“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “Traveling seems to set them off, though, along with a messed-up sleep schedule, and we haven’t been getting much sleep.”

“Get a room,” Mason huffs.

Sam wiggles his eyebrows at me and takes the shot of whiskey Mason poured for him. “That’s my plan.”

13

Sam

“Do you want me to bring you some Advil?” I set my phone on the nightstand and turn, stepping over to pull the curtains closed.

“Sure, but I don’t feel like getting up,” Chloe says, pulling her sweater over her head. I think she feels a lot worse than she’s letting on, and I’m pretty sure she has a fever.

“I’ll get it for you, babe. That’s what I meant.”

“Oh, then yeah. And some water. My throat is a little dry.”

Giving her a kiss on the forehead, I go back downstairs for water and medicine. Chloe is snuggled under the covers when I get back.

“If you have a fever you shouldn’t be so bundled up,” I tell her and sit on the side of the bed.

“I don’t have a fever.” She sits up and takes the pills from me, washing them down with water.

“How do you know?”

“Wishful thinking.”

I chuckle and lie down next to her and start rubbing her back. Chloe lets out a soft moan and wiggles closer to me. I push my fingers under her tank top, closing my eyes when I feel her warm skin against my palm.

“If you want to live out your teenage fantasy, you better close the door.” Chloe rolls over and hooks her leg over mine.

“I was joking about that,” I tell her.

“Really?”

“No. Fucking you in my room has always been a fantasy.”

She slips her fingers inside the waist of my pants. “Well, let’s make it a reality.”

My cock jumps at the thought. “You don’t feel well.”

“It’s nothing an orgasm won’t cure. Though if we want to be authentic, the sex should be awkward and not satisfying.”

“What makes you think I was awkward in bed?”

“All teenagers are.”

“No, there’s not. I was one who wasn’t.”

She lets out a snort of laughter. “Sure, you were. From my very limited experience with the one boyfriend I slept with as a teenager, teen boys watch porn which is filmed by men, for men, and gives little thought to what pleases a woman.”

“I’ve always pleased.”

Chloe laughs and pops the button on my jeans. “Quiet, Sam, your parents might hear us. We’re supposed to be up here studying. Your mom is going to send Rory up to get us for dinner soon too.”

“Fuck,” I groan. “This is both weird and hot.”

“That’s my specialty.” She pulls down my zipper. “Now go close the door. And be discrete about it.”

Cock hardening, I get out of bed, stripping out of my pants on the way back to bed once the door is closed.

“Be careful with me, I’m a virgin,” she says, batting her lashes. “Too weird? I think that’s too weird. Oh, unless we both want to pretend to be virgins. I’ll have to be seventeen then.”

“Too weird,” I tell her and move over top, brushing her thick, dark red hair away from her pretty face. “Who did you lose your—never mind. I don’t want to know. And like you said, we don’t have much time until we’re called down to dinner.”

“What should we do until then?” She flutters her lashes at me, and I lose it. This woman is everything I want. Everything I need and then some. And more than I’ll ever deserve. She laughs and sticks her hands inside my boxers. Kissing her neck, I move to the side so I can remove her clothes.

“I don’t know how many times I imagined myself here,” she tells me as I start stroking her.

“Probably not as many times as you imagined me.”

My phone vibrates on the nightstand next to me, waking me up. Over the years, I’ve gotten used to taking short naps and having to wake up and be one hundred percent with it. There’s no time to break out of a nap-induced fog when you have to go straight into surgery or rush to intubate someone.

Chloe is still sound asleep next to me, and I’m a little annoyed at being woken up. Another text message comes through, and the phone vibrates again. I sit up, keeping the blankets over Chloe, and grab my phone. It’s Stacey, and the peace I was feeling leaves me, making my stomach clench and my throat tighten.

The room swirls around me as the truth sinks in yet again. I’m home in Silver Ridge, at my parents’ house with my brothers and Chloe.

And I’m lying to their fucking faces.

Letting out a breath, I unlock my phone to read Stacey’s text.

Stacey: Hey, you working?

Stacey: If not, want to get some dinner?

It would be easiest to tell her yeah, I’m working, but I’m already trying to keep the truth buried for another day and don’t want to convolute it with more lies. The weekend. It was all I wanted, and it’s quickly coming to a close.

Me: I’m visiting my parents.

Stacey: In Michigan, right?

Though I never brought Stacey home to meet my family, and they never met her when they came to Chicago to visit me, she knows damn well I used to live in Michigan.

Me: Yeah.

Stacey: Sounds nice. You didn’t tell them yet, did you?

I know what she’s talking about, and the fact that I will have to tell them soon makes anxiety rise inside me.

Me: No, not yet.

Stacey: Good. I want to be there when you tell them. I haven’t told my mom. I want you to be there too.

My eyes fall shut in a long blink. Right. It’s not just Stacey I’ll be involved with. She has siblings, her parents. Cousins. I think most of her family lives around the Chicago area. We’ll have to work out how to share the child around holidays and birthdays. Not even a minute goes by before Stacey texts me again.

Stacey: You don’t want to be there???

Me: I do. I told you, if this is my child then I will be there.

Stacey: IT IS YOURS

Stacey: Sorry. I’m hormonal, I suppose. It makes me sad you don’t trust me.

I never fully felt like I could trust Stacey, which was a big reason I knew we’d never work out long-term. We had fun, got along well enough, but never had that spark.

Me: It’s not that I don’t trust you. Once we get the paternity test results back, there will be no question.

Stacey responds with a thumbs up. She’s mad, and I don’t want to offend or upset her, but she has to see where I’m coming from. We weren’t exclusive, and the one time we attempted it, she couldn’t stay faithful. I put my phone back down and settle next to Chloe. She feels hot again, so I carefully move the quilt off of her shoulders. The rain has stopped, and the sun is trying to come out from behind the storm clouds.

I can hear my family talking and laughing downstairs, and it sounds like Lennon, my cousin, is here. Careful not to wake Chloe, I get out of bed and get dressed, slowly opening the door. It’s always creaked, and it was always just enough of a warning to know if Mason was getting into my shit when we were kids. I don’t know how many times I’d be sitting in the kitchen, hear the door open, and run upstairs to beat Mason’s ass.