My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 420

Chapter 420

Without sounding like exactly the kind of emotional complication he clearly did not want?

I looked down at the floor for a second, twisting the sleeve of his shirt between my fingers nervously.

“Can we just…” I swallowed hard, “Can we talk in the car?”

Raphael studied my face for one long second before nodding once, “Yeah.”

Another silence settled between us after that. It was not the comfortable silence from earlier tonight when I was curled against him laughing in the woods.

This one felt fragile like one wrong sentence could crack something open between us permanently.

Raphael pushed himself away from the desk finally and walked toward me slowly. I stiffened a little without meaning to. The movement did not escape him. I saw it immediately in the way his jaw tightened slightly but he still stopped a few feet away instead of touching me again.

“Mess.”

I hated how gentle he sounded saying that nickname now.

It almost made me cry all over again.

“The car’ll be here in a minute,” he said quietly.

I nodded once.

Neither of us moved after that.

And for the first time since this thing between us started, I genuinely did not know how to act around him.

The drive gate notification flashed quietly across one of the monitors. Raphael glanced toward it once before looking back at me and pulling on a black t-shirt over his black sweatpants.

“It’s here.”

I nodded even though my throat suddenly felt too tight again. Raphael grabbed his keys from the desk and motioned toward the hallway. I followed him silently out of the control room.

The sound of our footsteps echoed softly against the floors while security lights glowed faintly overhead. Raphael walked slightly ahead of me at first, then slowed until he was beside me instead.

He was making sure I stayed close. I hated that even now part of me noticed little things like that. We reached the back exit and cold night air hit my skin immediately.

A black car waited near the gate with headlights glowing softly against the pavement. One of Raphael’s men stood nearby before stepping away the second he saw us coming.

I stopped automatically when my bare feet touched the cold ground outside.

Right.

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