anymore. I’d been stunned when Ray had shown up at the apartment, but I hadn’t ever guessed he would throw me to the wolves like he had. Yes, he’d shown his true colors when he’d slapped me after I’d refused to ask my fathers for the fifty grand he needed to pay back the loan sharks, but I thought that had been the end of it. Never in a million years had I thought my one bad choice would literally follow me home.
Okay, it was more than one bad choice.
I’d known giving money to the man who’d sired me, but was not and never would be a father to me, was a mistake, but I’d been searching for something that I hadn’t really missed until I’d left the safety and comfort of my true family. Maybe it was because so many people at school had started rejecting me that I’d latched onto the idea that someone I’d been told didn’t want me actually did. But it had just been one lie among many and I’d been both humiliated that I’d fallen for his act and ashamed of what my fathers would think of me if they found out.
After the loan sharks had attacked me the first time, I’d wanted to tell Brennan. But the shame had been too much and I’d foolishly thought I could get the men to leave me alone if I gave them everything I could come up with.
Tears stung my eyes as I thought about the brutal attack two nights earlier. I’d been sure the men were going to kill me. The punch had hurt like hell, but when the bigger of the two men had bent my finger to the side until the bone had snapped, I’d screamed in agony. Only the other guy had held his hand over my mouth so no one would hear me. I’d managed to drag myself to my room after they’d left, but I’d been so scared about what to do next.
