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My eyes flew open again and I blinked rapidly, trying to force them to adjust to the bright light in the living room. I never went to bed last night. And Sam never left.
I pulled back as far as his arms would let me and peered down at his face. His eyes were closed, dark lashes fanned out over his cheeks. The lines of his face were smoother than I’d ever seen before, all his hard edges softened. It was strange to see him without his guard up. He looked peaceful and young.
The smell of coffee and sound of voices wafted in from the kitchen. Someone was already up. Any hope of Sam’s visit staying a secret between the two of us went flying out the window. At least we’d put all our clothes back on last night before falling asleep.
And if I was lucky, Quinn hadn’t made it home yet.
I brushed Sam’s bangs back from his forehead, savoring the moment before I woke him and had to face his reaction to waking up in my parents’ living room.
Sam’s dark eyes blinked open, finding mine in half a second.
“Hey,” I murmured. “It’s morning.”
“I can see that,” he said dryly. His arms released me.
“Sam…”
“What?” There was no warmth in his voice. No trace of the man who’d been with me last night.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t plan—”
“For us to fall asleep in your living room?” he finished. “Don’t worry, Siren. I know you’re better than that.” In a single swift movement, he sat us both up and placed me on the couch cushion beside him.
“Do you want anything? I think someone made coffee.”
“I need to go check on Thomas,” he said, standing and digging in his pockets.
“Oh. Of course.” I wasn’t sure if he was looking for a reason not to stick around or if he seriously was just worried about his friend. And I hated that I was questioning his intentions in the first place. It made me feel like a self-centered bitch.
He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and paused to look me up and down. With his free hand, he curled a strand of my hair around his finger. “I’ll talk to you later.” And then he was dropping his hand and walking through the glass door to the back patio.
I watched the place where he’d been until I heard his car start up and drive away.
Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick text to Shawn asking how Thomas was doing and if he needed anything. And then I made my way to the kitchen to face my family.
Mamma and Papa were sitting in chairs facing the back windows, both with steaming mugs in their hands.
“Good morning,” Mamma said with a warm smile.
“How was the concert?” I asked as I poured myself a cup of coffee.
“It was decent. But I’ve seen better.” The look she sent Papa’s way implied exactly who she thought was better. I wasn’t sure it was fair to compare. Papa’s style was a bit different than the rock band Remy liked so much. During his touring days, Papa had been a boy with just a piano, a guitar, and a killer voice.
“Did Remy enjoy it?” I asked.
“More than I’ve seen him enjoy anything else we’ve ever done together,” Papa answered.
“How was your night?” Mamma asked.
Well, that took all of three minutes for her to bring up. “It was fine.” The words tasted like a lie. Between learning about my body’s decision to betray me, Thomas’s accident, and everything that had happened with Sam, my night had been just about anything but fine.
Mamma raised her brows at me. “Fine?”
“Actually, no. It wasn’t fine at all. Last night really sucked. Sam and I both got bad news, so we decided to be miserable together.”And lose ourselves in each other until the pain became more bearable.
“Piper, what happened yesterday?”
I didn’t want to answer, to admit that I’d never give them grandchildren. Despite already telling Shawn and Sam, this felt different, like once I told my parents, it would be real. I opened my mouth to say something but ended up sobbing instead.
