He gifted me with the softest smile, but it held not a glimmer of the brightness it usually contained. His grip tightened on my hips, and I wanted—needed—him to pull me flush against his. “He thinks I should visit them again.”
I closed that gap of space between us and lifted a hand to his face. “Why? So he can play with your head again? So he can force himself into your life? Trenton, you can’t let him control you like that.”
It was subtle, the way his gaze dropped to the side. As tension gripped his shoulders, heat flared through my very being.
“Please tell me you didn’t agree, love.” I forced him to face me, grabbed both his bearded cheeks between my palms and directed his attention on me.
He shook his head, but my relief was dampened by his words. “I told him I’d think about it.”
A breath heaved out of me regardless of how hard I tried to hold it in. I blinked, then nodded. Trenton pulled me tight against him again, canceling out the space I didn’t realize I’d put between us.
“I want to be here with you, love,” he told me, his breath a whisper across my ear. His beard scratched at my cheek, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “But he’s family.”
My grip around him loosened, and I pulled back. He held so much pain in his eyes that, for a moment, I almost told him to go. But I wasn’t ready to lose him again, to let his asshole brother try to change this loving, carefree soul into the uptight, corporate-minded, capitalist snob that stared back at him every time he looked in the mirror.
Jonathan could try to mold Trenton all he wanted, but the brothers would never be the same. Trenton wasn’t a sadist. He would never hurt someone the way Jonathan did.
I traced my fingertips across Trenton’s brow and the sides of his face, my gaze never leaving his. The exhaustion from earlier came racing back, and every part of me felt heavy in a way I’d never felt before.
“You look like you’re dead on your feet.” He gripped my hands and held them to his chest. “Let’s go home. Forget about everything and just get some rest. You need it or you’re going to make yourself sick. I’ll make you soup and we can sleep in tomorrow morning. Just you and me.”
Just you and me.
For a moment, panic struck. All my plans, everything I’d promised I’d do, went racing through my head. But when Trenton squeezed my hands, when that bright smile I loved started to creep once more on to his lips, I knew, for him, I would do it.
“That sounds lovely,” I murmured, hoping the wheels churning in my head weren’t visible on my face. “Just, give me a moment? I need to talk to Callie.”
“Of course, love. I’ll wait right here.”
After pressing a quick kiss to his lips, I went into the kitchen, trying with all I had not to run like the hounds of hell were on my heels.
“Callie!”
My friend jumped in her spot, spinning around and nearly slipping on the smooth tile floor. Hands clasped to her chest and eyes bugging out of her head, she hissed, “What?”
I grabbed her arm, pulling her around the corner, where there was no way Trenton or anyone else could see us. “I need you to cover for me.”
Callie’s head was shaking before I even got the words out of my mouth. “I can’t.”
“You have to! Please?” I steepled my hands in front of me. “Please? I…” I peeked around the corner, making sure no one else was there. “I need this. I have to be with Trenton tonight, and there’s no way I can back out. Can you please cover for me? Call Miller and let him know tomorrow morning is out too?”
She gripped her head between her hands, slamming her eyes shut. “I hate this, Mysti.”
“I’m sorry. But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need it. Please?”
A frown pulled at her lips and she looked like she was going to cry. “I know. I know.” She shook her head, then gave me a hug. “I promise, I’ll try.”
“Thank you. I owe you one.”
“You owe me a million!”
“And I’ll do everything I can to repay you, I promise.” Without another word, I raced to my locker and grabbed my bags, then returned to Trenton’s side.
That guilt ate at me again as he took my hand and led me from the cafe. But I had to make this work. I couldn’t lose him to his brother, and if that meant disappointing Miller and Callie, it was a risk I’d have to take.
For this man, I would do anything.