Bait: The Wake Series, Book One(17)

Dialing his number, I secretly hoped that it went to voice mail and I could leave a simple hello/goodnight message without a lengthy recount of my day.

“There you are,” he answered sweetly and it made me smile.

“Here I am. What are you doing?” I asked, standing in front of a wall in Micah's bedroom that was host to framed pictures. I stopped when I found one of us from last year. Then directly next to it was a photo of Casey, Cory, and Micah. It looked like they were giving her some sort of hot-twin sandwich. Lucky bitch.

“I'm going to your parents’ house. Shane is moving back in this weekend and I helped him with a few bigger things earlier. They're grilling out and invited me back.” Shane, my oldest brother, was at the beginning of a separation from his wife of only three years, which was fine by me. Shane and Kari never made sense in my head anyway.

“That was nice of you.” A twinge of guilt rolled itself in the pit of my stomach.

“Yeah, I'm a nice guy like that. I miss you, Blake. You fly back tomorrow, don't you?”

“Yeah. Wanna pick me up at the airport?”

“Sure. What time?”

“I should get in about seven tomorrow evening. Listen, I'm going to get back to Micah's party. I wanted to call you before it got late and/or loud. Tell Shane I said hey.”

“Will do. Behave yourself. Have fun. I love you.”

Behave myself. Right. Hearing him say that a day earlier would have sounded absurd, but right then it made me feel queasy. “I love you, too.”

Ending the call, I was startled by Micah standing in her doorway clearing her throat.

“Oh, hey.”

“What the hell happened last night?” Her voice was upbeat, but carried a hint of accusation. I didn't want to lie to her. I sat on the edge of her bed and faced the wall of pictures and Micah sat beside me, leaning a shoulder into mine as she began to talk.

“They're pretty close, you know,” she said.

“Who?”

“Cory and Casey. They fight. God, do they fight, but they're close. How serious are you and Grant? I mean, it isn't my business, but last night wasn't like you.” She walked the thin line of being nosey with being concerned like a pro.

Apparently, the brothers talked a lot, too. “Uh.” I leaned forward and put my head in my hands. It was the moment I was dreading. But somehow my feelings were crossed. I didn't know how to explain it. I was more ashamed of myself for being with Casey, when I had a boyfriend, than I was for sleeping with another man when I was dating Grant.

I tried to explain, “I know. It just happened. It was spontaneous and…” looking for a word as I stood and began a short pace in front of my friend, “he's just so sexy and fun and interesting, Micah. Of course I feel shitty for doing that to Grant. Don't you think I feel bad? And you're right. It isn't like me at all.” I looked down at my hands and picked at a hangnail that I could only imagine getting worse and worse now that I'd honed in on it. “It was a mistake.”

“A mistake?” I heard a familiar male's voice say from across the room. Didn't anyone knock around there? “It was a mistake?” he repeated.

Casey was standing in the doorway. He wasn't pleased. Quickly, I looked to Micah for reinforcement. She didn't meet my eyes when she said, “You guys need a minute. It’s okay if you stay in here.” Then, like she realized that she'd offered her bedroom to two people who clearly had no self-control, she added, “Just...just behave.” There it was again. Behave.

I watched my little friend walk around the man who danced his way into my hotel bed the night before. She patted his hard chest as she made her way past.

“That didn't come out right,” I said.

“It sounded like it did.” His big hands were in his hair, holding it while he continued, “Listen, I know you have a boyfriend, but you don't like him that much. Do you? I mean, how could you?”

How could I? The million-dollar question. Of course I loved Grant. He was kind and sweet. He was my boyfriend. “I do like him. I love him. I don't know what happened last night.”

“And this morning? Today?” He stepped closer, shrinking the space between us. “I thought we had a good time.” His eyes burned into mine. His voice was almost pleading.

“What do you want me to say? I don't even live here.” Feelings of frustration and confusion fogged my head. What did he want from me? “I don't know how to explain it.”