Jihad

CHAPTER 130

Lia pulled the covers around her neck, pushing onto her side and trying to find a comfortable position in the hotel bed. She’d jacked the AC to full, chilling the room so she could bundle up. Covers always made her feel drowsy, and helped her to sleep.

So did cuddling next to Charlie. She’d slept like a baby during the two weeks she’d spent with him in Pennsylvania.

She missed him badly. She felt — not that she’d betrayed him, exactly, with Pinchon, because she hadn’t, not at all. But she hadn’t given him the attention he deserved.

Or the explanation. Something of an explanation.

He was just a guy I fell in lust with, that’s all. Doesn’t mean anything, Charlie.

He wasn’t as big a jerk then, either.

Lia could almost see Dean squinting at her. Then he’d say, “Okay.” In a while, if she didn’t add any more, he’d drop it completely.

That was the way he was.

She, on the other hand, would brood and think and scheme, try and figure it out. Attack it.

Dean thought they were good together because they were alike in a lot of ways, but she knew they were different, different on this.

She curled the covers tighter, missing Dean more than she ever had before.