Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Skylar

It was dark when I opened my eyes. I shifted, wondering what woke me. The air was stuffy and stale, and when I moved, scratchy sheets tugged at my leg hair.

Wait. These weren't my sheets. I wasn't at home. I was…

In the pub. In the stockroom.

Last night's events came back in a rush. The car I'd seen was Blaize. He was in Swallow Cove looking for me. He'd gone to my house.

And he hadn't tried to visit me during daylight hours, had he? He'd gone in the middle of the night.

My stomach tightened with nerves, and I reached for my phone to check the time. Though it was dark, there were no windows in this room. It could be 4 a.m. or 10 a.m. for all I knew.

The screen didn't light up. Damn. The battery must have died while I slept.

I got out of bed, the concrete cool beneath my feet, and shuffled toward the pull chain Brooks had used to turn on the only light in the room. I stuck my hand in the air, waving it around, unable to see a damn thing. But I remembered the general area and caught the cool metal chain on my third try.

The bulb blinked to life, making me squint as my eyes struggled to adjust. It didn't put out enough light to reach every corner of the room, but I could see well enough to navigate around the boxes cluttering the space closest to the door.

I eased it open, hoping I could gauge the time from the sunlight coming through the bar windows or possibly find a clock. I took a step and kicked something.

Something that grunted.

I looked down, startled, to see Brooks laid out in a sleeping bag. Had he slept on the floor outside my door?

He blinked bleary eyes up at me. Then they widened. "Skylar?" he rasped. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I…"

Heat flooded my cheeks as Brooks's gaze roamed my body. He stared as if he couldn't look enough.

I'd stripped off my outer layer to sleep in comfort, and now I stood directly over Brooks in a silky lingerie set.

In crimson shorts with black lace trim and a matching crop top that left a strip of my navel exposed.

No wonder his eyes were bugging out.

"Be right back!" I backed into the stockroom. "Don't come in!"

I threw the door shut behind me, heart racing. Would Brooks be disgusted by the lingerie, like Blaize? Would he think it made me too weak, too femme?

It shouldn't matter what he thought. I wore it for me. Not for him. Not for Blaize. For me .

But Brooks was my port in the storm last night. He had been patient and comforting. I didn't want to lose the best friend I'd made in Swallow Cove.

I collapsed onto the mattress, swallowing hard.

A knock on the door made me jump.

"Sky, are you okay?" Brooks called. "Sorry if I scared you."

"Yep!" My voice sounded surprisingly strong and chipper. "Just getting dressed! Be out in a few."

"Okay," he said, voice slightly muffled by the door. "There's no rush. It's only eight-thirty."

I exhaled, some tension releasing. Brooks didn't sound too bothered. Maybe he'd chalk up the lingerie to a gay guy thing and forget he ever saw it.

I swept my gaze over the room, taking in more details than I had last night.

A stack of two boxes by the head of the bed formed a sort of makeshift table. A charging cable sat on top, but it wasn't mine.

Beside it was a box of tissues and a bottle of lube. Just what the hell was Brooks doing on his break time?

The image of him sprawling back on this bed, jerking off, bloomed in my mind. I yanked my gaze away, heat searing through me. I should not be thinking of Brooks that way. Not only was he straight, but I was in no shape to have sex with anyone but myself right now.

Across the room, a set of shelves appeared to hold clothing. Curious, I got up and took a closer look. T-shirts, jeans, shorts…boxer briefs? I held up a pair, and gauging by the size, they'd fit Brooks.

Why would he keep so many clothes here? Did he work so much he practically lived here? Or…

Does he actually live here?

Oh my god. If he lived here, then I was effectively going through the man's underwear drawer, wasn't I? Underwear shelf? Whatever.

I threw the boxer briefs down as if they'd burned me, then retreated to the bed to grab my discarded clothes from last night. I tugged my shirt and shorts on overtop my lingerie, ran fingers through my hair in a hurried attempt to tame it, then returned to the door. There was a bare-bones shower in the corner—just a pipe coming out of the wall and a drain in the floor—but no way did I want to get naked right now.

When I emerged from the stockroom, Brooks was waiting, hands tucked into his jeans pockets.

"Hi," he said. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, but you…" I glanced at the floor where I'd seen him laid out.

