“Seems someone is covering for you being missing.”
Yeah. Appearances must always be kept up. For her to go missing now might raise suspicions.
“Sorry for panicking like that.”
He placed his thumb over her lips. “Hush. You don’t need to apologize.”
“You keep having to come to my rescue.”
“And that is my privilege. And joy. Losing you affected us all. Maybe more than we thought it would. You were Aleki’s girl. But you were ours too.”
“Wolfe hates me. He told me that if I walked out on Aleki, he’d never allow me to get close enough to hurt any of you again. That I was basically dead to him.”
“If you were dead to him, he wouldn’t even acknowledge you. You know Wolfe doesn’t handle emotions well. Especially softer ones. Hate. Dislike. Anger. Those he knows and trusts. But kindness. Affection. Love. Those he doesn’t get. Wolfe needs to learn to trust you again. And Aleki feels things more strongly than the rest of us, he just tries to hide his sensitive side. You hurt him.”
She winced. She hated thinking of him hurt.
“But I think he’s as upset with himself as he is with you.”
“And you?”
He smiled at her gently. “I have always had a lot of guilt about my feelings towards you. Wanting your best friend’s girl tends to do that.”
“You . . . you wanted me?”
“Oh yeah.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “I’ve always wanted you. You damn well ruined all other women for me, you know.”
“S-sorry?”
“What did I say about saying sorry?” he said sternly, raising his eyebrows.
She gulped. Caleb had always been dominant, but it seemed he’d gotten more so over the years.
; “Sor—” She cut herself off as he raised an eyebrow. Damn it.
“You only apologize when there is a real need, understand? When you’ve been naughty and broken a rule, then you can say sorry. Not that it would get you out of a punishment.”
She sucked in a breath. “Caleb, I don’t . . . I can’t . . .”
His face grew pensive. “I’m moving too fast. Your husband just died.”
“I told you that we weren’t close. The truth is, I didn’t always like him that much.”
Caleb stiffened. A look came over his face. Her breath caught. It was a look of possession. Hunger. He felt like a predator. And she was his meal.
“Why did you marry him?”
“It’s complicated,” she whispered.
He narrowed his gaze and she tensed, knowing he was going to push her for more. But then the door opened, and Aleki and Wolfe stepped in.
“What’s happening?” Aleki asked, he had his hand in a big bag of potato chips. Walking around, he sat beside her. Wolfe leaned against the wall in his usual pose. He was eating lime jello.
“Vivi and I are just having a chat about why she stayed with her husband when she didn’t like him.”
She glared at Caleb. “What if I didn’t want everyone to know?”