He shrugged. "It's just a question."
Well, that was rich.I had questions, too – not that he was big on answering them. But that was an issue for another time.
I said, "Regardless of what you might think, Iwasgoing to knock. And I'll tell you why." I gave him a serious look. "I don't appreciate what you told him."
His expression softened. "Listen, he guessed on his own, okay?"
I made a sound of frustration. "I don't mean about us sleeping together."
That made him pause. "So you don't care that they know?"
"Okay, yes. I care. I mean, if nothing else, that's not the way I would've liked for them to find out. But you're missing the point."
"Which is…?"
"Why were you giving Flynn such a hard time?"
"Because he had it coming."
I recalled Jack's accusations, the things he'd said to my future brother-in-law. I hadn't enjoyed hearing them, especially because they weren't true. "In case you didn't realize it," I said, "Flynn and Anna have given me a ton of help, a lot more than I ever wanted."
In front of me, Jack looked less than convinced. "Is that so?"
"Yes. Definitely." I met his gaze head-on. "Do you know, Flynn paid for my last year of college? And he's offered to pay for the upcoming year, too."
From the look on Jack's face, he wasn't impressed. "So?"
"So that's a big deal."
"Not to Flynn."
I knew what Jack meant. Flynn was absolutely loaded. But Jack was missing the point. "It's a big deal to me," I said. "It totally changed my life. Do you know, he even paid for a dorm room?"
Before then, I'd been living off-campus and commuting. I wouldn't have minded if not for the fact that my car was unreliable, and driving an hour each way was no picnic, especially when it snowed, which it did quite often in Northern Michigan.
But Jack's expression still didn't waver. "Yeah? So why weren't you living in it?"
"The dorm?" I gave a loose shrug. "Because I was older than almost everyone else. And I didn't really fit in."
At the memory of it all, I sighed. "It was weird and awkward. Plus, everyone there knew about Flynn and my sister, and it made everything kind of strange. Everyone kept asking to meet him, and I guess I wanted to be a little more anonymous, that's all."
As I fumbled for the words to explain, I became increasingly aware that Jack was still naked.
With growing embarrassment, I looked down, skipping his pelvis entirely. At his knees, I did a double-take.
Last night, the suite had been mostly dark. But now, in the morning light, I saw something that I hadn't noticed before – deep, jagged scars running from his ankles to his knees.
On both legs, too.
Weird.
It took me a moment to realize that I'd stopped talking.
And so had he.
When I looked up, he frowned.
For a long moment, he said nothing, and neither did I.
