The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,125
the fuck could I possibly take care of her and a baby?
Unless…she didn’t think we’d be around for the consequences? It was far more likely that we’d both die in a matter of days than get away from Fox forever. Peeking over my shoulder, I found her staring at the tile, a bleakness in her eyes that she didn’t want me to see.
As if sensing my gaze, her head shot up, and the hopelessness cleared. “I’m sure Ever or Jamie have condoms we can use?” The smug satisfaction was gone from her voice, and in its place was that shy innocence that should have kept me from touching her in the first place.
“Yeah,” I simply replied because I’d already decided that this wouldn’t happen again. We might be dead soon, but at least I’d die with my conscience mostly intact. I tested the water with my hand and then turned. “The water should be warm enough for you.”
“Me?” she questioned as she carefully hopped off the counter. Two steps and she was backing me against the wall of the glass shower. I held my breath as her hands slid from my stomach up to my chest. “Just me?”
“Just you,” I confirmed before looking away. I couldn’t take the sight of her big hopeful eyes staring up at me. “I’ll shower after.”
I heard the hitch in her breath and felt her hands tremble on my chest. “You’re already regretting making love to me, aren’t you?”
My nostrils flared as I met her gaze. “We didn’t make love. We fucked. The fact that you don’t know the difference is why I regret it.”
Lou should have never trusted me with something so precious. I only touched her because I wanted to escape my past and what lay ahead—if only for a little while. I used her. Selfishly and callously.
And I couldn’t undo it.
Pushing her aside, I stormed from the bathroom. I pretended not to hear her sniffling as I gathered my discarded clothes and fled for the safety of the spare bedroom. Needing something to occupy my mind so that I wouldn’t go running to beg her forgiveness and worship her slowly like I should have done, I decided to take a shower.
Of all the things on my list of regrets, not being able to give Lou her innocence back was at the top, so I’d cherish it forever instead.
I’d been holding up the wall for the past hour watching the people crowding the room. The living room—almost twice the size of the family room that housed my father’s photo—had three sets of French doors leading to the veranda. They were thrown open despite the fires lit in the hearths at each end of the room.
Lou sat on one of the bronze sofas pretending to listen to some old broad talk about fuck knows what. I could tell by the glazed look in her eyes that she was bored but was either too polite or too stubborn to walk away. I knew the latter was most likely.
She hadn’t spoken a word or barely looked at me since I left her to shower alone. When she emerged from the bedroom in that red dress made of tulle and lace, I nearly swallowed my tongue. I told her, of course, that she looked beautiful, and she pretended she hadn’t heard me as she headed straight for the door. All I could do was follow her up to the main house like some sad puppy who’d lost its bone.
The moment we’d stepped inside the mansion, guilt made me look around, searching for knowing gazes. None of them, however, seemed wise to the fact that I’d just finished screwing my best friend. Ever and Jamie flocked to me immediately, but after ten minutes of trying and failing to break my silence, they left me to my thoughts.
Pushing away from the wall, I drifted closer to where Lou sat when I noticed she no longer looked bored. She was tuned in to whatever the woman was saying. So much so that she didn’t see when I came to stand right behind her.
“That’s a cool piece,” Lou complimented, nodding to the gold pin adorning the woman’s dress. It seemed like a risky thing to do given the embroidered lace, so I figured it must have been important.
“Thank you.” The woman beamed. “It’s been in my family for a long time. I guess you could say it’s our family heirloom since it’s the culmination of our wealth.”