“Don’t force it,” he said, reading my mind when I allowed the silence to stretch too long.

“You don’t think we need to talk?”

“I don’t.” He smirked. “We’re not the girls,” he added, attempting to cut the tension with humor.

I nodded and expelled a breath, relishing how easy that turned out to be. Heart to hearts weren’t my thing—our thing. Keenan might have been the light-hearted replica of me.

“Brothers?” I held out my hand, which was left empty due to his shock. I was just as surprised by my outburst that felt more like instinct. It might have been the first time I accepted who we really were to each other out loud. 

“Brothers.” He clasped my hand and yanked me forward to envelop me in a manly hug. When he ruffled my hair as if I were the younger brother, I shoved his ass away. He chuckled, threw up deuces, and showed himself out.

Once I was alone, the silence descended much too fast, and I was left to think about the information Keenan drove half a day to give me. Did he really come here to clear his conscience or did he come here because he wanted Mitch dead? His family was as much in jeopardy as I was.

I shook thoughts of my father off, ignored work and waited for Lake to come home so I could lose myself in her.

* * *

It only took me a week to make the decision. A business opportunity out of the blue came up, giving me the perfect alibi. Since I was doing this completely solo, I needed to cover every angle. After shadowing Jesse, I picked up enough hacking skills to break past the facilities firewalls for floor plans and resident room charts.

I had everything in place up until yesterday morning when Lake and I got into an argument. I had awakened to find her staring at the ceiling with tortured eyes. I asked her what was on her mind. I was so determined to know the answer that I knew the exact moment she made the decision to lie to me.

With my business trip in only two days, it was just enough to temporarily knock me off my game. I only had a small window of opportunity and couldn’t afford the time to interrogate her properly, so I let it go… up until it was time for me to walk out the door. Seeing her pumped me with the need to remind her of the consequences of lying to me.

I came downstairs in time to see her come home from class. She looked from me to the duffle slung over my shoulder with fear. I stared at her wondering what was going through her head, but just like yesterday, I knew she wouldn’t tell me.

“Wh—where are you going?”

I felt like a dick for enjoying the fear that caused her voice to falter.

“Jesse and I have a meeting with a potential client in Texas. They want to meet us face to face and see up front what we’re offering.”

“How long will you be gone? The wedding—”

The wedding? She was lying to me, yet she’s worried about the fucking wedding?

I was losing my touch.

“I’ll be back in time for our flight,” I answered before she could finish. I stood on the bottom step, daring her to meet my gaze. When her shoulders squared and her eyes met mine, I accepted the challenge, dropped my duffle bag, and closed the gap between us. “If you want to test me, you better be sure you’re ready for the consequences.”

“Don’t threaten me, Keiran. I’m not your plaything anymore.”

Oh, you were always so much more than just something to play with.

“You should know better by now, so I’m going to ask you this once—so think about your answer. Are you hiding something?”

“What makes you think I’m hiding something?”

“You’ve been off. Do I need to be worried?”

“I’m worried about finals and my grandmother settling into a new place.”

I searched her eyes for a clue that would tell me what the fuck was going on but found nothing, so I did the next best thing. I grabbed her hot as fuck face between my hands and kissed the fuck out of her. My knees felt as if they would buckle, so I moved us to the nearest wall and pushed my hips against her.

“I need to protect you,” I whispered while kissing her. “Can you understand that?”

She whimpered as if it was all she could muster and continued to kiss me back.

“Pay attention,” I ordered, turning the tables.

“I can’t. You’re kissing me.”

Damn, why did she have to say that? I stopped kissing her but kept her close, wanting to feel her body. I waited for the haze of lust to clear before I spoke. “I need to trust you.”

“You can.”

“Can I?”