Page 117 of Lose You Twice

I cover my face with one hand and laugh quietly into the empty room.

I’m so fucked.

The next morning, Grayson’s sitting at our island when I make it into the kitchen. He takes a sip of his coffee, then looks over. “You gonna tell me?”

“No good morning? Just hopping right to it?” I grab a mug from the cabinet and pour myself some of the coffee he’s made.

“Figured I wouldn’t get anywhere with pleasantries and decided on the direct approach instead. So, you gonna tell me what happened?”

Part of me wants to. I trust Grayson; it’s not like he’d go and share my business with everyone else, but I also think I owe it to both myself and to Wren to figure out whatever this is before sharing it with anyone.

I shake my head. “Not yet.”

He nods, then goes back to looking at something on his phone.

“That’s it?” I ask.

“You said no.”

“Since when does that stop you?”

He shrugs. “Since I saw your face yesterday.”

I lean forward. “What does that mean?”

“It means whatever happened, it matters to you.”

Everything in me stills.

Grayson keeps his voice low. “I’m not asking for details. I don’t want them. Harlow definitely wants them, so don’t tell her I said that.”

“Noted.”

“But I am going to say one thing.”

“Of course you are.”

“You don’t have to know exactly what it is before you admit you want it.”

The words sit between us.

I look down at the mug in my hands. “What if wanting it isn’t enough?”

Grayson doesn’t answer right away.

When he does, his voice is careful. “Then you deal with that when you get there. But don’t punish her or yourself now because you’re scared of a future problem.”

I huff a humorless laugh.

He stands, pushing in his stool. “We better get going; weights start in twenty.”

Grayson heads toward his room to get ready, and I stay standing where I am, staring at my counter as if it holds the answers to all of my problems.

Sadly for me, it doesn’t.

18

WREN