Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club #3) - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,15
didn’t talk about it. They understood each other without having to perform their grief for each other.
He swallowed. “No, it’s not weird.”
“What about you?”
“The anniversary is harder for me,” he said. But then he shook his head and looked at his lap. “Actually, that’s not true. The night before the anniversary is the hardest for me.”
“Why?”
“Because I start counting down the hours and the minutes until the moment we found out. I can’t turn it off. I can’t sleep. By morning, I’m . . .” His voice trailed off as he searched for the right words.
She didn’t prod him to continue. She just listened and waited. A quality that he doubted was something she’d learned only from working with survivors but was probably just part of who she was. A good listener. A good friend. A good person.
“Impotent,” he finally answered. “That’s how it feels. I can’t do anything. I can’t go back and change things.”
She nodded, smiled softly, and then rested her head on his shoulder again.
The fire popped. Alexis sighed. At the end of the bed, Beefcake licked his fur. And somewhere deep inside Noah, an ember caught fire.
It’s not like it was the first time she’d ever snuggled up to him. Their standard pose when watching a movie these days was her feet in his lap. And just a couple of weeks ago, she’d fallen asleep leaning against him.
This felt different.
Maybe it was because of the guys’ meddling. Maybe they’d planted seeds in Noah’s brain that were starting to germinate. Or maybe, probably, it was because the guys were right. His feelings for her were real, and seeing her vulnerable like this was making it impossible for him to deny it. But the one thing Noah knew about gardening was that there was a small window of time when roots could grow. He’d missed the window with her. Breaching their friendship now would be crazy. Stupid.
Especially now.
He wasn’t friend-zoning himself. He was being a friend.
“Your mom never mentioned your father?”
“Not once. Not by name, anyway.” Alexis licked her lips and continued. “She offered to tell me who he was when I turned eighteen, but it didn’t seem important. He obviously didn’t care about me, so why should I care about him?”
As far as Noah was concerned, that sentiment still applied. The bastard was using one daughter to guilt the other—the one he’d neglected her entire life—into risking her life to save his sorry one.
“What’re you going to do?” he asked after a moment.
“I have no idea.”
“You don’t have to do anything, you know. You’re under no obligation to do what Candi is asking of you.”
She stifled a yawn.
“You okay?”
“I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Then sleep. Your body is telling you it needs time to recover from the shock.”
She yawned again. Noah took the tea from her hands. “Lie down. Get some sleep.”
“Are you going to leave?” she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder.
Noah dipped his head and kissed the crown of her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Alexis scooted down and rolled onto her side away from him. Ten minutes later, her breathing had slowed to a steady rhythm.
It would be hours before Noah’s did the same.
* * *
* * *
Noah couldn’t breathe.
A hot, heavy pressure on his chest was slowly crushing his lungs. He awoke with a choking cough and stared directly into the glowing yellow eyes of the demon himself.
Beefcake.
This was it. This was the moment when he died. Beefcake had seen him sleeping next to Alexis and was finally getting his revenge. The cat stood on his chest, claws digging into his skin through his T-shirt. Hate radiated from his eyes.
“Easy now,” Noah whispered, glancing sideways at where Alexis slept soundly. “Just be cool.”
Beefcake opened his mouth and dropped the remains of a dead mouse on his chest.
“Jesus Christ!” Noah leaped off the bed. Beefcake yowled and dug his claws into Noah’s chest before taking flight like a winged gargoyle. The dead mouse fell to the floor with a quiet thud.
Alexis stirred but didn’t wake. The dead mouse stared up at him with vacant, mournful eyes. Noah was going to have to clean that up before Alexis noticed. He crept from the room and down the hallway to the bathroom. Under the sink, he found a roll of paper towels and a stash of plastic bags. Beefcake growled from the top of the stairs, and Noah fought the urge to flip him off before soft-footing it back to the bedroom.