11. Never
I reached for the pendant and stared down at it.
What did Lily mean by “the truth” about it?
Also, why did every new piece of information I come across lead to a thousand more questions?
Letting the dull, amber stone fall back against my damp skin, I took a bracing breath, opened the bathroom door, and marched my ass right into the middle of the discussion. I was fed up with not knowing what was going on with damned near everything in my life, and I still had the added courage of my residual buzz from the mojitos.
Hook was the first to look my way, tearing his narrowed gaze away from Lily. His expression changed in an instant. From angry to hot-as-hell to worried. I was assuming that last one was worried anyway, given that everyone had gone silent. I reached for the towel wrapped tightly around my body, making sure it hadn’t inadvertently fallen off. There was a ninety-five percent chance I would’ve noticed, but after the twists and turns of the day, I wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“What do I need to know about you, Hook?” It was only fair to give him the opportunity to explain himself. Right?
He took a couple of steps toward me before Leo was on his feet. “Maybe this should wait until morning,” he said, edging into the chasm of want sprawling between me and my pirate.
“If I wanted to wait, I would have asked in the morning,” I said flatly.
Hook’s heated gaze ran slowly down my body and back up. “Then, perhaps this is a discussion we can have in private?”
A shiver worked through me. Private. As in alone, together, in a closed space.
Hell yes.
Also, fuck no.
My emotions were all over the place. If he got me alone anywhere—a room, the hallway, outside on the freaking sidewalk—I would be a goner. The guy was like a drug. Even now, with questions swirling in the background, I was drawn to him. My body wanted to close the distance between us, so I did what any salty bitch would do. I took a step back and shook my head.
“I’m good out here.”
He ran his tongue along the edge of teeth, clearly frustrated by my refusal. “It’s just to talk, Never. You have my word.”
“And we can talk out here.” Where it was safe.
Hook pulled in a heavy breath, letting it out slowly. Nothing about him deflated with the movement. If anything, he actually looked like he was wound tighter. And the way he was looking at me...
“Then will you please put on some clothes?” he asked, cutting a hostile glance at Leo.
Lily leaned her hip against the back of the couch. “For the record, I’m good either way.”
Of course she was. She’d seen me in every state of undress in every phase of my life. She was, quite literally, the closest thing I had to a sister. Now that she was rocking her human form, she was even starting to feel like one.
I shifted my attention to Leo and the way he was watching me, his nostrils flaring ever-so-slightly. His shoulders had that slight forward roll to them that always reminded me of a predator intimidating his prey.
Okay, so maybe getting dressed wasn’t a horrible idea. Another quick peek at Hook showed me he was in a similarly amped up state. There was tension between the two of them, but over what? They were friends, weren’t they?
I shook my head, turned, and headed down the hallway. “I’ll be out in five minutes,” I called over my shoulder. “And I expect answers.”
Shutting my bedroom door behind me, I leaned against the wood. Nothing about the day had gone as expected. First was the shit show with my demon-possessed brother. Then the club and the way Leo had been treating me. And now there was Hook.
Crossing to my dresser, I pulled out a set of sleep shorts and the super soft, bordering on threadbare tank I’d had for forever. You couldn’t quite see my nipples through the fabric, yet, but that day was coming. Until then, I was going to wear the shit out of that thing.
Changing took a grand total of a minute, so I sat down on my bed and tried to get my thoughts straight. The lingering buzz was pretty much gone now, but that left exhaustion in its wake. Emotional, physical, spiritual.
I was ten different kinds of tired.
And my pillows were just sitting there, all alone, looking so soft and inviting.
“One minute,” I whispered.
I laid down, promptly losing the fight to keep my eyes open once my head was cocooned in the safety of my pillow, and counted down from sixty in my mind.
When I woke up, the morning sun was starting to spill in through my windows. I was covered with a throw blanket I didn’t remember grabbing, and someone was stretched out next to me on the bed. I twisted around to get a peek.
Lily?
That tracked, actually, since it wasn’t all that different from the countless nights she’d snuggled up to me as a dog. Was it all a little strange? Yeah, I could admit that. Did I mind? Not so much.
There was no real tension with her. Not like there was with Leo, and nothing at all like what I felt when Hook was that close to me. She was my reprieve.
I’d have to remember to thank her for that when she woke up.
