Page 43 of The Temptation of Truth

“Would you like help with the outline?”

“You know, I could probably just write it without the outline...”

“Well, unfortunately, the outline?—”

“Is required by the program,” she finishes with a sigh. “I know. Oh, but maybe I could write the paper and then fill in the outline after? They’ll never know.”

I smirk. “How about we do the first few the proper way. If you do them well, I’ll let you try it your way.”

Her answering grin makes me feel like I just struck a deal with the devil. She looks so much like Sav in this moment that I almost forget they’re not blood related.

“I’m holding you to that,” she says, and I nod.

“I’m a woman of my word.”

Brynn turns on her tablet and gets to work completing the outline template required by her homeschool program, so I stand from the couch and make my way toward the kitchenette area of the suite. Sav ordered a continental breakfast of sorts, which from what I’m learning is the norm. Since I’ve been here this morning, Torren, Callie, and Claire have all filtered in and out, snagging food. I haven’t seen Mabel, though. I’ve been watching.

“How’s it going?” Levi looks up at me from a tablet of his own, a stylus in his hand and something resembling construction blueprints on the screen. “She giving you hell?”

I grin and grab a glass to pour myself some orange juice.

“It’s going well. She might not like the subject matter, but she’s very smart. I don’t think she’s going to struggle much, if at all.”

He sets his stylus on the table. “When it comes to academics, if something doesn’t click immediately for Boss, it makes her uncomfortable. She’ll gladly work her ass off at anything else—guitar, drawing, skateboarding—but when it comes to school, she’s either all in or all out.”

“I can see that. It seems like the interpretation stuff is what gets her. Clear correct and incorrect, she can do no problem, but when the answer is up for interpretation? She doesn’t like that.”

Levi nods. “Nailed it.”

“We’ll get through it,” I say confidently, then gesture to the tablet. “Work?”

“Yeah, kind of. I’m consulting on a project for a buddy of mine. A mansion on the coast, but the client has some big ideas, so I’m helping make sure they’re carried out safely.”

“Is the client someone famous? A name I’d recognize?”

He flares his eyes. “It’s a name everyone would recognize. That’s why it’s also top secret.”

“Intriguing.”

“Don’t try to get it out of him,” Sav says as she saunters into the kitchen. “He won’t even tell me.”

“You’ll tell Mabel,” Levi says dryly.

Sav flashes me a smirk and a roll of her eyes, but she doesn’t deny it. I watch her survey the breakfast spread, then snag a mini blueberry muffin.

Last night, she had on a face full of makeup and this open-back leather and lace ensemble that hugged every curve and showed off a tattoo of dahlias down her spine. This morning, she’s in baggy sweats and an oversized shirt that says East Coast Contracting on the breast pocket. Her face is bare. Her hair is ratty and piled on top of her head in a sloppy bun. Two very different sides to the rock star, but both fit her effortlessly.

Everyone in this band seems so comfortable in their own skin. Even Brynnlee, and she’s only twelve. It makes me envious. Envious and itchy, as if my own skin is too tight or too dry. I fiddle with the skirt of my dress and resist the urge to adjust the sleeves. Until a few years ago, I never wore dresses. Now my closet is full of them. I can’t for the life of me remember how that happened. Brady likes them, though.

I frown and redirect my train of thought.

“What time do you have to be at the venue for sound check?” I take a sip of my juice and bounce my eyes between Sav and Levi. “I think I’d like to do some exploring before the show.”

“I’ll have to ask Ham?—”

The door to the suite swings wide, revealing Mabel in full glam, and I stop breathing.

“Good morning, family. I’m here for breakfast.”