I yanked my head back out of her reach.
She cracked a smile and something malicious broke out from beneath the fa?ade, voice saccharin sweet. “You wouldn’t go and cheat on me, now would you, Zee?”
My chest tightened against the manipulation, like she was physically sinking her sleazy, skanky claws into my spirit. Twisting and twisting. The way she always had.
“Pretty sure you’re the one who broke that vow a long time ago.”
Her hand was on the door handle, words low with a threat. “I’m not the one who has to keep it.”
Then she climbed out and was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Zee ~ Eighteen Years Old
Julie barreled down the aisle of the theatre and threw herself into Zachary’s arms. He picked her up and whirled her around.
He was panting, still riding that high, floating in the clouds, trying to slow his heart rate and loving the way it raced at the same time.
Joy.
So much joy.
“You did it.” Julie’s words were a breath that spun around him, infiltrating the disbelief that still thundered and sped.
Reality was still trying to breach his consciousness.
“I can’t believe it,” he said.
She pulled back to look at him when he set her back on her feet. “You didn’t really think it’d turn out any other way?”
“Considering the fact I couldn’t sleep for the last week, I think maybe that’s exactly what I was worried about.”
Julie beamed at him. The girl was always wearing fitted sweaters and perfect hair and her grandma’s pearls. So damned pretty in a conservative kind of way. So different from the girls he’d grown up around, the one’s always hanging around his brother and his crew.
“I’m really proud of you,” she said before she hiked up on her toes and whispered in his ear. “Just how tired are you?”
Zee chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush, because he loved when she undid a few buttons and let her hair down. When she went from straitlaced to pliable and soft. “Don’t think I could ever be that tired.”
“Good. Because I think this calls for a celebration.”
“We’ve got that thing with my brother first.”
Julie dropped back down, nerves taking her whole. “I don’t know if I’m really comfortable going over there.”
“Hey, I know it’s a different vibe than what you’re used to, but I promise you, they’re good guys,” he told her, his hand on her face and his thumb running the hollow beneath her eye. “And this is my brother we’re talking about. He’s important to me.”
She pressed her lips together, her fingers threaded through his. “I know he’s important to you. I just…that crowd isn’t the type I want to get mixed up in.”
He tugged her closer and placed a kiss on the crown of her head. “I get it…and we’re not getting mixed up in it. But he’s throwing a party for me…because he cares about me. He’s doing it because of this.”
Zee waved a hand at the piano. The piano he’d just poured his heart into during the audition. The piano that had felt like a lover. A caress. Perfection.
Sitting behind it, Zee had never felt so alive.
Just like Julie, Mark hadn’t questioned the outcome. He’d simply texted Zee before the audition.
You own this, baby brother. Haven’t ever met anyone as talented as you. I’m back in town at 8. Tonight we celebrate.
Zee threaded his fingers through Julie’s long brown hair, loving the way she felt in his arms. “Don’t worry, baby. I promise that I’ll take care of you. Today was the best day of my life…I need you there with me.”
Julie nodded, her fingers twisting in his shirt. “I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
Zee’s response was simple. “Good.”
Because he didn’t want her anywhere else, either.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Zee
Lunch?
I sent off the text as soon as I left Lyrik’s place in the Hills. I hadn’t seen Alexis in a week and…I needed to.
I was kind of going out of my mind, the memories of that night back at her house taunting me through the days and haunting me in the nights.
She’d had to work throughout the week, and I’d spent almost every waking hour practicing with the guys. We’d shared a few texts during that time, skating around the subject, neither of us quite knowing where we stood.
That was what happened when you blurred the lines.
Resisting it had become too much.
Thirty seconds later, my phone buzzed.
Sure! Where?
I tapped out a quick response.
Why don’t I pick you up. Give me fifteen.
Perfect. I’ll get ready.
Less than thirteen minutes later, I rounded the last turn into her neighborhood, struck with another rush of anticipation at being with her again. I just couldn’t fucking help it.
Not when she came skipping out her door looking like sweet, sweet sunshine, hair a white blaze of shimmery rivers running down her back. She was wearing a short, flowy dress, baby blue and printed with red flowers, thin straps over the shoulders.
There probably wasn’t supposed to be anything sexy about it, but on her, it was close to obscene. The kind of temptation that made my fingers itch and my dick twitch.
She didn’t even wait for me to get out of my car before she was swinging the passenger door open and jumping inside. An effortless smile rode those full lips and just a shade of pink tinted her cheeks.
This girl was a damned knockout, and I wasn’t sure she had the first clue.
“Hi.” She pulled her seatbelt on.
When she glanced over at me, her teeth tugged at her lip. “I missed you,” she said, clearly not sure if she should say it.
“I missed you, too.”
I was damned sure I shouldn’t say it, but it was already there, making its claim in the air.
That energy was compounded in the small space, and I did my best to pretend it wasn’t there, demanding attention, instead trying to keep things light. “Tell me you’ve kept your word and haven’t gone on any dangerous rescue missions since the last time I saw you.”
A giggle slipped out beneath her breath. “No…I promise. Things have been pretty quiet in my neck of the woods for the last week.”
Relief gusted through my spirit. “That’s good to hear.”
Her eyes widened. “It’s good to hear that my life is boring?”
I laughed. “Hey, sometimes boring is safe.”
She feigned a pout. “That sounds boring.”
My head shook as I turned onto the main road. “You’re insane.”
She smiled one of those smiles that knocked the breath from my lungs. “This we already know.”
Twenty minutes later, I was ushering her inside the quaint, quiet café, a little off the beaten path and out of the way of prying eyes.
The floors were a light blue stained concrete and the ceilings were pitched and made of glass. Rope lights draped from them and potted trees were situated around the space, almost giving it the feel of being outdoors.