I shove him and shake my head. “It’s the beach, man,” I say. “All this sun makes a person glow.”
“I think something else is making you glow.” He glances past me to Gemma, who’s pulling in the board. “Hey, Amethyst.”
Gemma scoffs and wipes the sand off her hands. “One day, I’ll have to pull you and Reed out of a crowd by your ears, and on that day, you’ll call me Mommy. Not Amethyst,” she taunts.
Zeb whistles and grins, clapping his hands in front of him. “The beach is doing you good, too, huh?” he teases.
“You’re an ass.” I push him toward the stairs. “Get inside before she buries your dead body in the sand.”
“Terrible place for a body,” he argues.
I roll my eyes and nudge him forward.
“Hey—” Gemma says to me. “I’m going to go shower this sand off and catch up with Kade,” she says, nodding toward the balcony where he’s just appeared. Her lips press to my forehead. “I won’t be long.”
The only word I can manage is, “Okay.”
“There you are,” I hear another voice say.
Gemma grabs my ass as she pushes past me, and I jump in response, trying to play it off when I see Andi making her way toward me from inside.
“Me?” I say, lifting my brows. “Thereyouare. Hey, gorgeous.”
Andi laughs and hugs me tightly, her embrace swaying us slightly.
There’s something about the extra grip in her hug that alerts my body, and when we part, I feel my brows narrow. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
However, she smiles and shakes her head. “We can talk later,” she says. “Mads is dying to talk to you about this record. It’s all he’s talked about for days.”
I sink my arm around her shoulders. “Let’s not keep him waiting, then—Oh shit, Zero!”
The bulldog mutt comes skipping across the room, bounding over couches, and when he reaches me, he jumps into my arms. I nearly fall backward with laughter when he uncontrollably licks my face.
“Zero!”
I laugh and crouch on the ground, giving the dog a good scruff.
“Zero, get off,” I hear Mads saying as he joins us. “You’ve slobbered the whole way here.”
“Oh, he just missed his Auntie Bon Bon,” I coo.
The way Mads looks at me makes me eye him. His hands are in his pockets, shoulders rounded forward like he’s ready to give me a tired,“what the hell,”Maddox scolding. And when I eventually straighten, I snicker and hug him.
“Hey, Bed,” he says into my hair.
“Hey, Mads.”
He hugs me a little tighter than his usual.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asks softly.
“I’m good, Mads,” I say. “I promise.”
“Are you sure? I haven’t been locked up in a while. They might give me a get-out-of-jail-free card if I need one,” he replies, and I laugh as we part.
“Okay, big brother,” I taunt, meeting his eyes. “No. I’m good. Really. Like my head feels… clear. A lot clearer than it has in a while. I’m good with it.”
He nods like he gets my drift. “Okay.”
