Page 67 of Fire

“More like making sure you don’t embarrass the family.” She motions with her finger. “Do you have a vest or a jacket you could throw on over that?”

I raise an eyebrow at her. A vest? “We’re in Texas. It’s like four hundred degrees outside.”

She shrugs. “So?”

“So?”

“Zander would wear his jacket.”

“Let’s not talk about Zander’s weird obsession with that thing, okay? Not all of us carry around a leather jacket like it’s a treasured blankie from childhood.”

“I actually see Elena with it more these days.” She pauses, giving me an appraising look. “What about the jeans? What color options do I have to work with?”

“Are you asking if I have a pink or purple pair in my suitcase?”

“Oooh, do you?”

I slow blink because I can’t tell if she’s fucking with me or not. “No. No, I do not.”

“Dammit. You are no fun. What about gray or?—”

“I have about five more that look exactly like this, Pres.” I point to the jeans in question.

She rolls her eyes. “And you used to give Zander a hard time about his obsession with black.”

“They make my ass look good.” She makes a gagging noise. “Oh, I do have a faded pair that looks sort of gray.”

“Wear those. And then?—”

My phone beeps, signaling a new text message. I lean in to read it, my sister making a disgruntled remark about my face being too close to the screen, but I don’t care.

Because the text message is from Zara.

Zara

Can’t make it. Sorry.

My brows furrow. “What’s wrong?” Presley asks.

“What could make a woman cancel a date at the last minute without any explanation or warning?”

Now her brows are bunched together as she tries to come up with an answer. “Everything was fine the last time?—”

“Perfect,” I tell her. “Everything between us has been fucking perfect.” A little sporadic thanks to our crazy schedules, but we made up for it with texts and plans for later in the week.

She bites the corner of her lip before saying, “Then it’s not you. It’s—” Something else.

“I gotta go, Pres. Thanks for the help.”

I’ll take it from here.

Chapter Nineteen

ZARA

I never should have answered the phone.That was my first mistake.

My second was not hanging up the moment I realized he was alive and wasn’t in mortal peril.