Page 108 of So I'll Know
“Yes,” I say slowly.
“Well, I sort of gave her a job and told her she could stay in your room for a while.”
I give him a confused look. “Are you trying to torture yourself?”
He rubs the back of his head. “What do you mean?”
“Give me a break. You’ve had a crush on her for years.”
“No, I?—”
“Save it, little brother.” I run a hand along T’s spine and give Seb a steady look. “I guess I won’t be staying up north for a while, eh?”
“You weren’t going to come back anytime soon anyway,” Sebastian scoffs. “I figured you’d be in Seattle for a while longer to make sure the opening months go smoothly.”
“Whatever.” I yawn. “Enjoy your misery. Does Charlie know?”
“Well, Charlie asked me to give Fi a job. The living part, though . . .”
I chuckle. “I’m not going to be the one who tells her.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell her.” He looks down, picking at his fingernails. “I wouldn’t do anything with my sister’s friend, anyway. It’s some sort of brother code violation.” He gives me a tired smile. “But I am looking forward to the extra help at the pub.”
I nod. “Tristan hired some pretty good chefs. It would be nice to have some menu items for them to test out. You think we can get going on that?”
He grins. “You bet.”
“How’re the bar repairs going?”
“We’re getting there. I think Brett is actually enjoying it because he’s been able to reorganize the bar a bit.”
I chuckle. “That sounds like him.” Our head bartender up there is very particular about how his bar is kept, and he likes to remind us often that we made poor choices in our initial design. I yawn again. “Okay, I need to go to bed. I’ll catch you later.”
“Later, bro.”
I hit the End button and sigh. I stand and walk to Jeremy’s bedroom, sliding into bed next to him. He immediately burrows into my back, making me the little spoon and snuggling his nose into my hair.
Within minutes, I’m asleep.
I wake with a start,Jeremy’s foot catching me painfully in the calf. He whimpers and then starts thrashing and screaming.
I roll over, pinning him to the mattress. “Jeremy!”
He fights me violently, and I’m impressed by how strong he is.
“Wake up, baby,” I say urgently, trying to rouse him with my voice since my hands are occupied with holding him down. When that doesn’t work, I straddle him with my thighs and grab one hand, stroking his face with the other.
“C’mon, wake up, Jeremy.”
Something wet touches my leg, and I look down. Whatever it is, it’s dark.
Blood?
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I mutter, and then I give him a light slap across the face.
Jeremy’s whole body shakes, and a sob rips from his throat as his eyes pop open. I reach over and turn on the bedside light, scanning his body for injury, and I spot the bloody smear on his hip immediately. My eyes fall to his hand, where his nails are caked with blood.
“Marcus?” he gasps, and another sob wracks his body.
