Even though she managed a smile, Silas could only cringe. He'd heard that before from Brandon, and he didn't like it. Not even if Rae could manage to find some humor in the statement, he just couldn't. "You're not a disease, Rae. But I don't mind knowing you're hard to shake." It seemed more like a sign of loyalty than anything else, and that was something he could use.
He laughed. "If we are, we're not very good at it either." Joke or not, it did kind of fit what was going on. Or what he thought was going on. But he really shouldn't be trying to dissect it, because it wasn't smart to get his hopes up. In the long run, he'd never be the kind of man Rae would really want. He was just convenient right now. "Never was very good with languages." Might as well keep up the joke.
No, if Rae really looked at him and all his flaws, she'd know she could do better. Not that they were anything now, or would be anything. Kisses and some sort of mutual attraction were one thing, but they weren't enough to build something real on. And he couldn't shake the possibility that she was just confused and trying to fill some kind of void with the most convenient person in her life.
He matched her smirk with a small grin. He'd gotten pretty good at lying over the years, but kept that to himself. "Careful, it ain't smart to give away your tells," he teased. "Now you'll never be able to tell me a lie." He wouldn't tell her what gave him away, because he knew he'd lied to her about the necklace, for one, and he couldn't face the thought of that little white lie somehow coming back to bite him in the ass if she realized it.
"It's all street smarts," he replied. "That's different." Valuable yes, but different. In he had known where her train of thought was, he would really regret the words he'd said, but he didn't so there was no way to repair what had been done. No way that wouldn't potentially complicate things more, at least.
Should he call her out on the lie? He didn't know. Probably better to let it go, right? "Honest?" That wasn't necessarily calling her out, he didn't think.
Automatically he went to put an arm around her again as they walked, but stopped in the last moment. Better to keep some distance right now, he thought. It was easier to be smart about his actions when he wasn't touching her. No risk. It had to stop happening, because sooner or later it was going to start really damaging the friendship. There was no way it wouldn't.
"Here we are," he said, pushing the cell open. "Now you know my secret lair," he joked lamely.