Page 21 of The Temptation of Truth

Levi shrugs. “Trust me. I’d have stopped it if I’d known.”

I laugh. They’re lucky Brynn is a good kid. If she wanted to break a rule or ten, they’d never know. She’s too smart, and if she ever decides to use those smarts for the wrong things, Sav and Levi are going to be so fucked.

“How’s the pool?” I ask, looking from Brynn to Red and back. “You weren’t there very long.”

“Unwanted guests,” Red says.

Sav shoots from her seat and heads straight for the hotel phone. “I’ll call hotel security.” Savannah puts up with the paparazzi hounding her, but when they bother Brynn, she goes all snarly momma bear.

“Not paparazzi,” Brynn says. “Worse. Caveat boys.”

“Oh.” Sav exhales, and I watch as she transitions out of fight mode and slinks back into her usual, laid-back self. Sharp as razor blades to smooth as water. “Well, thatisunfortunate.”

“I left once Ezra and Crue decided to have a cannonball contest.”

“Smart,” I say with a nod.

“Actually, Boss, this is great. You can meet with Aurora now.” Sav plops back onto the couch and grabs her cell phone from the side table. “I’ll text her. Go hose off and get dressed.”

Brynn groans. “Sav, do I have to?”

“Brynnlee.” Levi’s tone bucks argument. “Your courses start in a week. You can’t put this off.”

“I hate new people,” she grouses.

Sav and I share a glance as we both force down the instinct to laugh, then I throw my arm over Brynn’s shoulder, ignoring her wet hair.

“Aurora is pretty cool, Boss. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“You talked to her? What’s she like?”

An image of Aurora fills my head, and my stomach does another little flip. I catch my eyebrows just before they slant downward.

What’s she like?

Every word that comes to mind seems inadequate for some reason. Like no matter what I say, it will fall short, and that makes me uncomfortable. Nervous in a way that mirrors guilt. But I shouldn’t feel guilty. Aurora is attractive; there’s no denying that. A lot of people are attractive. My whole band is attractive. My bandmates’ partners are attractive. I amliterallysurrounded by attractive people all the time. It’s just a fact, and there’s nothing wrong with objectively acknowledging a fact.

I’ve donenothingwrong.

“Mabes.” Brynn’s voice pulls me from my thoughts as her hand waves in front of my face. “Earth to Mabel.”

“Yeah?” I force a smile, ignoring Sav’s eyes. I don’t want to see any assumptions in them.

“I asked what Aurora was like.”

“She’s...” I shrug. “She’s interesting.”

Brynn frowns. “Interesting?”

“Yeah.” I shrug again. “Interesting. Nice. She’s nice.”

I almost want to laugh. Of all the words flying around in my head,interestingandniceare what I chose. They aren’t enough, but I don’t offer Brynn anything else. I bite my tongue, then stand from the couch.

“I’m heading back to my room. I’ll see you guys later.”

Sav doesn’t throw any questions at me, and that’s nerve-racking. She’s too good at reading me, and right now, I don’t want to be read.

“Be nice to your tutor, Boss.”