Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,96

sad now.

“Oh my God,” he muttered under his breath.

“Yep. She’s certainly all yours.”

He shook his head. “So, uh, how are things with the boyfriend?”

I heard a shocked laugh. “What is this? A Blaise who’s actually asking me a conversational question? How scandalous of you and your anger problem.”

His hand curled around my waist, shifting me against him.

“You’re here. I’m here. She’s about to fall asleep. And I actually don’t want to rip your brother’s face off his skull, for the first time all day.”

She laughed. “Progress. I’m impressed.”

Blaise groaned, and it relaxed me further.

“Just a conversation with my little sister.”

“Ha. Younger than you by a month, dickhead.”

“Yeah. Our dad was a busy guy that year.”

Silence, then a sputtering laugh. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“It’s true.”

“Yeah.”

Blaise sighed, and I fell asleep.

44

Aspen

A pounding headache woke me in the dark, and I jerked around, then immediately regretted it.

Hitting a body, I cried out.

And I couldn’t see.

I had no clue where I was.

Wait.

That body turned over, and arms swept me in.

I relaxed, recognizing those arms.

I burrowed into Blaise and whimpered. “How drunk did I get?”

“Really drunk.” He held me a second. “I need to turn the light on. Cover your eyes.”

Why? Why to the light?

But then it was on, and I turned my face toward the pillow.

Oh, God. No.

What had I been thinking? I hadn’t. That’s what I’d been thinking. Nothing.

I’d been sitting there, enjoying Bren and Taz, and enjoying the camaraderie of the guys. They were funny. They’d told stories the entire time, but I mostly enjoyed the ease they had with each other. I only felt that when Blaise was around Zeke, but no one else. He didn’t trust anyone.

Then I’d started drinking, because I wished I could have him come over with us, but I knew he wouldn’t, and the more I drank, the sadder I got, but the drunker I got too.

“Here.”

I opened my eyes to find him holding a glass of water in one hand and two pain pills in the other. Thank God. I really loved this man.

Swiping both, I swallowed the pills with the water, and then I had another problem. I had to pee. And my breath was horrible.

Holy—he’d let me go to bed like this? Embarrassing.

“Bathroom?” I croaked, one eye closed and the other opened just the tiniest bit to see his answer.

He chuckled, climbing out of bed.

I tried not to notice how good his shirt and boxer briefs looked on him, because it was cold out, and we were camping, and I had a splitting headache, but I did. Because he was hot. That’s all.

He padded barefoot past the kitchen area and opened a door. He reached inside and a soft light turned on. “Here.”

I loved him. I loved him so much.

I slipped inside, and a second later, he knocked on the door and shoved my bag inside. I loved him even more.

I didn’t change clothes, but I pulled out some better for sleeping and tossed them on the table in the main area. Then I shut the door and went back to rifling through my bag. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. I needed all the cleaning things I could find, because who knew drinking could make you smell?

After cleaning up a bit, I stepped back.

Leaving the light on, I didn’t want to look at Blaise. I knew he was back in bed, and he was probably watching me, and for some reason, acknowledging that would’ve made me feel self-conscious. So I ignored him as I quickly changed clothes. Then I tossed my bag aside and went back to turn the light off.

“Leave it.”

“Really?”

He nodded, looking at me from his pillow. He seemed exhausted. There were soft lines around his eyes and mouth. He had a sleepy look to him. “I’ll turn it off later.”

“Okay.”

I padded back over, and he held up the covers.

I slipped in, but then he lifted me and rolled me to his other side, so he was between me and the door.

I squeaked in surprise, but then relaxed and really relaxed. He’d been warming my spot for me.

Man. I really loved him.

I settled in. Camping was awesome.

“How was your night?” he asked.

I searched his eyes, wondering if there was more to that question, but he seemed genuinely interested.

“It was nice, actually.”

He propped himself up on an elbow and reached for my hand, twining our fingers. He looked at our hands, his finger sliding against mine. “You seemed like you had a good time with them.”

“I did.”

His eyes lifted, held mine. He smiled,