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God, how did I miss it?
“Grace—”
“It’s getting late,” she said and stood from the couch. “I’m going to bed.”
I nodded and rubbed my neck, holding myself back from calling out to her.
But what would I even say now?
So many emotions ran through my body. I felt guilty for not being there for Grace; shame for realizing how self-absorbed I’d been…maybe still am. And I felt regret for letting my pride hold me back from asking her why she didn’t come to my game all those years ago. I sat on the couch with my head in my hands when Grace’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Luke?” she called. Her voice sounded hesitant.
“Yes,” I said, rising from the couch.
But her words stopped me when I reached the top of the stairs.
“Why is there only one bed?”
Oh, fuck. I forgot about that.
10
Grace
Watching Luke’s eyes change from cold to compassionate unnerved me. In his softened features, I recognized the boy I once knew and cared about. But he didn’t exist, and maybe he never did. Just because he felt regret now having discovered the circumstances of that night, didn’t mean he wouldn’t do something like that again. Luke Crawford hadn’t changed. I saw how he didn’t care about his responsibilities at work. He only cared about attention. No. Luke may have felt guilty, but he was still the same guy. He put himself first.
At the top of the stairs, I counted four doors—two on either side of the hallway. I tried the first door to my right, but that was Colton’s study. The one beside that was a bathroom. Crossing the parquet floor of the hallway, I tried the third door. Inside, a stuffed giraffe stood proudly next to an ivory crib. That’s strange. I didn’t think any of the Crawford brothers had babies.
Shrugging my shoulders, I walked out and into the last room. I spotted a king-size bed with a black leather headboard covered with a white duvet beside a black dresser and an ornate mirror on the wall. It looked as though Colton had bought the furniture, but his wife had added some accessories to brighten it up. For a second, I thought to check the next room as Luke would surely expect to sleep in the Main bedroom, then realized this was the last room. Which meant…
“Luke,”
“Yes?”
“Why is there only one bed?”
Heavy footfalls pounded up the wooden steps. Then Luke appeared in the bedroom doorway. He looked around the room and rubbed his neck. “Shit, I forgot. Colton had mentioned something about wanting to turn the second bedroom into a nursery. Didn’t realize he had done it.”
“That’s great. I’m happy for your brother and sister-in-law. But why didn’t you tell me?”
He scoffed and put his hand on his hip. “I didn’t know this was going to be an overnight trip.”
“Well, it certainly is now,” I said in a sarcastic tone.
His eyes glanced over to the king-size bed and then back to mine. They held my gaze and my body felt them rake over my lips, my neck, my entire body. I shuddered.
“I could—”
“No.” I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as him. I just couldn’t.
“I was going to say I could take the couch and you take the bed.”
“Oh.” A twang of disappointment rang in my voice that he hadn’t thought to sleep in the same bed as me. I cleared my throat. “Thank you. That’s kind of you.” I looked around the room, but the wood floors didn’t seem like a better alternative to the couch. There was a large chair in the corner of the room. “Maybe,” I started.
He caught the direction of my eyes and shook his head. “It’s better if I’m not in the same room,” he said. “Good night, Grace.”
“Good night, Luke,” I said and waited as he inhaled a deep breath and walked away. He was right. It was better he wasn’t in the same room. I may… uh, I might, I don’t know… strangle him in the middle of the night.
