Secrets of Mine

Chapter Eleven - Oz

Oz's POV

I love my sisters, I really do, but Layla just made me miss out on the sight of Freya's pretty thighs slathered in olive oil and I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. Even being my only sibling still living at home, she somehow still manages to be in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.

The only privacy I got growing up was when I shut myself in my room on my computer. I didn't even try bringing girls back because as much as having a big family is wonderful and great, I wasn't about to subject any girl I had a crush on to their meddling ways.

I put the bowl with the dough in on the table to prove in the sunlight and Layla smiles up at me. One hand still scrolls through her phone and the other holds her soda. Oh, she's so far from innocent. She knows exactly what she just did.

I snatch her soda and take a swig.

"Hey!" she half gets up and grabs her drink back.

"Just you wait till you find someone and remember that your big brother knows how to hack."

Layla just shrugs. "Who says I haven't already found someone?"

I point a finger at her. "That's not funny."

She laughs. "Yeah, it was. Relax Ozzie, when I get a girlfriend, you're more than welcome to run a background check on her." She wrinkles her nose. "Just don't go assigning me a protection detail or anything."

I smirk and throw her shrug back at her. "We'll see."

She shoots daggers at me but the timer for the walnuts I'm roasting for the casserole later goes off and I walk over to the oven.

The browned walnuts smell incredible, and I have no doubt Jude will be back soon to steal more of my ingredients. That man is never not hungry.

Freya comes back downstairs as I'm placing the tray on the side. My dick had just about calmed down but the deep blush beneath her freckles as she hands me my phone has me hardening again. I cannot wait to see the photo she took for me.

Freya peaks over my shoulder at the walnuts. "It smells good. How come you don't cook more at home?"

I get out a chopping board and some onions from the refrigerator. "I used to, but we work weird hours and we're not always home at the same time to sit down and eat together."

Freya hops back up onto the counter and sits beside me as I chop. "We should try do that more often. It sounds nice." She catches herself and checks in with me. "If you don't mind that is."

I pause my chopping and lean in to kiss her lips. "I don't mind at all." I like that she's starting to feel more comfortable with us. Adding a new member to the team is going to change things and if this relationship is going to work Freya needs to be able to tell us what she wants.

She bites her lips when I pull away. "I think we should do the cognitive interview."

A cognitive interview is a relatively new interview technique designed to increase memory recall in witnesses. It's our best chance of finding more about Freya's mother but River had warned us all not to push too hard to get Freya to agree. She needs to come to the decision in her own time.

I put down the knife and move to stand between her legs, my hands on her thighs. "You sure?"

She purses her lips and nods. "Yes. So, what happens now?"

I tap her leg. "Now, you carry on watching me cook. I think I might make that a condition of me cooking more for us at home."

She huffs out a laugh and smacks my arm. "Oz, I'm serious."

"So am I!" I go back to my chopping board and answer her question. "We'll get the best results from the interview if you're relaxed and a little tired. So now we chill out, eat dinner with my family and we'll try the interview this evening."

"Oh, okay. That sounds good."

Freya spends the rest of the afternoon watching me cook. Then, when everything is in the oven, I take her to my mom's bookshop.

The shop is a small space in Danville High Street, and it's made up like a coffee shop with places in the middle to actually sit and read. Books line the walls from head to toe and shelves with more books hang down from the ceiling between the tables. My mom runs book clubs and read and wine nights a few evenings a week but today is her early close day and she's just shutting up shop when we arrive.

We say hello then Freya drops my hands and drifts off to the shelves, sifting through the books.

I join my mom behind the counter, give her a kiss on the cheek and help her organize the new stock that needs pricing. I used to work here over school vacations when I was younger, and it still feels like second nature. We work in silence for a bit, me keeping one eye on Freya as she flits about the store.

Mom bumps her arm against mine. "She's not going anywhere, Oz."

"What?"

She nods at Freya. "You're watching her like you think she's about to run away but I've seen the way she looks at you. She's here to stay."

Man, I hope she's right. I don't think we'd survive if we lost her now.

"Why didn't you tell us about her?" Mom asks.

I put down the pricing gun and rub the back of my neck. "It's complicated."

"It always is with you. You never did anything the easy way. Never took the easy path."

I swallow. I know I made life hard for my parents when I was younger. I didn't ever fit in at school or in the outside world, so I found my own world online. The world of hacking.

Which would have been fine except I was good at it, really good at it and too young and eager to show off to realize just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. "I'm sorry I made you and dad worry so much."

My mom tsks and places her soft hand on top of mine. "You don't need to be sorry for that. Worrying comes with the territory when you love you someone."

I think about how much I worry about Freya. How much I want her nightmares to go away and the scars on her mind to fade. "I'm in love with her."

Mom beams at me. "Oh, I know." She raises a brow. "Does she?"

I sigh again. "Freya is... skittish."

"Ah." Mom nods in understanding and pats my hand. "You'll know when the time is right. And whether she's ready to admit to it or not, that girl loves you too."

My heart flips and an overwhelming urge to grin blooms inside of me.

Freya wanders over to us, her arms stacked with books. "Um, can I buy these?"

"Heavens no, they're on the house," Mom decrees.

Freya's gaze darts between my mom and me. "There's like, six books here, you can't give them to me for free."

"I most certainly can."

Freya's eyes widen at me.

I suppress a laugh and take a fifty-dollar bill from my pocket, showing it to her behind my mom's back before I slip it under the register.

Freya relaxes and lets my mom think she's spoiling her rotten. Freya will try to pay me back later of course but there's no way that is happening. She may not be comfortable letting my mom spoil her, but she'll have to get used to me doing it. 

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