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Liam held his morose expression and crossed his arms over his chest to examine Nathan with the same scrutiny “Well? What do you want?”

Nathan glanced around, feeling the room echoed with every little noise they made Most every other door he could see in the house on the first floor was closed to hiht, some sort of library Was anyone else awake? He couldn’t help feeling so Weren’t there four others on their team? He couldn’t remember

He refocused on Liaht Two, actually”

Lia up?”

“Theyht, trying to control his voice and keep his body fro “It’s my fault”

Lia closer

A hand rested on Nathan’s shoulder “Look at me,” he said quietly

Nathan picked up his head He was taller than Lia and s he rarely felt with anyone

Helpless Useless

Lia, and then he spoke “Whatever happened, I’m sure it’s horrible But if your team was any sort of teasYou’re clearly sorry for whatever happened, or you wouldn’t be here trying to fix it They’ll see that”

Nathan sed thickly “I’m just afraid they’ll decide to boot me off the team I’ll lose them I’ll lose her”

“If they are your team, they won’t kick you off It’s always a mutual decision”

He wished he believed it But at the moment, he was pretty sure

Liam motioned to the library room “Come sit down Hurry before you wake anyone else up If you need to vent and get another opinion, I guess I was the lucky dog to answer the door first The answer you’re looking for probably isn’t as hard to get as you think”

Nathan breathed out heavily through his nose and relaxed, but only a little

He wasn’t so sure it was going to be fixable

Cake in a Pan

Sang

Two Weeks Earlier

Cold seeped through the s upstairs in the Lee household Mid-January in South Carolina wasn’t as cold as Illinois, but the darkness and cooler te more than to stay in bed with a blanket and a book

Kota’s bedroom was still The drapes to the s had already been pulled back to let in what early et over the trees The room was cool in purple and pink hues

I had two or three blankets piled up around me

Luke was pressed to my side, hip to hip

The narroin mattress left little room, so no matter how I rolled over, he was at s were crossed on top of one of mine

When did he crawl in within I otten so used to so into the bed with me that I dismissed it entirely

Luke draped an ar was steady I slowly blinked at hi still so I wouldn’t wake him His tapered shoulders were bare The tan he’d built up during the war as long asout over the pillow

I considered getting up to wash and dress, but I was comfortable next to Luke The bed arether

The other reason to stay in bed as long as possible was Erica

Even though it was an early hour, Erica was downstairs rattling around in the kitchen Kota had joined her not long ago Their voices floated up,When I was around, Kota’s mom seemed to ask a lot of questions

Luke turned his head toAn ared me closer until my back was to his chest, and his lips dipped down atmy neck

I flipped over so I could look at his sleepy brown eyes “Good ,” I whispered

“I like h I had flipped, he kept an are loosely “Erica isn’t going to work today?”

“It’s so hard to keep track of her schedule,” I said “So How does she do it?”

/> “It works for her I think she likes the non-routine”

The volume of voices downstairs rose, mostly Erica She didn’t do it often, but I’d been in the house for about a week consistently now, and I was getting used to hearing it She got very animated around Kota

I sometimes listened, because often the questions were about me

A couple of weeks ago, the Sorenson house had been taken over by my stepmother She returned from the hospital and Marie took care of her, with a little help from the Academy

They both seee at a small rental with his new fiancé until a divorce finalized, everything was settled

Except for me

The paperwork for the divorce was handled delicately Each side had hired Academy lawyers, luckily The lawyers were careful with the docue until I’d eventually disappear before any official record was signed for the court

The only one concerned at all wasme

We all knew the reason was to keep round a secret His assumption was that my stepmother wouldn’t want me anyway

I wasn’t in the clear, but the guys assuredback to anyone

Andat Erica’s house for a week left her with a lot of questions about as going on atand she wanted to know Kota explained there was a divorce pending, but he left out a lot of details and claimed he didn’t know because I didn’t know the full details either She had accepted this, but she did pry for updates

Luke ainst his finger, and then quickly released it “You’d look good with curls, I think”

“Hmm” I didn’t haveto the voices downstairs “If Erica is hoo somewhere else today”

“Might be a good idea to get you to stay overnight soot up on his elbow The blanket we shared slipped off of his shoulder, exposing his bare chest underneath As he twisted and stretched his arms, the blanket fell off of his waist and revealed he earing a pair of Kota’s paja loose and low on his hips “She doesn’todder, it e”