CHAPTER TWENTY
GRANT
“ Y ou’re like a human furnace. I woke up sweating.”
Lina doesn’t even open her eyes. “You could’ve asked me to move instead of dramatically dying of a heatstroke.”
I snort under my breath and roll onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. Her hair’s all over my pillow, and one of her legs is tangled with mine. She’s still tucked into my bed like she owns the damn place.
We’re supposed to be friends, I think. Friends don’t usually wake up cuddling.
“I did ask. You just grumbled, rolled over, and ended up closer. I was worried I’d spontaneously combust.”
Now she barely opens her eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”
“Maybe,” I admit, smirking. “But you slept.”
She hesitates, like acknowledging it will make it vanish. Then, softly, “Yeah. I guess I did.”
It’s quiet for a beat. Not awkward. Just that soft, early morning quiet that feels like it’s holding its breath.
“You know,” I say, voice low, “if you need to keep doing this—coming over to sleep—I don’t mind. Could make it official. In a super friendly way, of course.”
Her mouth twitches as she tries not to smile. “You’re trying to convince me to repeatedly crash at your place like a stray cat?”
“Would you stop calling yourself a stray cat?” I reply. “You’re way grumpier, and I haven’t even had to feed you yet.”
Lina gives me a half-hearted scoff but doesn’t say no. I let that be the win that it is.
After a moment, she shifts and mutters, “We’ll see.”
Not a no. “I’ll take it.”
I watch her close her eyes again, trying to pretend she’s not the tiniest bit relieved. I know this isn’t a solution—not a real one. But for now, I’m hoping it’s enough.
The sudden sound of the front door swinging open seconds later startles us both. Braxton and Cam are out of town this weekend, so I know it’s not them.
“What the hell—?” I bolt upright, and Lina follows with a confused groan, tangled in the sheets.
Voices flood in from the hallway.
“I TOLD YOU he still sleeps like the dead,” one chirps, too chipper for this hour.
“Oh my God,” I groan, already bracing myself. “No. No. No!”
Lina raises an eyebrow. “Who the hell is that?”
“My worst nightmare.” I drag a hand down my face as I scramble out of bed.
Before I can fully process what’s happening, the bedroom door bursts open and three people spill in: my dad and my older sisters, Abby and Claire. They’re all grinning like they won the lottery.
“Grant!” Abby yells, as though I’ve been away at war. “Surprise!”
“Jesus Christ,” I hiss, stepping in front of the bed like I can physically block their view of Lina, who’s still half-wrapped in the covers and glaring daggers at me.
Claire, of course, notices immediately. “Oh. My. God. You didn’t tell us you had company .”
“Kind of hard to tell you that when you don’t tell me you’re coming over,” I counter.
Lina looks like she might pass out when Abby makes eye contact with her. I watch her shrink further down into my mattress, her collarbones jutting out from how tense she is.
My dad clears his throat, clearly trying to be polite while also failing miserably. “Well. This is… unexpected.”
I want the earth to open up and swallow me whole. “What are you doing here?”
“To visit our favorite baby brother, of course! Dad wanted to check on you, Claire’s off school for the week, and I had PTO. We figured you’d love the surprise.”
“This is not loving.”
“I swear to God,” Lina says flatly, staring at the ceiling like she’s mentally projecting herself out of this moment. “I’m never sleeping here again, and we are no longer friends, by the way.”
I shoot a look back at Lina, mouthing, I’m sorry .
Claire snorts. “She’s funny. I like her.”
“You’d like her a lot more if you weren’t posing as the damn SWAT team, bursting in my room before nine a.m.,” I tell her, my tone sharp.
Dad claps a hand on my shoulder, eyes suspiciously bright. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get to know your girlfriend really well over breakfast.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Lina quickly cuts in, sitting up straighter in my bed. “Just friends. In fact, we’re barely even that. Friends with a lowercase f , as Grant put it.”
Hell, I’m lucky enough I got her to agree to that .
“Friends who… sleep together?” Claire questions suspiciously.
“Sounds about right,” Abby mutters, glaring at me.
My dad’s eyes widen, and he walks out of the room at the measured pace of a man trying to pretend his daughters aren’t bringing up his son’s sex life.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past few weeks,” Lina admits. “It might sound weird, but I sleep better here.”
My sisters give each other a look before turning to face me with knowing smirks.
“I don’t blame you, girl,” Abby says. “I slept so much better when I had Gigi at my disposal.”
“You have a husband ,” I retort. This is the same argument I’ve had with her time and time again.
“Did you just call him Gigi ?” Lina asks.
“We were hoping for a third sister,” Claire explains.
I roll my eyes. “So as punishment for me not being a girl, they forced me to be their bitch my entire childhood,” I tell Lina, making her smile.
“Our sweet baby brother used to sit at the edge of our beds and scratch our backs until we knocked out. And he’d hum our favorite songs, like a human white noise machine,” Claire says.
“Against my will,” I remind them.
Abby waves me off. “You were so good at it. We trained you well.”
“I was eight.”
Claire smirks at Lina. “Once, I told him I had a test coming up and couldn’t fall asleep because of the stress. He stayed up two extra hours just to trace the periodic table on my back.”
“I still can’t believe you made me draw all the noble gases,” I snap.
Abby puts a hand over her heart. “He was the best little emotional support brother.”
“Decades of sisterly torment,” I mutter, throwing a blanket over Claire to shut her up. “That’s what built my skill set.”
“Well, it’s clearly still working. You’ve upgraded from anxious sisters to pretty girls with sleep issues.” Abby grins.
I look back at Lina, smirking as a blush rises to her cheeks. “This won’t be the last time, either.”
She smacks me in the chest, but she didn’t deny the fact.
“Alright, we’ll let you two get ready while we make coffee,” Abby says.
“No,” I say, leading them out my bedroom door. “You’ll leave. Immediately.”
“Too late,” Claire calls. “I’m already making pancakes.”
God help me.
As the door swings partway shut behind them, I hear Lina groan and flop back onto the bed like she’s trying to disappear into it.
I drag a hand through my hair and turn to face her. She’s staring at the ceiling again, pillow half covering her face.
“You okay?” I ask, trying not to laugh.
She peeks at me from under the pillow, her voice muffled. “I usually don’t get embarrassed, but your family walking in on me in your bed, assuming I had sex with you, is pretty damn awkward.”
I walk back over and tug the pillow away, grinning. “Could’ve been worse.”
“How?” Her face can’t hide how annoyed she is.
“You could’ve been snoring, or drooling, or naked.”
Lina groans again and shoves my shoulder. “In your dreams, Vandenberg.”
Catching her hand before she can retreat, I press a quick kiss to her knuckles without thinking. “I’ll protect you.”
The words slip out too easily, too real, and for a second, she looks at me—eyes wide, defenses slipping—and all I can think is, what the fuck did I do?
That type of stunt, kissing her lightly, subtle sweet-talk, isn’t what I usually do. The fact that I feel the need to comfort Lina to this extent causes a tinge of fear to rush through me.
I didn’t even think about how she’d possibly take it, and I refuse to think about why it felt practically instinctual.
Lina freezes, looking confused by the action too. “Careful,” she teases, pulling her hand away. “You’re teetering a little far from friends, don’t you think?”
“Yeah… it seemed more friendly in my head.”
“It’s fine.” She grabs her hoodie off the floor, pulling it over her head. “Let’s get this breakfast over with.”