Free Watercolour Smile by Jane Washington Page A

that?” I glanced up from the pillow and Cabe’s fingers grazed over my cheekbone.
    I was glad that he was avoiding talking about the stalker’s latest message.
    “He had a hard life.” Cabe grimaced. “Him more than all of us. Weston hated him.”
    “You’re really good at saying stuff without really saying anything.”
    His hand was brushing below my chin now, and I pulled my face out of his grasp, burying it in my pillow.
    “And you’re going to force me to go to sleep holding your hand again, but you don’t see me complaining.”
    “Bite me,” I mumbled into the pillow.
    “Don’t tempt me,” he returned, flippantly.
    The bathroom door opened and I felt the bed dip as Cabe stood and Noah pulled the blankets up and slid in next to me. I held back the strain for all of thirty seconds, before my body was moving of its own accord, turning and cuddling into Noah’s side.
    There was a tap on the door and Tabby’s voice carried. “Stephanie? I just wanted to check that you got home okay.” She always used my fake name now.
    Noah got up from the bed and I watched him move to the door and pull it open. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. “She’s asleep,” he said gently. “You should go to bed too, Tab.”
    I peeked out from the blanket. Tabby was trying to see over his shoulder, but the room must have been too dark, because her eyes skipped right over me and landed on the bathroom door.
    “Is Stephanie in the bathroom?”
    “No, that’s Cabe. I just told you, she’s asleep.”
    The confusion on her face doubled, and it left a pang in my chest. This felt unfair, but I knew better than to fall victim to Tabby’s innocent expression. That wasn’t a mistake that I was going to repeat twice.
    “Where are Silas and Miro?”
    “Downstairs.”
    “Why aren’t they here?”
    “Because we’re here.”
    Tabby let out a frustrated breath, her eyes flashing with the rare glint of hysteria that I sometimes encountered in her.
    “I’m going to find out what’s really going on, Noah. I will. I’ll find out what it all means.” She straightened, tempered the foreign look in her eye, and cupped his cheek. “Goodnight, honey. You’ll be sleeping in your own room tonight, won’t you?”
    “Sure. Night, Tab.”
    She left and Noah closed the door. Cabe opened the bathroom door at the same time. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” he said. “Confusing her is good, but I don’t want to push her too far. She might overreact. She might do something drastic to prove it one way or another.”
    “We’ll see,” Noah replied. “She hasn’t known about any of us sharing Seph’s bed before now. We’ll see if it changes anything tomorrow.”
    I peeked out at them from my huddled spot in the bed. My skin was hurting, my limbs heavy. It was a more painful strain than the last one, but less overwhelming. I had grown stronger over the last few months, so I felt that I could handle the strain better when it happened… until they remained where they were, standing, talking quietly. I shuffled to the other end of the bed and wrapped an arm around Noah’s leg. The material of his sweatpants slid softly against his skin and his hand landed on my head, digging lightly into my hair. It made me feel like a puppy, but I didn’t have the energy to complain as the pain started to fade away.
    “No, she hasn’t said anything to me either.” He spoke in response to something Cabe had said—I hadn’t heard. I rested my head against Noah’s hip, my free hand creeping up to his stomach.
    I traced the outline of a muscle from one side of his stomach to the middle, and then skipped up and traced the next one. His fingers shifted in my hair, cupping my skull.
    “I feel like this is a disaster waiting to happen,” Cabe said, his eyes trained on me.
    I finished tracing the muscles that I could reach and then dropped my hand back to the top of his sweatpants to start again.
    “It is .” Noah bit out the words.
    I glanced