Page 116 of Dangerous Men

“Not pressuring me, no. He said the choice of how I choose to… interact with all of them is totally up to me.” Jade relaxes, nodding. “But I’ve only met the three of them, so…”

Jade’s smile comes back with full force.

“So, there’spotentiallyanother brother who,potentially, you might want to fuck the living daylights out of, right?”

“Yes, exactly,” I say, straight-faced, taking a sip of cocoa.

Jade howls with laughter.

“Oh, Syd,” Jade says. “Can I just say how much I love this for you? I know you’ve always been reserved, at least as long as I’ve known you. But the last few years have been on another level. You withdrew so much when you started seeing Chase, and Imissed this. I missedyou.”

Grinning, Jade reaches out to take my hand. I let her, squeezing hers tight.

“So did I,” I admit.

“I love you, Syd,” Jade tells me. “Forever and always.”

“To the moon and back,” I promise.

41

SYDNEY

That Sunday isour busiest day yet.

And I finally find out why.

I’m carrying a box of new books out from the back when two customers grab my attention. I don’t mind the interruption at all. I’m never too busy to help the people who come to our shop.

“Excuse me?” the woman asks me in a gentle voice. She’s young, probably late teens. “Can you tell us where the Staff Picks display is? We can’t find it.”

The question momentarily throws me. The Staff Picks are just a fun thing I started doing about a year after we opened, to fill an empty corner of the shop. It’s not exactly something we advertise or expect customers to ask for.

“Uh, sure, of course. Follow me.” I take them to the back of the store, where the display is kept, and show it to them, feeling like a game show hostess as I gesture toward it with a one-armed flourish.

“Awesome!” the woman says, grinning. And then, to my surprise, she raises her phone and snaps a quick picture of it.Her thumbs move quickly across her keyboard as she lowers her phone, typing faster than I’ve ever seen someone type on a screen before. “This is great content, thank you!”

Huh.Weird.

I watch her a moment longer, eyes narrowed in suspicion, as she and her friend each pick a few books from the display, chatting excitedly to one another, before I turn to go.

“Oh!” the girl calls after me. ‘Iloveyour bookstapix account, by the way!”

My… what?

Abandoning my box of books behind the front counter, I ease up next to Jade.

“Do you know who or what a bookstapix is?” I ask her.

She nods, scooping up a chocolate croissant from the bakery case and depositing it on a plate for a customer. There’s a long line today, snaking around the shop and almost out the door.

“Yeah,” Jade tells me. “It’s like a social media app for bibliophiles. Some stores use it for advertising.”

“Do… do we have one?” I ask, feeling stupid.

Jade gives me a long look, pausing her work.

“Not unless you set it up,” she says. “You know social media isn’t my thing. I can barely handle having a dating app.”