ADAM threw his legs over the side of the bed and scowled into the darkness. Considering he’d spent thirty-eight years sleeping alone—at least twenty of those actively keeping others away—his restlessness made no sense. He should be able to sleep unaccompanied in his own damn bed without issue.
But that clearly wasn’t happening. Not without Bo.
In the two weeks since they’d finally given in to their mutual desire, Adam hadn’t slept alone once. Bo had shared his bed every night, naked and warm. If Adam had slept like the dead before, he didn’t know what to call his sleep with Bo tucked close, their bodies sated and hearts full. He damn near went comatose.
Now, with Bo back in his own room two doors down, Adam was twitchy and on edge. With Lulu in town, Bo had decided they needed to maintain some semblance of propriety and sleep in separate rooms, but Adam’s bed had never felt so empty, nor his heart so achy. He missed Bo. Painfully so.
It was stupid. Bo would only be gone for a few nights, and then all would return to normal. Their new normal. The perfection of the past two weeks. Or so he hoped. But there was no guarantee, was there?
That’s where the tightness in his chest came from. The fear of the future. All good things had a finite ending, after all. As his career would eventually wind to a close, so too would his relationship with Bo. It was simply a matter of time.
Adam pressed to his feet. He couldn’t wallow in bed all night. If he wasn’t going to sleep, he should do something productive. Maybe if he busted his ass in the gym, he’d forget for a few minutes how lonely he was and pass out from exhaustion.
After garbing for a workout, Adam crept down the hall. He placed a palm over Bo’s door, stealing a moment of comfort from his closeness before tiptoeing down the stairs.
The bright beacon of the kitchen light drew his attention. He frowned. He’d been the last to bed and had shut off all the lights before heading upstairs. As promised, he’d avoided the house until after eleven to give Bo and his sister some time alone. Neither of them had been awake when he’d gotten home, a truth that only fed his insecurities.
Bo hadn’t even stayed up for a stealthy good-night kiss.
But maybe he was struggling to sleep too? Maybe they could sneak that kiss now?
When Adam stepped into the kitchen, any hope he’d allowed at the prospect of seeing Bo vanished. In its place, confusion took root.
A tiny sprite of a girl with jet-black hair and pale porcelain skin—a spitting female image of her brother—sat at the breakfast bar. Her hand was wrapped around the neck of a beer bottle, and fat tears spilled down her face. They ran in rivulets over her cheeks, staining them with the remnants of what might’ve once been dark smoky eye makeup. Now it was a fucked-up mess.
Adam wasn’t used to being around females. His world had always been filled with tough men who harbored tough expectations, starting with his father and carrying through with Eddie, Kyle, and the myriad of other men he associated with during training and fights.
Out of both habit and nerves, Adam slipped into Beast mode. Whenever he didn’t know how to act, it was always easiest to pretend, so he glowered and crossed his arms. “I thought you were only eighteen. Why are you drinking my beer?”
Lulu let out a squeak of surprise. She jerked, and the beer toppled. Its contents splashed over the counter and formed a puddle near Adam’s feet. She blinked up at him, the vivid blue pools—unaided by glasses—the first real noticeable difference between her and Bo. Even her hair was styled in a pixie cut that, from a distance, resembled Bo’s artfully disheveled locks.
When she hiccupped and a fresh wave of tears misted her eyes, Adam sighed. He unfolded his arms and grabbed a few towels. Lulu accepted the one he handed her but made no move to sop up the mess on the counter, even when he crouched to dry the floor. He straightened and cocked his head, taking a closer look at the glassiness of her eyes. They might be blue—not green—but he’d seen another Wilkins with that bleary-eyed stare more than once before. “Are you drunk?”
“No.” Lulu scrunched her nose in a sneer. “I’m just buzzed.”
“Right, and at eighteen, neither is allowed.” Adam snatched the dry towel out of Lulu’s lax grip and finished cleaning the spill. “Mind telling me why you’re awake in the middle of the night, stealing my booze?”
“None of your business, dickhead.” She pushed off the stool, stomped to the refrigerator, and pulled out a fresh beer. Popping the bottle’s cap with an expertise Adam hadn’t gained until at least twenty-five, she took a long swallow before sticking out her tongue. “I can do whatever I want. You aren’t in charge of me.”
Adam knew nothing about women, and even less about teenagers. He hadn’t been around one of those hormonal creatures since he was one himself, but he could vaguely remember spouting off idiotic and rebellious taunts with no real recollection as to why he’d done so or what would’ve made him stop.
Perhaps being an asshole wasn’t the best way to handle the situation. It would give Lulu added reasons to be a brat and to return his snark with more of her own. He held up his hands in surrender. “You’re right. You’re an adult, and I don’t even pretend to be the authoritative parenting type. I’m more about taking orders than giving them.”
“Sure you are. I can totally see the big, bad Beast taking orders.” Lulu snorted, and beer surged out her nose. Her eyes widened, and she dropped her bottle. Again. This time it shattered and covered the kitchen floor in a flood of amber liquid and glass. She squawked, held her nose with one hand, and flapped her free arm. “It burns. Ohmygod, it burns.”
“Shit.” Adam strode across the sea of alcohol—thankful he had sneakers on, since he’d dressed for the gym—and lifted Lulu off the floor. He threw her over his shoulder and carried her flailing, squealing ass into the living room, where he dropped her onto the nearest soft surface.
“You creep.” She scrambled to her feet and punched a tiny fist into his stomach. “Wait until I tell my brother what you did. He’ll kick your ass.”
