“Do I?” I asked, letting out a bark of laughter. “You might as well put your fighting gloves on because no matter what we find in this house, or whatever game William wants us to play, I’m in it to win. I will never let go of this house, Lucas. Never.”
I spun on my heels and marched up the steps. A part of me wanted him to come after me. Explain why he was doing this, tell me that everything I was thinking was wrong. But he didn’t. When I shut the door to my bedroom, I let out a shaky breath and dropped down to the floor. With my hands covering my mouth to keep quiet, I finally let my tears fall free.
The morning light shone through the window. It felt like I had only fallen asleep an hour ago. I groaned when I looked at the clock. I had fallen asleep only an hour ago. Fabulous. That’d make for a wonderful morning look.
I pulled the pillow over my head and groaned. Now I’d have to face Lucas after I spilled all that out last night.
Just as I decided to roll back over and get some more sleep, not ready to face any part of this day, a knock on my bedroom door made me sit up fast. Almost too fast. A wave of dizziness hit me. Was it Lucas? A part of me hoped and prayed it was. The other part, not so much. But who else would it be?
“Yes?”
“Are you still sleeping?”
“Milo?” I asked, climbing out of bed and rushing to the door. Thank God. I opened it and found him standing there, a cup of coffee in one hand, paint samples in another.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, confused.
He laughed. “You told me to come over this morning, even though Lucas told me not to. You never sent over the colors you wanted, so I brought paint samples for the living room, the bathrooms, and the study.”
I closed my eyes. Holy hell, it had slipped my mind.
“Shoot, I forgot. Sorry, things got a bit…crazy last night.”
He looked past me into the room. “Hot date?”
I laughed. “Ha! Not that crazy.”
He lifted a brow as if to say he didn’t believe me. I stepped aside. “Take a look for yourself. The only other soul in this room is my newfound cat.”
“I believe you.”
His face didn’t agree with him. “Seriously, I’m alone. Look!”
Milo chuckled and took a quick step into the room, “Paige, you don’t need to explain yourself to me. You’re a grown woman. Although, I was thinking you and Lucas would have finally worked your shit out by now.”
I didn’t bother responding.
Oreo meowed, and Milo walked over to pet her. “Please tell me you’re not going to turn into a cat lady. You’re much too hot for that and way too young.”
His cheeks turned bright red, and he rubbed the back of his neck.
“I didn’t mean it like that. That was not me trying to come on to you before you’d even had your coffee, I swear.”
I smiled. “You’re a good friend, Milo. Let me get dressed, and I’ll meet you in the living room.”
“Sounds good. However, I’m at least hoping you had fun last night.”
As Milo stepped out of my bedroom, Lucas appeared. He must have come down the hallway from the attic. He looked at Milo, then me, then back to Milo. His eyes turned dark with anger.
“You look like shit,” Milo said to Lucas.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.” He shot his gaze at me, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I saw hurt in his eyes. Surely not.
“I just got here. I was supposed to meet with Paige this morning to pick out paint samples.” He lifted the wheel of paint samples to show Lucas. Maybe Milo had realized, just like I had, how it looked for him to be stepping out of the bedroom, me still in my pajamas. Thank goodness they weren’t the sexy ones, but my oversized comfy pants and shirt. Not that Lucas would care, but I understood how Milo felt, with him being friends with the stupid jerk standing in the hallway.
“I told you we didn’t need your help painting.”
That caught me off-guard. When had he told Milo that?
“I called Paige yesterday when she hadn’t gotten back to me about colors. She asked to meet with me this morning to pick out some.”
Lucas glared at Milo. “Did you think I’d want to be a part of this little meeting?” Lucas said, his words dripping with ice as he looked at Milo, then me.
“Give me five minutes to change, and I’ll meet you both in the living room,” I said, trying my best to smile and not act like my heart was thundering in my chest. I had no idea why I was suddenly in a panicked state.