Connor was the one to shush everyone’s doubts, including mine. He said there was a high probability that the fish was beer-battered, a detail that Lo may have overlooked before ordering. So Rose called the restaurant, and sure enough, the fish were not only fried with beer but tequila too.
Lo moves sloth-like this morning, brushing his teeth, practically hunched over the sink. He looks a little like he used to before his sobriety—like he just woke up after a night of binging.
“Are you okay?” I ask softly. “We can stay here if you want.”
A stage is set up on the beach for an outdoor Spring Break concert, and we’re all supposed to be headed down there soon. I can’t imagine the chaos and noise being pleasant for him.
While I wait for his answer, I start the bathtub to shave my legs, normally I’d just do a quick shave-and-go in the sink, but we share it with five other people.
He spits into the sink. “No,” he says and wipes his mouth on a towel. “I want to go, and honestly I feel better than I did last night.”
The bathroom door opens, and Ryke slips in, already outfitted in a neon blue mankini. Lo confessed about the bathing suits a couple days ago, and oddly Ryke would rather wear the scantily clad ones than the trunks that Connor and Lo chose. He claims he gets a better tan, but I think he likes the way all the girls stare at his ass.
I grab a razor, focusing on my prickly calves rather than his…area.
“How are you feeling?” Ryke asks as Lo starts applying sunscreen along his abs.
“Like shit. Must have been that bottle of whiskey I guzzled while you were all sitting around me,” he snaps. “Oh wait, no, that’s what you accused me of.”
“I already apologized.” His voice remains rough and he looks to me, distracted. “Lily, what the hell are you doing?”
Lo follows his gaze and rolls his eyes. “She’s just shaving her legs.”
“What he said,” I say, trying to concentrate so I don’t knick my kneecap or ankle. Those are the tricky spots. And since I’m only lathering my legs with a bar of soap, I have less suds to work with.
“Why don’t you take a shower?”
I let out an exasperated breath. “That’s so much more work.”
“You’re as lazy as Lo.”
I shrug, not denying it. Ryke puts his attention back on his brother. “Did you take your pill yet?”
“Yeah.” He holds out the sunscreen bottle to me. “Can you do my back when you’re finished shaving?”
“I’ll do it right now. I’m done with this leg.” I rinse off my right leg and spin on the porcelain ledge. He sits down beside me so I don’t have to get up to reach his height. I squirt some lotion into my hand and start rubbing it along his bare back.
A sinful thought creeps into my head—of Lo turning around and taking me right here on the ledge. I straddle it already, the spot between my legs against the coldness of the tub. This is just bad. I try to smother my longing and any attraction quickly. No sex. Not today. Not this week. The words don’t devastate me as much as they would have before.
Ryke keeps his gaze on Lo, skepticism creeping into his eyes. “Where’s the pill bottle?”
His shoulders tense. “Under the sink.”
I smooth out the white streaks along Lo’s skin, my fingers dancing along his back. I wish I could touch him other places, which I realize is my problem. I shouldn’t want to have sex when I’m just rubbing lotion on his back. Right? Maybe it’s not so weird, but I know my persistence to go further and farther is wrong.
I’m not supposed to go at all.
Which just sucks.
And not a good sucking mind you.
Nope, this is a bad suck, which I didn’t think could exist. But it does. This is definitely a bad kind of suck.
Ryke rises from the cabinet a second later with the orange container in his hand, and then he pops it open, spilling the pills on the counter.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lo asks.
Ryke moves them out into little piles, and I suddenly realize “what the hell he’s doing”—counting.
Lo goes rigid as the same thought strikes him. But he shouldn’t have anything to fear. Unless…
Ryke starts shaking his head and scoops the pills back into the bottle. “Why do you fucking lie to me?”
“When did you start counting my pills?” Lo asks, brows furrowed.
“When you got them.”
“You had no right—”
“I have every right. You’re an addict, Lo. You lie, you cheat, you fuck around the rules to get what you want. I go behind your back because I fucking care, not because I’m trying to undermine your privacy.”