who looks at you.”
Aaron laughed. “Oh no. I’m going to disagree with my brother. Wear it. Let everyone see what belongs to us.”
I supposed I should have said or thought something like ‘I wear what I want, and my choice of swimwear has nothing to do with your opinion about my body.’ But that wasn’t what I thought or said when heat hit my cheeks. I fucking loved that they were reacting to my appearance.
Colton leaned his head on mine. “I’d rather she be sitting in here naked. What do you say, Lacey? Willing to take it off and let us see you naked in the bubbles?”
I shook my head fast. “What if someone showed up? This is not a town I let my guard down in, ever. I won’t be caught naked outside. No matter the circumstances.”
Thorn nodded. “Maybe that’ll change in a couple of days. We’re fenced in back here. No one is getting in here that we don’t want here. Okay. So what do we do now, Chees? Your father is here somewhere, and he isn’t going to magically appear in front of us. Or maybe he will. Things like that happen around us.”
I thought back to the last time I saw Ray Chee. It had been a while since I’d had to lucid dream in order to kill Mara. “We closed all those doors.” What if I had locked him inside?
“I know where your mind has gone,” Aaron said, “but he physically left my mom after your dream. He’s alive and out there somewhere. The place to start would be in your old neighborhood.”
Despite the warm jets and being surrounded by the people I loved, a chill ran down my spine. “I don’t want to go back there.”
“You don’t have to,” Oliver assured me. He leaned forward and grasped my hand. With a gentle tug, he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me.
“I should have done that,” Aaron grumbled. “Had you right next to me.”
I leaned my head on his brother’s chest, soaking in his warmth. When he spoke, his chest rumbled with the sound. “I think it’s best if Aaron and I go to check out the old riverbed and trailer park. We know how our father works, and if there’s evidence to be found, we’ll find it.”
Colton moved his foot from mine and edged forward. “I’m an archaeologist. I know how to examine a site. I could go for you.”
Oliver’s entire body tensed. I glanced up at him, taking in the set of his jaw and the way he pressed his lips together. It hit me. He didn’t want to go either. Like me, this trip home was stirring up all kinds of issues. For me, it was what this town had done to me. But for Oliver, it was what his dad had done to him.
“Is your mom here?” I asked.
At my question, he startled and squeezed me again. “Yeah. I couldn’t make her stay away. She’s just as stubborn as the old man. I half-expected Kel to show up, too, but she’s got a bunch of big events at her vineyard, and I promised after the last time, she wouldn’t have to leave her life to rescue our parents.”
Hmm. There seemed to be a story there. Peering at Aaron, I caught the slight shake of his head. I guessed that was a story for another time.
The guys’ bravery took me down a few pegs. Here they were, facing their issues, and all I wanted to do was hide my head under my pillow. “I’ll go with you.”
“Uh-uh.” Oliver was quick to respond. His denial was echoed by the others, but tempered a little by Aaron’s, “Not yet.”
“Why not?” I asked. I hated that I was a little relieved to be given an out. Not that I wouldn’t take it, but I should probably know why I got one when no one else did. A horrible thought occurred to me. “Do you think he’s awake?” I didn’t even want to say his name, afraid that here, so close to where he slept, his name on my lips would rouse him.
“Absolutely not,” Colton answered.
Shifting, I placed myself between Oliver’s legs so I could see all of them. Thorn was shaking his head. “No, Lace. You knocked him out. He’s not getting up any time soon.”
“It’s been a decade,” I reminded him. “We don’t know how long my darkness will keep him wherever he is.”
“Can we agree not to call it