Page 268 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Going over everything.

Reliving mistakes.

Wishing for different things.

Eating guilt like a second meal.

Fuck all that noise.

Siena reached up and cupped John’s face. His hazel eyes locked on hers, and for a second, that darkness dimming his gaze disappeared. He focused on her, and nothing else seemed to matter to him.

She wished she could be here more.

Give him more.

Do more.

“Stop giving my brother and his people what they want by getting messed up over all of this,” she said quietly. “You know that’s their goal—don’t do it, John. Nothing else matters but right here, and right now. Everybody else around you is going to tell you the same thing. You have too many other things to worry about right now.”

He couldn’t be off his game.

Not now.

The risk was too high.

She wondered if anybody else had told him that.

Did anyone else even know his state of mind?

John’s fingers circled around Siena’s wrists, held tight, and then he kissed her. A soft, quick kiss that didn’t stay long, and yet still lingered once his lips were gone from hers. He gave her a crooked smile, and she gave him one back.

“Thank you,” he said in a rough murmur.

He never needed to thank her.

Not for loving him.

“Don’t worry me again.”

He nodded. “I was just going to jump in the shower, and got distracted. I was out for a jog before I came home.”

“To another mailer?”

“Yeah.”

Fuck Darren.

“Go have your shower,” Siena said. “I’ll still be here.”

“Better be.”

John let her go, and Siena tried not to show how the loss of him made her heart heavy all over again. She watched over her shoulder as he disappeared into the connecting bathroom. She took a seat on the edge of the bed as the shower turned on, and eyed the mailers on the floor.

Her anger grew.

She wanted to kill Darren, too.

How much longer was this going to last?