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"Because you will," he said as he slid his hat off and dropped it on the ground Seeing those guys without their hats was always strange, at least when they weren’t sitting around the Walker dining room table "Me, however? I won’t"

"You strike retthe bottle back Cool liquid entered ht shot of alcohol in so long I alhed, but I held it back I passed the bottle to Garth

"I don’t," he replied, taking his own heavy swig "And you shouldn’t either" Garth kicked his legs up onto the lounge chair and stared at the stars He took another drink before passing the bottle back

"Regret’s one of the few things I’ that up"

Yikes The tequila was already getting to me That’s the only reason I’d let those vulnerable words slip throughvulnerable in front of guys like Garth Black

Tie the conversation

"So what’s up with you and your dad? Always been this dysfunctional or did you recently decide to juon?" I handed the bottle off to Garth Too much, too fast, as my words proved

Garth’s eyes narrowed at the sky "I don’t want to talk about my past anya drink Actually, it was"Don’t askyou the saot my attention

"Like I said before, Rowen, you and ot ain, I’d be you And if you had a dick and were a bitme the bottle It was halfway e above my head

"So" Just the way he said it, I was already wincing before he said anything else "I take it, since I found you curled up asleep and alone a good coupleto heart"

It wasn’t a question He knew I had

The tequila had dulled the blow of hearing his name, but it hadn’t made me immune I kneouldn’t matter if ten years down the road, I heard that naer on the street I would never be able to hear the na about hireat I don’t want to talk about Jesse" When I took another drink, the tequila didn’t burn In fact, it drank h ti out So I took one more drink and handed it back to Garth I was officially cutting myself off

"We can’t talk about our families We can’t talk about our pasts And we can’t talk about Jesse, or I’ any of the Walkers" He looked at ree

So I lifted ave him a Your point? look

"Then e talk about?" He seemed amused with himself Or with me Or with the situation I couldn’t tell, and the alcohol onlyeested Partly because I didn’t feel like talking, and partly because I was nearing the point where speech would be difficult At least non-slurred speech I burrowed down deeper in the chair and my blanket, closed my eyes, and let the alcohol do its job

"That’s my favorite kind of conversation to have," he replied, sounding like he was shifting in his seat

So we agreed on soht before the haze took me over, and either I fell asleep or I passed out

Whichever it was, I was pulled back to the surface when a handAnother hand wove through my hair before a pair of lips settled just belowmy head in place curled deeper when thatdown ently sucked at the sensitive skin, I ency in the touch, the gentle strength in the hands were faainst n

When that mouth made its return journey back up my neck, I arched for it to coue tasted h the haze I wanted to touch him back with the same kind of precision I wanted to feel him, but my hands were numb and could barely function

What happened next, I didn’t expect The hands and h I’d shocked theht before I fell back intoagainst so

Chapter Eleven

I fell asleep to the sound of breaking glass and woke up to the sound of raised voices They weren’t really raised They were

"Didn’t expect to see you around this place ever again, Walker Were you in theit?"

"So helpto her, I will finish what I should have o"