God, she wanted to sink down between the sofa cushions and disappear.
Carter hesitated only a second, and then continued on, without speaking.
Leah’s pulse beat like a trip-hammer. “Shit, do you think he heard?”
Ava and Sam both gave herI don’t knowlooks.
“Thanks for the help, guys,” Leah huffed, getting to her feet.
“You’re going after him?” Ava whispered.
“I have to make sure he didn’t get the wrong idea.”
Following him into the kitchen filled her with a burst of fluttering nerves, but her parents were both of the mindset that it was best to get painful things over with quickly. If she didn’t seek him out before the night was over, she’d be twice as nervous the next time she saw him.
The kitchen was spotless – the last of the dishes drying on a rack, counters wiped, leftovers put away, dishwasher chugging quietly – but occupied by more than Carter, unfortunately. Aidan and Tango stood at the window, peeking out through the gap in the gauzy curtains.
“Ugh,” Aidan said, lip curling. “He puked.”
Tango clucked in sympathy.
Carter was filling a water glass at the sink, and Leah took a moment in the threshold, trying to decide how to approach this. She couldn’t just ask him outright, and she definitely didn’t want Aidan and Tango to overhear.
She still felt like she was back in high school, but now in a much less fun way.
He shut off the tap and turned; noticed her. His expression tensed, a flicker of worry evident in the groove between his brows – then smoothed. He smiled a little sideways. “Want some?” He lifted the glass in offering. “Don’t want to end up out there puking with Reese.”
“Sure, thanks.”
He pulled down a second glass, filled it, and passed it over. When their fingertips brushed, her pulse fluttered because she was being an absoluteidiot.
“Thanks,” she said again, her voice looser.
He took a step closer, his head angled down – everyone always had to look down at her, even when she was wearing heels – and the concerned groove made a reappearance between his brows. “Everything okay?”
“I was actually on my way to ask you that after your little porch heart-to-heart.” His breath caught a moment, before he let it out with what looked like purposeful slowness. “Ava wasn’t giving you shit, was she?” she asked, inspiration striking, suddenly. She didn’t like the idea of lying, but she could bend the truth just a little to keep from making an ass of herself.
His brows lifted. “No…” But he didn’t sound emphatic.
She leaned in even closer, dropping her voice. “She said she was worried about you. I told her not to harass you about your relationship status.”
He frowned, gaze flickering through a whole sequence of emotions. “Everybody sure is worried all of a sudden,” he muttered. “I’m not the one getting shitfaced at other people’s parties.”
She darted a glance toward the window; Aidan and Tango ducked into the mudroom and she heard the back door open; heard Aidan ask if help was needed. “Reese?”
“Totally having a crisis.”
“About his sister and that Roman guy?”
He leaned a shoulder against a cabinet face, and she could see him loosen across the shoulders, warming to the topic: namely that it was no longer him, she’d wager. “Nah, this is about his – well, whatever Tenny is.”
She sipped water, recognition sparking. “That was the dark-haired guy who helped him bring you to the office the other day, right?” She cringed internally for bringing up the getting-punched incident again, but he didn’t react.
“Yeah, and who helped him scare those kids outside of Bell Bar.”
“Oh, right. Wait. Are theytogether?” She felt her brows go up. No one had ever told her outright that certain things didn’t go on in one-percenter clubs, but she’d read as much in the few books and articles she’d paged through over the years out of casual interest, checking to see if the so-called experts and academics knew what they were talking about.
Carter shrugged. “Who knows. I don’t care, and I don’t think Ghost would either. But Reese is, uh, not acting like himself tonight.” He made a thoughtful face. “Maybe that’s a good thing, though. I’m not sure he actually has a personality.”