In the meantime, I had a powerful need to find out what was going on. Why was Hook in my world? How the hell did he even get here? And what big secret did Lily think I needed to know about him and the pendant?
I laid there for a while, seriously debating waking her up to see if I could pry those answers out of her. In the end, though, I dragged my ass out of bed and padded down the hallway.
Leo was asleep in my brother’s room, and Hook was stretched out awkwardly on the couch in the living room. Just the sight of him kicked my pulse up a notch or two, even as relief so strong it was almost tangible rolled over me. I might not know what to say to the man, or what secrets he was hiding, but I knew I wanted him here.
I got a pot of coffee going as quietly as I could, and while I waited, I leaned back against the kitchen counter and took inventory. My hangover was nonexistent, and as far as I could tell, there weren’t any parts of the night I couldn’t remember. Aside from crashing in my bed and the way the time I’d spent dancing at the club melted into one long unidentifiable song.
Right up until I’d wheeled around and damned near slapped Hook.
Why was it still hard to believe he was here? I checked the couch again, and yep, the big, bossy pirate was real enough.
Once I had two steaming cups of coffee in my hands—one laced with a liberal dose of my Irish cream creamer, the other as black as night—I moved silently and sat down on the battered living room table facing my sleeping pirate. I set his cup to the side, folded my legs underneath me, and sipped on my own sweet morning bliss while I waited for him to wake up.
It took approximately twenty seconds for his eyes to snap open. There was a wildness in them that ripped all the air from the room. Gods, the guy was something else.
“Never?” My name rattled out of him like he couldn’t quite believe his own eyes.
I took a sip of my coffee before tipping my head. “Hook.”
The first hint of a smirk played across his lip before it vanished. He sat up and reached for me, but yanked his hands back before even a single finger had a chance to brush my skin. And I was showing a lot of it. My sleep shorts were no joke. Couple that with the thin tank I was sporting, and I was actually a little insulted his eyes hadn’t wandered to check out my lack of clothing.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
Was I okay? Boy howdy, that was a loaded fucking question. No, I wasn’t okay, for so many reasons. So, I skipped to the second question.
“I’m feeling fine. Maybe a little sore.” I wiggled my ass on the table, and finally his gaze dipped. The sound that rumbled out of him when he got a look at me set every hair on my scalp on edge. “Other that than, I’m good.”
If I’d had it all to do over again, the only thing I would change about running into him was the part where I’d cried in front of him. I shoved the memory of that weakness away and settled all my attention on him.
“I brought you coffee,” I said, nodding to the mug by my hip.
It was right there. I could have handed it to the man, but I wanted him to lean forward to take it. He did, with a look that heated my blood. He didn’t touch. Didn’t let his hand graze even a fraction of an inch of my exposed thigh. By all appearances, he was the perfect gentleman.
“Thank you.” He brought the cup to his lips and sipped. His eyes slipped closed for a beat, and I would swear I heard him hum in approval. “It’s good.”
It damned well better be. I splurged on a handful of things in my life, and coffee was on that list. Sure, I doused mine in creamer, but I could still taste the difference between the good stuff and the criminally cheap stuff.
“We need to talk.” There was no point in dancing around the things that needed to be said, even if I didn’t really know what those things were.
He gave me a slow nod and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees while he stared down into his mug. “We do.”
I waited and when he didn’t say anything else, I had to fight the urge to reach out and pinch him. In my experience, when someone didn’t want to do something, the best way to handle it was to cut right to the heart of it.
No mercy.
“What did Lily mean last night?” I asked. “What don’t I know about you and about the pendant?” I mean, there was a ton of stuff I didn’t know about both things, but the way Lily brought it up made it sound like there was something specific and important that I needed to know.
When he met my searching gaze, those amber eyes of his were showing just a hint of a glow. It might have been from the morning light streaming in through the living room windows, but I wouldn’t bet money on it.
We watched each other for what felt like minutes, neither of us daring to speak. I wasn’t going to beg to get the answers I wanted. I wouldn’t demand or pound my fists on the table, either. Whatever Lily thought I needed to know, I was sure I could get it out of her, but I owed it to Hook to give him the chance to tell me himself.
Disappointment rose up inside me the longer he stayed quiet, to the point where I felt the physical need to move.
“Can you promise me that you won’t be angry with me, even if you don’t like what I’m about to say?” he finally asked.
I laughed at that. Not loud, but it was enough to get my point across. “No.”