Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 367

"Are you okay?"

Maya's eyes filled with tears. She turned and hugged me, burying her face in my shoulder. "I want to thank you again," she whispered. "For getting me away from Julian. For giving me a chance to actually have a normal life. I never dared to dream about it before. But now I know it is not so far away anymore. And it is all because of you."

I hugged her, felt her shaking against me. "Do not cry. Crying never solved anything."

She was quiet for a long moment, and then she asked, so softly I almost missed it, "What about your brother? Is he not still in Julian's custody? Is it okay to just leave him behind like that?"

The words landed in my stomach like a stone.

The guy I had called my brother to get him on my side, to make the story hold together. He was not my brother in any way. But he was Maya's boyfriend, and I had lied to her about him for reasons that had made sense at the time, and now the lie sat between us like a debt I could not pay. I could not tell her the truth. I could not tell her that he had died three days after Julian had him hospitalized, that Julian had already disposed of his body somewhere no one would ever find it. I could not put that grief in her eyes tonight, not when she was finally starting to breathe.

"He betrayed us," I said. "He got free from Julian and ran. He never came back for us."

Maya shook her head slowly, her jaw setting. "No. He will never abandon me."

"I am sorry." I held her gaze, let her see the weight there. "Forget about him now. Focus on your recovery, your second life, your plan for revenge. You need to start putting the past behind you."

She looked at me for a long time, and then she nodded, and the tears stopped.

When Maya had finally calmed down, Jasmine turned to me with the look of a woman who had been holding the same question in her mouth for an hour. "So it is really okay by you? For me to have sex with Sparrow?"

"Of course it is okay. You are a big girl. If you want to fuck a man, do not let any walls stop you."

Jasmine, who had been closest to the door, let her robe fall open, slow and deliberate, baring the black lace underneath, her breasts rising with her breath.

For a moment, Sparrow's eyes rested on her body. The look on his face did not change at all. No hunger, no interest, nothing. It was like watching a man study a piece of furniture he had already decided not to buy.

Then he turned to me. "Have you all settled in?"

"Yes," I said. "Thanks to you."

Jasmine stepped closer, close enough to touch, and put her hand flat on his chest, her voice dropping to something low and honeyed. "You are very hot, you know that? I would love to help you keep your bed warm tonight."