“Shit, there you are,” Tex said, letting out a breath. His thumb stroked along my cheek and over my beard.

It was a comfort that not many would give me. My brothers were the only ones to ever do so. Even Brycen had been weary at times. Whenever I checked out, he stayed far away.

Tex, on the other hand, always moved closer. I reached out for him and pulled him down to the bed. He grunted as I rolled on top of him and smashed him against the mattress with my body.

“Hey, what the hell, Enzo?” He slapped his hand down against my side, but I didn't move.

I pushed my face against his neck and breathed him in. It was calming in the way it quieted the noises around me and grounded me to the spot. Tex wiggled under me.

“Stay like this,” I said.

“Only if you talk.”

Was that a fair trade? Before my mind could make up the answer, my mouth was moving. “Brycen was someone important to me.”

Tex stiffened under me, but I kept going. He asked for the story; I’d give it. There was no phone or recording device on him. It was just the two of us in bed, alone.

“We met at a charity event; his date had left him behind. But that entire night, we kept finding ourselves talking. He was wild, cheerful, and—” Everything I am not.

I could feel Tex’s heartbeat. I closed my eyes, basking in it for a second before I continued.

“One thing led to another, and I took him back to the hotel.”

“The same one you took me to?” Tex asked.

“Yes.”

Tex stiffened under me. I got the sense I might have said something wrong. I tilted my head back, but he refused to look at me.

“Okay, you guys fucked, and then what?” His words were blunt and sharp at the same time.

“He stayed around. Taking up residence in the hotel suite. It soon turned into more. Brycen was what I wanted, and he was happy to hand himself over to me.”

Maybe that should have been a sign.

“We were together for a few months before I realized something was different about him. He always needed money and what I gave him was never enough. Things would go missing at the hotel, and when I asked him about it, he said his sister needed help.”

I took in a breath. “She did. She was in the hospital at the time, so I gave him enough money to pay the bills so he wouldn’t be stressed out anymore.”

Tex’s dark eyebrows scrunched together. “She’s swimming in medical debt.”

Should I be surprised that he’d done his homework? Tex was wildUnlike Brycen, there was intelligence in his blue eyes. There were similarities but so many differences. Maybe that's why…..