“Tallulah, what the heck is going on down here?” Bo’s groggy voice preceded him down the stairs. He rubbed at his eyes before slipping on his glasses and stopping short two steps from the bottom.
Undoubtedly, Adam and Lulu made quite a sight. She was poised to aim another punch at his midriff, and he was grinning like it was Christmas morning. Not only did Bo’s presence mean he could take the mini hormone monster off Adam’s hands, it also meant there was still a chance for that good-night kiss.
“This jackass grabbed me.” Lulu pointed an accusatory finger at Adam’s chest. “He grabbed me.”
Adam took a step back, holding up both hands palms out. “Hey, I was trying to save you from the glass. That’s all.”
Bo glanced from Lulu’s squinty-eyed glare to Adam. He heaved out a purse-lipped breath and rubbed at his temple. “What glass?”
“Does it matter?” Lulu interjected before Adam had a chance to respond. Panic laced her words, and she bounced on the balls of her feet. “He grabbed me, Bo. Kick his sorry ass into pulp.”
A chuckle fell from Bo’s lips. “Have you seen the man? He pummels men three times my size for a living. Even if I wanted to—which I don’t—I’d be the one turning into pulp.”
“Fine. Fine. Whatever.” Lulu folded her arms and sulked in that overly dramatic way only a teenager could pull off. “I’m going to bed.”
Bo held out an arm to stop her before she could pass him. “I think not.” He popped a brow and pointed to the couch. “Sit. You’re not going anywhere until I know what really happened. And don’t try any of that ‘he grabbed me’ crap again. I want the truth.”
“That is the truth.” Lulu flounced back to the couch and fell onto it with enough force to send it squeaking over the hardwood floor. “Why is everyone out to get me? Isn’t anyone on my side?”
Adam didn’t envy Bo one second of this drama, but his heart twisted nonetheless. There was something very real and very painful about the words Lulu spoke. He angled his gaze to Bo, whose attention was zeroed in on his sister. The worry was clear in the pinch of his brow.
“I’m gonna go clean up the kitchen.” Adam backed in that direction, his belly doing a flip when Bo’s eyes met his. The thank-you was evident in his nod and that small, sweet smile.
Adam was putting away the mop when Bo trudged into the kitchen twenty minutes later. His shoulders sagged, and he ran a hand through his sleep-tousled waves. “I’m so sorry about that. I don’t know what her problem is. She didn’t used to be such a handful. She’s a really great kid. I swear.”
“Independence does strange things to people. Don’t take it personally. She’ll grow out of it.” Adam tossed the beer-soaked rags into the sink. “Did you get things smoothed over?”
Bo scoffed and scrubbed at his face with both hands, shoving his glasses into his hair. “She admitted to the beer. Apparently my straitlaced brainiac of a kid sister is getting drunk on the reg. Swell, huh?”
Neither Bo nor Adam had college days to look back on and compare notes. But Lulu’s experience seemed pretty run-of-the-mill to Adam. Wasn’t that what kids did? Go off to college, spread their wings, and do superstupid shit?
“Is she doing okay in school?” Adam leaned a hip against the counter and stuffed his fists under his armpits. He had to, or else he’d reach out for Bo. He wanted to feel his solid warmth more than anything else, but he’d never flout Bo’s needs to meet his own.
Bo shrugged. “She was vague about it. I have no clue what’s going on in that girl’s head.”
When Bo didn’t say anything further, Adam cleared his throat. “I want to be sure you know I didn’t touch Lulu inappropriately—”
“Oh God, Adam. No. No.” Bo shook his head, his eyes widening beneath his glasses. “I know. I do. I promise. I never for even a second thought you would have. She’s being a giant pain right now. I don’t know what possessed her to insinuate such a thing.”
“I took her by surprise. That was my fault. Should’ve told her I was going to grab her, but I acted quicker than I could think. I didn’t want her to cut herself on the glass.” Adam buried his fists deeper under his arms. “I’m not exactly great with females.”
Bo’s face softened into a sleepy smile, his lids drooping. “It’s late. Why were you awake in the first place? And fully dressed, no less?”
Rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, Adam fought the heat creeping up his cheeks. “Ah, I couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d get a workout in.”
“You wear me out.” Bo chuckled. He took a wobbly step forward and fell—blessedly—into Adam’s arms, nuzzling into his chest. “I miss you. My bed’s big and lonely.”
“Fuck. Me too, babe.” Adam held Bo close, dropping a kiss to the crown of his head. “One and a half more nights, then we can spend an entire day in bed. To hell with the training camp. I’ll let you work me out instead.”
Bo nodded against Adam’s chest. “Sold. But you have to come out with Lulu and me tomorrow.” He peeked up at Adam and grinned. “I might’ve let it slip you’re gay when she wouldn’t give up her story. It took one glance at my face for her to guess we’re sleeping together. That flipped her switch. All she could talk about after that was you. And us. She asked me about a hundred questions, and the only way I could get her to go to bed was by promising to let her apologize over dinner tomorrow. She wants to get to know you. If that’s okay.”
Adam beamed, his cheeks cramping under the strain. As far as he was concerned, it was more than okay. “Does that mean I’m allowed to steal a kiss right now?”
“I’ll do you one better and say, not only can you steal all the kisses you want, but Lu yelled at me for treating her like a child by sleeping in separate bedrooms.”
Adam scooped an arm under Bo’s knees, swept him against his chest, and headed for the stairs. “Thank fuck. I’m not sure I could’ve survived two nights without sleep during a training camp. I’ll be sure to thank the little monster in the morning.”