"I slept fine," he assured me. "I hope you don't think it's weird. I just felt better staying close."

I bit my lip. "Well, I took your bed. I mean, it is your bed, isn't it? Your room?"

He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. "Kinda."

"You live here?"

He shrugged. "I work late hours. It's convenient, is all."

"Oh, Brooks." My heart ached at the thought of Brooks spending every night in that dark concrete room. "That's why you didn't want me to see? You thought I'd tell my dad, and we'd kick you out?"

He met my gaze. "It's not like I asked permission. I understand you'll have to tell him. I'll deal with the consequences."

"I don't have to tell him."

He looked uncomfortable. "I'm not asking you for any favors, Sky."

"Why not?" I demanded. "I asked you for a favor just last night. You didn't have to show me this room. You could have kept your secret."

"I didn't want to," he said. "I wanted you to be comfortable and safe."

"Well, I want the same for you," I said softly. "I'm not telling my dad anything."

He rubbed a hand over his dark stubble, which was so thick it rasped. The sound raised goosebumps on my skin. Damn, the sexy man.

"So, what do you want to do now?" he asked.

"About your living situation?"

"No, about yours. Have you given any thought to what you want to do next?"

"Well, I can't just stay here," I said with a chuckle. "For one thing, I have a cat who needs me."

I'd fed Freddy before my evening out yesterday, so he was fine overnight, but I couldn't leave him for days.

"True," he said lightly. "Can't let the kitty starve."

I sensed he was waiting for me to draw a conclusion on my own. Brooks didn't want to tell me what to do. He had no idea how much that meant to me.

And it was that reason, more than any other, that I considered his suggestion from last night. That he could come to my house and stay with me. Maybe even pretend to be my boyfriend if Blaize showed up. I couldn't hide from my ex forever. But maybe if I had Brooks by my side, if Blaize saw that I'd moved on, he would give up.

And Brooks was living in a storage room, so why not invite him to stay at my house? I had more than enough room.

I wet my lips. "Did you mean it last night when you offered to stay at my place? To play boyfriend for Blaize?"

"Sure, if that's what you want."

I searched his gaze. "And what you saw this morning… What I was wearing…"

His lips hooked up at one corner. "I don't think I was supposed to see that, was I?"

"I didn't expect anyone to be here."

"Yeah, sorry, but uh…" He cleared his throat. "You wear it well."

"You think so?"

His smile curved into smirk territory. If I didn't know better, I'd think Brooks liked what he saw.

"Yeah. I've just got one question."

I braced myself for something like, Why would a guy wear lingerie? Or, Do you secretly want to be a woman? Of course, it was perfectly valid that someone might wear lingerie for that reason. For me, it was just something I enjoyed. The clothes were pretty and sexy. When I wore them, I felt that way too.

"Where did they come from? I mean, when you came in last night, you were dressed like you are now. So…"

"Oh." I laughed, my chest loosening. "I wear them under my clothes sometimes."

"So you were wearing those all evening at the bar?" His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "You're still wearing them now?"

I tugged the collar of my shirt to the side to display a black lacy strap. "My little secret. You've got yours, and I've got mine."

He huffed a small laugh. "Yours is a lot more fun."

My cheeks flushed, but this time it wasn't from embarrassment, exactly. Brooks's eyes were so damn warm. He looked as if he'd love to see through my clothes right now, and somehow it came across flattering instead of pervy.

His heavy gaze made me feel pretty and sexy. Just like the lingerie itself.

But Brooks was still straight, and I was still not ready to be intimate with anyone. So, I changed the subject.

"So, what now? You need to open the pub in a few hours, right?"

"Now, I pack a bag and we go check out your house. If you're ready for that?"

I chuckled nervously. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready, but I have to live my life."

"You do." He rubbed my arm. "But I'll make sure no one's hanging around, and you can still spend the day at the bar with me. Then after work, we'll go home together. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Thank you for doing this."

"You don't need to thank me. I want to be there if that asshole shows his face again."

I hesitated. "I don't want any violence."

Brooks took a breath. "Of course not. We can just show him there's nothing here for him, right? You've moved on."

"Right." I nodded. "Blaize isn't a stalker. Once he gets the message that there's no fixing the relationship, he'll leave me alone."

"Okay, then. I'll start packing."