ChapterTwenty-One
Piper
There’s no way I’m going to sneak back up into my room in my pajamas without everyone seeing me. I trudge up the path, breathing in the damp early morning air. The temperature is quiet and cool, not yet flush with the heat of the day, as I make my way around the bend of the driveway and come across Jake.
“How could this happen again? I knocked this time,” he grumbles to himself, pacing back and forth.
“Hey, Jake.”
He stops and faces me, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I, um, sorry?” I grimace.
I’m not sorry about Oliver’s hands on me, the brush of his lips, the care in his touch. I can’t regret it. I do regret my brother witnessing his older sister getting fondled.
“It’s fine. It happens.” He sighs and then mutters, “To some more than others.”
“What does that mean?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “Nothing I want to talk about. So. You and Oliver, huh?”
I take a few steps closer to him. “Yeah.”
“Is it serious?”
I cross my arms. “I don’t know yet.” It feels serious. It feels like everything. I bite my lip. “I wanted to find out if he really is good at everything he does.”
Jake groans, covering his face with his hands. “I know you didn’t just make a sex joke.”
I crack up.
He just shakes his head and then squints at me for a few seconds. “You want to get back in the house without running into Archer and Finley?”
“Yes, please.”
He nods, spinning on his heel. “I’ll go around and unlock the front door. They’re in the kitchen, so you can sneak up the stairs.”
Relieved, I follow. I make it upstairs without being spotted, change into my traveling clothes for the trip back, and head back down like I’ve been there all night. Oliver is sitting at the table, plunging a serving spoon into a heap of scrambled eggs.
Our eyes lock, and a thread of panic slithers through me. What if he changes his mind?
But then the harsh line of his mouth softens.
I hold back a grin.
“Are you gonna actually eat any of those eggs, or are you just trying to seduce them?” Jake asks.
Oliver dumps the eggs onto his plate and hands the bowl to Jake, our moment of silent communication broken. I take my seat next to Oliver.
“Sleep good, Piper?” Finley asks, grabbing a slice of toast off another plate.
“Yeah, Piper, how did you sleep?” Jake asks, his tone sarcastic enough that Finley shoots him a sharp look.
“Great, thanks. Will you pass the bacon?”
Archer passes me the plate.
I take a second to stare down at the bacon before shooting Jake a devilish smirk. “Too bad. I was really hoping for sausage.”