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The need for caffeine becomes overwhelming and I pull on a pair of sweats. I look myself over in the mirror to make sure there aren't any hickeys before making my way downstairs. Easton is already sitting at the kitchen table when I get in there.
“Good morning,” he greets me, a little too cheery for this level of morning.
I groan tiredly. “Need coffee.”
“There's a full pot on the counter.”
Relief floods through me as I grab a cup out of the cabinet and pour the liquid gold into it. “See, this is why I keep you around.”
He chuckles. “Glad to know that's all I'm good for.”
I shrug. Sure, I could tell him that's not true, but I'm not here to stroke his ego. Leaning against the counter, I blow on my coffee and take a sip. It isn't until Easton opens his mouth again that I almost choke on it.
“Hey, did something happen between you and Amelia last night?”
Aspirating coffee isn't exactly the way I thought I would die, but if it means getting out of this situation, I'd take it. Unfortunately for me, after coughing up some of the boiling liquid, I can breathe again.
“Dude,” I balk. “A fucking warning next time?”
Easton smirks over his cup. “Well, I don't know. People saw you two going upstairs together and then she came back down wearing your shirt.”
Okay, so I'm all for complete honesty when it comes to your friends. Nothing good can come from lying to the people closest to you. However, when I think of what he would do if I told him what really happened last night, lying really is the better option. It's the lesser of two evils. At least in this one, my life gets spared.
“No, no, no.” I shake my head. “Carter, the dick that he is, made me accidentally spill my beer all over her. Being as she was wearing white, I figured you wouldn't want her walking around looking like she just took part in a wet T-shirt contest.”
He shivers at the thought. “Absolutely not.”
“I tried to find you, but you were busy with her upchucking roommate. So, I took her upstairs so she could change and sober up a little.”
Exhaling, he shakes the tension from his body. “Thank God, man. Do you know what I was thinking?”
I fake a laugh as best I can. “No way. She's your baby sister.”
It's official. I'm a piece of shit, and I'm going to hell. I mean, that's nothing I didn't already know, but this is just another thing that carves my fate into stone. What kind of asshole hooks up with the one person who is off-fucking-limits, and then lies to one of their best friends about it? Me, that's who.
Amelia walks into the room looking like she came straight from one of my wet dreams, still wearing my T-shirt, with her hair sleep-rumpled and flowing down her back, and I'm sure this is what they call instant karma. I bite the inside of my lip to keep from making a sound that would give away everything I'm thinking right now.
“Thanks for letting me crash here, E,” she says to her brother.
He smiles warmly at her. “Of course. I wasn't about to let you out of my sight. Not while you were that wasted.”
She winces. “Yeah. I'm going to need some aspirin or something.”
I turn around and reach into the cabinet before giving myself a second to hesitate. Pouring a couple pills into my hand, I pass them to her. Her fingers brush against my palm as she takes them, and I'm brought right back to last night. And so is my cock.
Fuck. No.
Now is not the damn time.
“Thanks, Zayn,” she murmurs, my name sounding like heaven dripping from her lips.
“Yeah, no problem.”
But there is a problem.
A major fucking problem.
And he's sitting no less than ten feet away.
