Rule Breakers (Off Limits #2) - Nicky James Page 0,53

I searched his eyes. He was centered, calm, in control. “Please stay.”

I shifted my attention to Edison. “You want me to stay, kid?”

Edison didn’t look sure, but he nodded.

When Denver returned from the bathroom, he took the spot in the middle, maybe sensing our need for a barrier. Edison was asleep in seconds, half-sprawled across Denver, his face buried in his neck.

“Your bed’s too small,” I groused when I tried to get comfortable.

“Because you’re too far away. Come here.”

Denver took my hand, tugging me closer. I went. Reluctant, yet not. I shared his pillow, my nose brushing his temple, inhaling the shampoo my brother had always used. It was calming.

“You didn’t hate it,” he whispered after a time, voice low enough he wouldn’t wake Edison.

I didn’t answer.

“You won’t scar him, Har.”

He didn’t know that. The kid had enough problems because of me. Was I creating more?

Denver rocked his head toward me and found my lips in the dark, kissing me lazily. “Trust me. He was on board. It was you he wanted in the end. It was you he kept begging to give him release. Think back, and you’ll remember.”

I didn’t have to think back. I could still hear Edison’s pleading tone. “Dad… please.”

“Go to sleep,” I told Denver. I didn’t want to analyze it more.

Denver sighed and let it go.

As the silence of the late hour surrounded the three of us, I shuffled closer, nuzzling up against my brother just like Edison was lying on the other side. When my fingers brushed Edison’s leg by accident, I didn’t pull away. Instead, I left my hand on him, savoring his warmth.

Right as sleep took me under, Edison’s hand moved across Denver and rested on my leg too.

Chapter Thirteen

Edison

I woke up alone with an unsettling sense of panic. It was eerily quiet, and I feared I was by myself in the house and everyone had left. It was Saturday. Uncle Denver didn’t work, and Dad didn’t have to go to the club until after dinner. Bolting upright, my heart knocking, I scrambled around until I found my phone.

It was after eleven in the morning.

Where was everyone?

I got up, used the bathroom, found my underwear, and went searching for signs of life. Uncle Denver and Dad were in the kitchen, talking in hushed tones that stopped the second I wandered into the room. Dad was shirtless, wearing a pair of Uncle Denver’s sweats, and Uncle Denver was fully dressed in jeans and a polo. Where Dad looked bed-rumpled and tired, Uncle Denver seemed freshly showered and perky.

Their conversation ended abruptly, and Dad’s gaze darted away the minute our eyes locked. He made himself busy pouring coffee.

“Morning,” Uncle Denver said. “Sleep okay?”

I didn’t respond. My whole focus was on my dad. We’d broken our rules in the heat of the moment, and I could tell by the way he avoided looking at me that he regretted it. I felt guilty for liking it. Shame for reliving it in my dreams. Angry for proving Dad right and thinking with my dick instead of my head.

Now he was mad at me.

“I’m gonna use your shower,” Dad announced, walking past Uncle Denver, coffee in hand. He brushed their fingers together as he went, and it pulled something tight in my belly. It was not a good feeling.

Dad went around me at the doorway. He didn’t brush my fingers or even look at me.

I felt cold inside and didn’t know what to do.

Uncle Denver must have read my mind. “He’s not mad at you. He’s mad at himself.”

I wrapped my arms around my middle, exposed in just underwear. “He’s acting like he’s mad at me.”

“No. He’s processing.”

Uncle Denver held out a hand, inviting me to take it. I did, and he pulled me into his arms. They were warm and steady. He kissed my temple and hugged me tighter. “You’re freaking out too, aren’t you?”

I shook my head, then nodded. “We said we weren’t going to touch each other, but…”

“But you did. How do you feel about it now that you’re removed from the intensity of the moment?”

When I didn’t answer, he said, “You’re allowed to like it, Edison. No one here is going to judge you for that.”

“I did like it.”

He lifted my head, cradling my face in both hands, peering deep into my eyes. “He liked it too. He can hardly admit it, but he did. He’s afraid he did you wrong.”

“But he didn’t.”

Uncle Denver kissed my forehead. “I know that, but he doesn’t. You