Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Okay, well… Fuck me, then. I swallowed uneasily and thought about tomorrow.
Now would be a great time to back out of the whole mind-rape thing. I shouldn’t want it. I shouldn’t have this urgency for them to just have a go at me and see what they could find. I shouldn’t want them anywhere near the shit that’d hurt me for the past two years.
A chunk of lead dropped to the pit of my stomach when I realized there was a pathetic, childish hope within me. Hope for them to save me from myself.
Christ, what was wrong with me? And what the fuck had these two motherfuckers done to me?
Reese pointed his fork to my plate. “Eat up. It’ll be the last thing you eat for a while.”
“I hope you slept well last night too,” River said. “Tonight there won’t be any.”
Wait, what?
Seven
Reese Tenley
I descended the stairs the following morning and found Shay on the couch, struggling to keep his eyes open.
“Morning, sweetheart.” I tightened the towel around my hips.
He cast me a dull, exhausted glance before returning to the TV. “Sure.”
I chuckled and headed over to the kitchen. River had already made coffee. Speaking of… “Seen Riv around lately?”
Shay yawned. “He went to a bakery or some shit.”
Excellent. I was starving.
In the meantime, I could catch up on the news and drink coffee. It was going to be a busy day, so I’d decided not to swim or run this morning. As I joined Shay on the couch, I picked up the remote from the table and changed it to a news channel.
“I’m so tired,” Shay complained. “When you said I wasn’t going to sleep, I thought you were gonna play with me.”
“But we are.” I smiled and took a sip of my coffee. “Sleep deprivation is a heady tool—and an outstanding kink.”
He legit whined and hugged my bicep, his forehead falling to my shoulder. “You don’t understand. I need some rest. I can’t—”
“Nonsense. You can, and you will.” I kissed the top of his head. “You’re going on twenty-four hours without sleep. We can talk when you get to four days.”
“Four days!” he exclaimed. “You can’t keep me awake that long!”
I grinned into my mug and took a swig before setting it down on the table. “We’re not going to. I’m just pointing out that anything less than forty-eight hours is nothing.” I draped my arm around him instead and held him to me. “Four days is my record. It was a rainy week in Bangladesh. We were waiting for a Chinese diplomat…”
He didn’t find me funny. He merely snuggled closer and started drawing his fingers through my chest hair. “I heard a joke once saying there’s no such thing as a Chinese diplomat.”
I snorted in amusement.
“You smell good.” He took a whiff from my sternum. “I bet I’d appreciate it more if you let me sleep for a little while.”
I hummed, absently scratching his back. “It’s okay. You don’t need to appreciate it that much today. It’s for a good cause.”
“Good cause,” he scoffed. Then he went quiet for a bit, and I had to look down to make sure he hadn’t dozed off. “River couldn’t sleep down here.”
I wasn’t surprised. They’d looked cozy and cute together last night when I’d headed upstairs. River had been sprawled out comfortably with his legs in Shay’s lap, but my brother got a few minutes rest here and there at best when we slept apart from each other.
“We have our quirks,” I answered. “He can’t sleep well without me, and I get irritable and restless when I can’t be there to make sure he eats properly.”
It may sound funny to some people, but it was frustrating at times.
Shay pressed a kiss to my shoulder, then eased away to face me better. He blinked sleepily. Cute as fuck. “I’ve known some twins before. I think my neighborhood had a high number of careerists who had children late in life and went the IVF route or something, ’cause my high school had twins all over the place.”
I chuckled.
“I’ve never met anyone who acted like you and your brother, though,” he went on. “I mean, I can see you’re two different people, but you’re also so connected that you’re an extension of each other. He’s a part of you, you’re a part of him.”
I nodded slowly. “You’re not wrong.” Riv and I were private on this matter. We weren’t blind; we knew there were some rumors, and a select few were brave enough to ask blunt questions—not that we humored them. An even fewer number of former play partners had seen more than most ever would, and Shay was already a part of that handful.
“You don’t wanna talk about it.” He leaned forward again and became irresistibly adorable as he nuzzled my neck and placed his arms around my shoulders. “I get it. I haven’t been open, so you don’t see any reason to share in return.”