Page 29 of Fire

“We were talking about the doctor who’s going on tour with us,” Zander says.

“Oh, right.” Pres nods before pulling her hair to the side to keep it away from her food. “What’s her name again?”

“Zara,” Cash answers, clearly feeling left out of the conversation. “Zara Valentine.” He turns his attention toward me. “She mentioned that the two of you went to school together?”

“Uh, yup,” I manage to say while suddenly becoming transfixed by the greasy slice of pepperoni pizza on my plate.

“You didn’t tell me that,” Zander says. I can feel his eyes boring into me. “Why didn’t you mention it?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug, trying to act nonchalant and failing miserably. I told Zara I thought keeping our night together a secret was a good idea. What I failed to mention, however, is my inability to keep an actual secret. Or lie. Two skills that are absolutely paramount when growing up in a house with four siblings.

Because of this, those four bastards liked to gang up on me a lot. Christmastime was a goddamn nightmare.

And don’t even get me started on the time I had to sign an NDA when Zander signed with Manic. Minus the few days I spent visiting him in North Carolina, I think I locked myself in my house and pretended I was sick with the worst flu on the planet just to make it through those three weeks.

“Wait.” Presley’s eyes go wide. “Is she the one you hooked up with at that?—”

I lunge for her, trying to cover her mouth with my hand, but it’s too late. The entire room already heard her, and now I’m gonna have to kill my sister.

It’s a shame, really.

I think she might be my favorite.

“You hooked up with the doctor?” I hear Zander say.

“No!” The word comes out in a rush. “Fuck. Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Pres’s brow furrows. “What does that even mean? Do I want to know what that means?”

“It means…” I let out a frustrated sigh, realizing that I now have the attention of everyone in the room. Even Mercury and Asher stop their intense conversation to listen to this. Great. “It means yes. Okay? But I didn’t bring it up because it happened before the job offer was even in the picture and?—”

“Oh my god, you like her!” Presley squeals excitedly.

“This is an HR nightmare,” Cash grumbles. I ignore him, because if my brother knew the type of shit that happens on tour, his pencil-pushing heart would probably have a heart attack.

“No, I don’t.” I cut my sister a look that says I’ll deal with her later and sigh. “It’s not like that. It was just a one-time thing. We’ve agreed to keep it professional for the tour.”

“So we just hired your one-night stand?” Zander stares at me, and I hear Asher chuckle. “Jesus.”

“She’s not—” I let out a groan and ran my hands through my hair. “Look, this is why I didn’t say anything.”

“Because it looks bad?” Cash offers.

“What looks bad?” My dad asks, sauntering in with a glass of wine.

“That Hen hooked up with the hot doctor.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter.

“Uncle Hen said a bad word,” Taylor whispers into Zander’s ear.

“You what?” my mom asks as she enters the room.

So much for keeping it a secret.

Chapter Ten

ZARA