pants because for once in your life, you don’t feel in control.”
He stared at me, long and hard, and as I could’ve predicted, he turned and walked out.
The door slammed shut behind him, causing me to jump.
Fine.
I started to turn, but there was nowhere I could go. Instead, I picked up a glass and threw it against the wall.
Fuck him!
But as it shattered and fell beside the other, it did nothing to make me feel better. If anything, I had a sudden compulsion to glue both glasses back together.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Kai hadn’t been back since he’d stalked out, but exactly eight hours later, Brooke arrived. Didn’t take a genius to figure out he’d called in a replacement. Jonah had come too. He gave me a quick assessment and declared it’d be my last one. I was healthy once again.
Brooke and I spent the first hour catching up. She told me how she’d called the guards from the woods, and they’d found her and had her checked by a local doctor. Brooke said the doctor had been “gorgeous beyond words.” Though it was only a strained ankle, it was still painful and “so worth it.” Her words. Not mine.
Afterward, she said they’d grilled her about my whereabouts for a few minutes, and that was it.
She shook her head. “I swear, they broke speed limits getting me to you. What happened?”
There was a sour taste in my mouth, but I only shrugged. “I’d rather just get drunk than talk about it.”
And she didn’t push. Jonah either.
As we opened the first bottle of wine, Brooke said Tanner had been sent north again. As we finished the second bottle, she went on to say that since she was here, she wanted to sneak around Kai’s properties. She was convinced he still had Levi somewhere and was “bound and determined” to save the love of her life.
I frowned. “Not to second-guess you, but you’re awfully flirtatious with Eric and a certain doctor.”
“Doctor?” She glanced at Jonah, who was working on his computer next to us.
He didn’t look at her. “She’s talking about Mr. Gorgeous Local Doc you were raving about earlier.”
“Oh!” She laughed, slapping her hand on the table. “That’s funny. No, no. Levi is the love of my life. I’m just flirty. That’s all.” She glanced over her shoulder, but there were no guards on our floor.
I had no doubt they were standing outside the door.
“I like flirting with Eric. He messes up if I really push him. How do you think I get half the information I do?”
Jonah sighed, closing his computer. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Brooke likes to act as if she’s being held hostage by our brother, but that’s not the case. We’re Bennetts. There’s a responsibility that comes with our family surname. All of us hate it, but if we have to step up and bear it, we will. Brooke’s constant flirting is her rebelling against those responsibilities.”
Brooke glared at her glass of wine.
“I know.” I nodded. “Kai told me about the council.”
Both of their eyes widened.
“He did?” Brooke asked.
Jonah frowned. “Why would he tell you that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but he did. Is that bad?”
They shared a look.
Brooke lifted a shoulder. “I guess, I mean, I hope not. I’m sure it’s fine.”
But she seemed to be reassuring her brother more than me. Her dark eyes fixed on me, almost accusing. “Aren’t you just sleeping with Kai? I mean…” She leaned forward, pushing her wine aside and dropping her elbows on the table. “Kai doesn’t spill the beans about anything when it comes to our family. At all. Even to us. We only know half the shit because we’re Bennetts. We have to know. You know?”
I nodded. “Mmm-hmmm.” A closed smile. “We’re just…having fun together.”
Jonah snorted, sounding like his sister for the first time ever.
As if reading my mind, Brooke flashed him a smile. “Ha! What was that?!”
Jonah reddened before gathering his computer and making up some excuse to leave us for the night. After sharing another bottle of wine, Brooke took the bed, and I took the couch. Jonah went somewhere else. I didn’t know where.
• • •
In the morning I woke to Kai frowning over me. “Why are you on the couch?”
I yawned and pointed. “Because yoooour sistah clai-ahed the bed.”
I finished my yawn, remembered why this was even an issue, and glared at him. “Why do you care? You left.”
And I might’ve been a bit hungover. There was a definite pounding just behind my