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Tomorrow is all we have left.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

BRYCE

Ihave a fuzzy head when I come round to consciousness, too much De Chante and a lot of fucking. My mouth feels dry as hell and I’m staring at the ceiling.

That’s when I feel the eyes on me. Two pairs burning from my left.

Alice lets out a giggle when I turn to face them, and Jack gives me a smirk from behind our blonde-haired goddess, his arm draped over her waist.

“How long have you been doing that?” I say. “Watching me?”

“She started it,” Jack says.

“You were snoring your head off,” Alice laughs. “Mouth wide open, like this.”

She rolls onto her back and does a very unflattering impersonation, complete with vocals.

“You’ve started something now.” I reach for her, tickling her ribs until she gives me a proper laugh. “I’m going to be keeping nightwatch from now on until I catch you with dribble down your chin.”

I only realise what I’ve said once the words are out of my mouth.

Everyone goes silent, Alice’s laugh fading away.

I give up with the tickling, and reach for her. She moves closer without hesitation, shimmying towards me. Jack slips his arm back around her, moving closer until there’s no space left between the three of us. Just three naked bodies pressed together, savouring the sensation.

Alice rests her head against my chest, and I stroke her hair, combing it from her beautiful face with my fingers. Jack kisses her shoulder, then sighs.

The three of us lie together beneath the rumpled sheets, not wanting to break the contact, the morning already well advanced beyond the curtains. No alarms. No coffee. No one making any attempt to begin the day.

It’s nearly eleven by the time I finally reach for my phone and check the time.

Under normal circumstances, the discovery would propel me from bed in a panic. Most of the morning gone. Messages unanswered. Reports to complete. But fuck that.

Today is anything but normal, the lateness feels like an achievement.

Alice brushes her thumb down my cheek.

“You look exhausted.”

I look into her hooded eyes.

“I didn’t sleep much, despite the snoring.”

“No,” she says. “Neither did I.”

I’m well aware of that. Every time I woke up during the night, at least one of them was awake. At one point Jack was staring up at the ceiling with Alice pressed tight to him. I remember seeing his Adonis features in glorious profile as he lay there, framed by the start of dawn creeping through the curtains.

We may as well have stayed up and faced the obvious. None of us wanted the morning to arrive.

Alice glances towards the windows.

“We should get up.”

Jack reaches out and pulls the duvet higher, blocking her view.

“No.”