Page 136 of Fire

“I’ll have the Pinot Noir. I had that last time we were here, and it was amazing.”

“I picked that out myself. It’s from a winery in Paso Robles. It’s beautiful up there. You two should spend a weekend up there sometime.”

“Maybe in the spring, but right now, I think we just want to stay home for a while. Zara is taking some time off, and I just want to sleep for like a year straight.”

“Right.” She rolls her eyes. “It must be so hard to travel all over Europe. How did you ever survive?”

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “It was a hardship, I tell ya.”

It was actually a fucking dream, but I don’t tell her that.

Zara and I walked the streets of Rome and London. We toured castles and kissed at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was magical.

She’s magical.

“Jerk.” She laughs before walking away for a moment to grab a wine glass and the Pinot Zara requested. She pours it and then slides the glass over.

“This is great, Pres,” I tell her, leaning against the bar as I look out onto the crowd. “You’ve done a really good job with the place.”

She smiles proudly. “I know. Hey, how’s treatment going?”

“Good,” Zara and I say in unison. I can’t help but smile. She’s been so supportive through all this.

When I wanted to give up and quit, she talked me off the ledge.

When I got angry and asked,Why me?, she was my voice of reason.

When I just needed to be held, she never let go.

“Now that the tour is over and my schedule is less intense, I’m going to increase my sessions with my movement specialist.”

“And he’s even started teaching himself how to pluck with his left hand.” Zara beams a proud smile at me. God, I fucking love her.

“Yeah.” I grin. “But it sounds like absolute shit.”

“Clearly, you don’t remember the early days when you started playing,” Pres says. “Sounded like shit back then too.”

“Yeah, I guess it did.” I chuckle. “Are we the only ones here?”

She grabs a pint glass and starts filling it up. “Yeah. Myles is…somewhere. Atlanta, maybe?” She waves a hand. “Anyway, he got a small part in a show. Two lines, but he’s convinced it’s going to take him somewhere.”

Zara takes a sip of her wine and lets out a happy sigh. It’s the same contented sound she makes after she comes, and it leaves me momentarily distracted. I double-blink before turning back to my sister. “Maybe it will.”

It takes all my willpower not to turn back and fixate on Zara’s red lips. Her long neck. That sexy black bra.

How long is long enough before we can go?

“I hope so, ’cause that boy has way too much talent to be wasting it on two lines.”

I clear my throat. “Agreed.”

“What about Mercury?” Zara asks, taking another sip of her wine.

“This isn’t her type of thing,” I answer, as the mention of my baby sister almost instantly douses all my inappropriate thoughts about my girlfriend. “Too loud. Too crowded. She’d rather spend Halloween handing out candy and watching scary movies.”

“And Cash?”

“Cash doesn’t like fun,” Presley says, while I say, “It’s not his thing either.”