to. “Enough Derek,” I ground out between gritted teeth. My blood pressure was starting to rocket and I could feel my heartbeat in the vein at my temple.
Derek popped off his beanbag faster than I could have thought possible and he caught my arm just above the elbow to stop me. “Come on, Kat. I’m begging you. I just need your help. Just this once.”
Just this once. Shit. How many times had I heard that before? My hands balled into fists and I yanked my arm out of his grip. “Do that again and I’ll knee your balls up through the roof of your mouth.”
Derek’s face flushed, and he opened his mouth to heatedly reply when the floor boards down the hall squeaked. Lucas emerged from the darkened part, toward the den.
Lucas looked from Derek to me and back again. “Is everything all right?”
I swallowed and Derek froze, darting me a look. “Uh, yeah,” I said, my voice breathless. “He’s trying to bum the Smarties off me and I told him to buy his own. He just gave me the junk food care package and now he wants to raid it.”
Lucas was watching Derek the entire time I spoke, and I knew he didn’t buy it. Lucas was too damn smart for that. And I wasn’t nearly a good enough liar to pull it off anyway, which made this whole damn situation even more ironic.
Laughter bubbled up in my throat, borne of irony and angst and all the consequences that had sprung up in my life as a result of one decision. To run and leave my troubles behind me. Those troubles always found you, sooner or later. It didn’t matter how fast or how far you ran.
I swallowed, then faked a ridiculous yawn, raising my still-tightened fists over my head. “Man, I’m spent. I think I’m going to turn in. You guys all have fun playing more games. Derek is the least lame at Mario Kart.”
“Hey! I’m not that bad at gaming,” he protested. Derek’s voice sounded natural, as if nothing negative had just transpired between us.
Lucas said nothing, standing aside when Derek made his way into the den. I waved Lucas to follow him. “Go on. I’m fine.”
Then I turned the other way and went to get a few items out of my room for the morning, moving them to Lucas’s room again. Had to keep up appearances, after all.
I ignored the heavy weight in my belly from my conversation with Derek. I focused on what I needed for the morning instead, shoving my racing thoughts as far into the background as I could. I was not going to let Derek play me like he always did.
Damn. I needed to attend a meeting so I could get all this out. I vowed to Google for one nearby on my phone when I got back to the bedroom. Meanwhile, I had to decide on what to wear tonight and tomorrow. I definitely should not think about how much I really wanted Lucas to distract me with his hands and that heavenly mouth of his.
The little devil on my shoulder was telling me to grab a slinkier nightie to sleep in. Something silky with spaghetti straps and lace in the bodice. Would that qualify as a negligee that he’d specifically forbidden? Rules were meant to be broken, right? Maybe I’d get an orgasm out of it. Or two. I had a lot of tension that needed releasing.
I listened to the angel on my shoulder instead and grabbed the same frayed cotton nightie I’d worn the night before. It was loose and covered me from neckline to my knees. Certainly no one would find me tempting wearing that.
Despite my best efforts to beat Lucas back to his room, he was already in the washroom when I got there. Perhaps I’d taken longer than I thought to listen to the angel and devil argue with each other while I’d stood in front of my dresser, frozen with indecision.
I sat and waited for several minutes but generally, I was just so put out about Derek and his constant asks. It was exhausting to even think about. I just wanted to crawl into bed as soon as possible. But Lucas wouldn’t be out for another ten or fifteen at least.
In frustration, I stripped right there in the middle of the bedroom, determined to curl onto the bed and collapse in exhaustion. But then I realized I really need to moisturize. The dry weather here