Chapter Thirteen
Gus
“You drew a dick on Luke’s arm? Man, he’s going to kill you.”
Billy grunted. “Maybe. But it’s been twenty-four hours and he hasn’t said anything. He might think it was Mia.”
I had my back to him so I couldn’t see his face, but I heard the smile in his voice. Pictured it as I chopped chicken for a stir-fry I didn’t know how to make. “It is the kind of thing she’d do. She’d draw it in blood, though.”
“He said there’s no work until Thursday. Can’t get the materials for the bank job, and he doesn’t want us to start anything else before then in case it overruns.”
“I know.”
“Did you finish at the church hall?”
“Yeah.”
Billy sighed, and his exasperation poked holes in my back. Either that, or he was glaring daggers at me and I could feel every single one. And I didn’t blame him. I’d been in my own head since he’d left to go out with Luke yesterday, and I’d taken to avoiding him ever since, hiding at the gym last night until he’d gone to sleep in his own room, and taking a one-man job this morning.
Idiot.Yup. Especially given that all I wanted to do was roll around in my bed with him.
At least, that was what my dick wanted to do. The rest of me was freaking out. It was easy to get lost in how much I wanted him when he was right in front of me—or beneath me—but the moment he’d left yesterday, responsibility had kicked me in the nuts. I’d promised Luke I’d take care of his brother, not get him naked and fuck him. And what if we had fucked? What then? My heart told me it would never be enough, that I wanted far more from Billy than that, but what if I didn’t? What if he didn’t, and I couldn’t deal? What happened to Billy’s safe haven then? When it was tainted by awkwardness and resentment?
I knew exactly what would happen. He’d leave, and with me a permanent fixture in Luke’s life, he wouldn’t come back, and I’d have robbed Luke of the best chance he’d ever had to rebuild his relationship with his brother.
And all because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants.
Billy came up behind me. I tensed, but he didn’t touch me. Which was worse for my willpower than if he had. To have him so close burned.
“I never pegged you for the moody silent type,” he said. “Something on your mind?”
“Like what?”
“Like whatever has turned you into Luke. I’m the one who spent all day with him yesterday.”
“How did that go?”
“We’re both still alive.”
A chuckle burst free of my tight chest. “That’s good news.”
“Is it? Cos you don’t seem that pleased to see me.”
I forced myself to turn around. He was a heartbeat behind me, face twisted in the faint sneer he usually reserved for other people, but his eyes held something else. Something I found myself wanting to believe he shared only with me. Uncertainty. Vulnerability. The real Billy that hid behind sharp wit and sarcasm. “Course I’m pleased to see you.”
“I wasn’t fishing, mate. Just wondering what was up. You normally chew my ear off.”
“Bit tired, that’s all.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t spend four hours at the gym then.”
Billy stepped back, effectively ending the conversation. In my head, I let him go and went back to murdering the dinner.
Real life me reached out and grabbed his arm. “I didn’t spend four hours at the gym. I spent two there then went to help Mia with her wedding orders.”
Billy glanced at my hand wrapped around his bicep, then turned narrowed eyes to me. “Do you do that a lot?”
“What? Work out for two hours, or help Mia?”