Page 134 of Burning Daylight

“Hello?” Alex waves his hand in front of me, eyes wide, and then snaps his fingers in my face. “It’s disturbing you can disassociate like that.”

“I’m not disassociating, I’m thinking.” I bat his hand out of the way. “You should try it sometime.”

He scoffs. “I have a degree inphilosophy. Thinking is literally my brand.”

“Quoting Aristotle in Italian cashmere while flirting with theater majors doesn’t count,” Tyler points out, nodding toward the stage.

“I am who I am.” Alex beams. “And besides, I’m incredible at monologues. You’re just a hater.”

Tyler leans forward, the auditorium chair squeaking. “Did we or did we not just watch you play a tree for the past hour while you called it teaching?”

“A tree withgravitas,” Alex corrects, offended. “And anyway, I’m just using my degree the way Plato intended, by teaching through performance.”

“You mean seducing impressionable freshman with bad lighting and soliloquies?” I tease.

“You only get away with it because you’ve got the Calloway genes,” Tyler cuts in. “If you were ugly, none of this would be charming.”

“That’s probably true.” I nod along. “But it works if you work it, so my advice is to stay the course.”

“Thank you, Jules.” Alex smiles at me.

“I’m not condoning your actions,” I say, lifting a brow. “I’m just trying to let you down easy and give you a soft place to land because Felicity willneversleep with you. Keep your focus on the future Hollywood starlets, Casanova.”

Tyler snorts. “Hedoes. It’s not like he’s celibate, waiting for Felicity to lower her standards. Did you see that girl he was just coaching? She could barely walk out of here, she had so many hearts in her eyes.”

Alex grins a movie-star-worthy smile. “I overheard someone say Felicity had a crush on a Calloway brother once.”

I laugh. “You’re delusional.”

“And you’re so sure she was talking aboutyou?” Tyler adds.

Alex lets out a chuckle, running a hand down his black Henley. “I’m going to ignore your implication that I’m not the best brother.”

Tyler points a finger at Alex. “You’re lucky she hasn’t put out a restraining order on you yet.”

“If she didn’t like me, she wouldn’t text me all the time.”

My hands fly up to my temples, a headache brewing. I squeeze my eyes shut. “Oh myGod, please let me out of this conversation.”

“Actually,” Alex continues, whipping his head around. “You think she’s at Second Circle Market right now?”

“I don’t know, dude. If you two are so close, just text her and ask.”

He nods, tapping his phone against his hand and shooting up from his seat. “I should go find her. You know…say hi.”

“Hey!” I shout at his back. “I thought we were going to lunch.”

He waves his arm at us. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Try not to get arrested!” Tyler calls out with a grin and then looks at me.

I quirk a brow and cross my arms. “Well? Answer my question.”

He looks at his nails. “I can’t remember it.”

“What is Lance doing hanging out in the HillPoint?”

I watch his reaction carefully, but he’s got a damn good poker face. I’m not one-hundred percent sure Lance was even there, but if anyone knows, it will be Tyler.