It’s Andreas’s voice that answers. “I will. I need to wind down a bit first anyway.”
His lanky form appears, ambling down the steps. He’s swapped clothes too, though the new tee hangs more loosely on his leaner frame and he found a pair of jeans that seem to fit him pretty well.
I peer at him. “Adding to the laundry?”
Andreas stops near the foot of the bed and offers me a smile that looks oddly hesitant. “No, I just thought… you might appreciate a little company, without Jake hovering around like a thundercloud. Unless you wanted to go right to sleep?”
My pulse skips a beat, both startled and happy. “No, I’m kind of wound up still too.”
And I’ll soak up every bit of friendship my guys are willing to offer while I can get it.
There’s nothing to sit on down here other than the bed. I debate for a second and then scoot all the way over to the head where the limp pillow is lying. Then I pat the blanket a few feet away in offering.
As Andreas lowers himself onto the edge of the bed at the opposite end from me, giving me plenty of space, my mouth dries up. I haven’t really talked to him—to any of the guys—since I let myself break down in front of them in the old facility.
Stalling, I reach back to try to work at the knots in my hair again. Drey watches me for a moment, taking in my wince as I yank on a few strands harder than I meant to.
“It’s tangled up pretty bad, huh?”
“That’s what happens when it’s left braided for days on end.” I let out a sigh and dig my fingers between two twisted locks. “It’ll be even worse if I sleep on it like this.” Maybe I’ll have to cut the whole rat’s nest off.
A twinge runs over my neck at the thought of leaving it bare, as if my hair is really any protection.
Andreas sets his hands on the mattress and then ventures, “Do you want help? At least I’ll be able to see what I’m doing.”
My body seems to sway toward him and recoil simultaneously, wanting him close but afraid of wanting too much. I wet my lips, and the trace of disappointment that crosses his gorgeous face at my hesitation defeats my doubts.
“Sure. I’m obviously not getting very far on my own.”
I twist on the mattress so that my back is partly to him, and he eases close enough to reach my hair. His knee comes to rest against the small of my back through the thin fabric of the borrowed dress.
Suddenly I’m twice as aware of the fact that I have nothing at all on under that thin layer.
But Andreas simply lifts the tangled locks and starts loosening one knot carefully. Of course, his hands brush my bare neck with his movements.
Each brief contact sends a flash of heat over my skin. It’s pooling in my face—and lower down, where at least he won’t be able to see it.
Then his next words douse me in cold. “Do you think about Griffin a lot?”
“I—” My voice catches in my throat. I have to swallow before I can continue, wishing I could see his expression now. “Of course. Every day.”
“I don’t thinkhewould like the way Jake is trying to ‘avenge’ him.”
The comment relaxes some of the tension inside me. Drey isn’t leading up to an accusation.
A pang of guilt radiates through my chest anyway. “I guess that’s hard to know.”
While the agony of the bullet tore through him, in the moment when he must have realized he was dying, did some part of Griffin curse me for making such a stupid move? Would he agree with his twin that it was all my fault?
Andreas wiggles a few strands free and lets them drift down across my shoulder. I have to hold myself back from leaning into his gentle touch.
“Do you remember that time with the cookies when we were really little?” he asks.
“The cookies…” I repeat, combing back through my recollections.
Andreas hums to himself, his knuckles gliding across my neck. “We were sitting around the table in the training room having lunch, and right after Griffin asked to use the bathroom, the guardians on duty brought out a plate of chocolate cookies. It was the first time they’d given us any dessert in weeks. We each downed ours like we were sugar-deficient, and Griffin still hadn’t gotten back—”
The moment flickers up from the depths of my mind, provoking a twitch of my lips. “And Dominic took his.”