Page 63 of Always Love You More

The seconds tick by, and I keep myself from anxiously shifting my feet.

Finally, he breaks the silence. “So, Johnny’s kid sister, huh?”

“What?”

“The girl,” he says. “You seeing her?”

I think before I respond. I want to tell him that I don’t know, but he hates when people give him anything less than a straight answer. “Yeah,” I tell him. “I am.”

“I would be, too, if I were your age,” he says. “Hot little thing like that.”

My hand flinches at my side, itching to form into a fist.

He leans back in his chair. “We’re having a family dinner tonight.”

A family dinner?

“Bring her,” he adds.

“It’s still new.” My words rush out. “Real new.”

He clicks his tongue. “That’s not what it looked like from where I was standing. Seems like she’s all up in your business. Put herself between us without a second thought, like she didn’t care what happened to her.”

“It’s—”

He shifts forward, his elbows coming down on the desk. “Dinner tonight, Jameson. Don’t fucking test me, or I’ll take your little plaything away.”

What the fuck does that mean? And she’s not my plaything.

I roll my lips to keep the words inside. Instead of snapping back, I nod.

“Good,” he says then waves his hand for me to leave.

I push the door open and find Johnny leaning against the wall beside it.

“You all right?” he asks quietly.

“Fine.”

He scans the length of my body like he’s looking for evidence that I’m lying.

I move past him, and he slips into the office.

Sam is sitting alone behind the desk, her head bent over a book. When she hears me approaching, her gaze pulls up, finding mine.

She sets down the book. “How’d it go?”

I run a hand through my hair and wince at the pain in my ribs.

“That bad?” she asks.

“Huh?”

“You only do that when you’re upset.” She motions to me. “Run your fingers through your hair.”

I drop my hand. “You been watching me?”

A blush creeps up her neck.