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“Yes.” I stepped close to leave with her right then.
She snickered and nudged me away. “Chicken.”
I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in again. “Damn straight.”
We kissed slowly and lazily, in no hurry to separate, but then Oaklynn nudged me back once more with a knuckle to my gut. “Alright, Archer. Enough stalling. Get back in there and face the music already. I gotta go.”
“Okay,” I said softly and took a step back to give her room to get into her car. “Drive safe.”
She rolled her eyes, then beamed her dimples my way as she climbed behind the wheel. “Bye.”
23
DAMIEN
Istayed there, watching Oaklynn reverse from my driveway and leave, and I didn’t start back for the house until she’d disappeared around the corner.
Feeling a strange sense of loss in the center of my chest, I rubbed at my sternum and sighed, before turning away and trudging reluctantly toward the door.
I didn’t even get it closed behind me before Thane snarled, “What the fuck are you thinking?”
Not ready for him to start in quite that soon, I jarred to a halt and looked up.
“You hadsexwith her?” Thane accused hotly, storming toward me as he gripped his head. “Jesus, man. This is wrong. This issoincredibly wrong.”
I swallowed thickly, rocking a wave of guilt like none other and yet also unable to feel sorry about what I’d done. “It’s notthatwrong…”
He made it sound as if I’d been unfaithful or forced her against her will or something.
Thane lifted a single condemning eyebrow, and I suddenly felt shittier than if Ihaddone the worst thing imaginable.
“It’s fucking wrong,” he snapped.
“Hey,” I said quietly and lifted a hand to calm him down. “It’s fine. It’s okay. I can assure you she’s legitimate and not some lying con artist.”
“Well, then that only makes thisworse!” Throwing up his hands, he exploded, “Because nowyou’rethe liar.You’rethe bad guy, Damien. I mean, Jesus. Do you not even feel any remorse at all for lying to her?”
“Of course I do!” I snarled, scowling. “But how the hell am I supposed to tell her something like this? She honestly has no idea that she—” I cut myself off and wiped a shaky hand over my mouth. “It will change…everything.”
And I wasn’t ready for that.
“Well,nottelling her trumps—”
“What?” I challenged, cutting him off. “Flipping her entire world on its axis? Because that’s what I’ll do. Everything she thinks she knows… It’ll all suddenly be wrong.”
“That doesn’t excuse you for keeping the truth from her,” Thane argued. “And every time you stick your dick in her, your villainy grows… exponentially.”
“I told hersome,” I hedged, even though I knew he was right. I’d fucked up royally. “Hell, I told hermostof it. Just not…”
“What? The single most important detail?” Thane demanded with raised eyebrows. “That her roommate’s not even alive.”
“Iwilltell her,” I said quietly, even though a sick queasiness worked through my stomach just thinking about how that conversation would go. “I’ll tell her.”
With a disbelieving snort, Thane lifted his eyebrows and pointed. “You better. And don’t have sex with her again until you do.”
“But that doesn’t have anything to do with—”
“She trusts you with her body,” Thane broke in hotly. “And you are breaking that trust bylying. By purposefully not telling her something you should’ve mentioned the very first time you met her.”
