Had we not hired the extra security, they might not have caught it in time.
I stay on the phone with Oscuro’s security team as Earl drives me home, listening to every update, knowing the board will find a way to blame me for this. None of my brothers join me. None of them will even look at me when they leave.
It doesn’t matter. All I can think about is her.
Sydney was there tonight. Sydney could have been in the club when that bomb went off, if we hadn’t found it.
This is more than a nuisance. More than pulling a liquor license, more than siphoning off our income, more than going after our businesses.
This is war.
28
SYDNEY
Fourteen missed calls.
I wake up the morning after my disastrous date with Seamus to fourteen missed calls from Ashton. I half expect to open my door and find him camped out on the stairs in front of my apartment when I leave for work.
Thankfully, he isn’t.
I spend the day barely going through the motions, distracted and miserable. Seamus still hasn’t texted me back—not after my humiliating “Sorry I kissed another man on our date, can we still be friends?” message. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t text me back either.
It’s safe to assume we can effectively scratch Twin Pines off the list of bars I can show my face in ever again.
The sun is out today, one final beautiful summer's day before fall really sets in. It’s the type of weather that draws people to patios and parks, not to a bookstore. The shop is quiet, just a few customers filtering in over the afternoon, and nothing to occupy my attention or distract me from my miserable thoughts.
Jade notices my mood, of course. And as always, she’s determined to cheer me up.
Sliding a cookie toward me across the counter, she clears her throat. “Would you rather?—”
“Not this again,” Justin groans. “You’re still playing this stupid game?”
“Shush,” Jade scolds him. “It’s not stupid, and it’s not a game. It’s a cognitive exercise, and you play without complaint, or you’re fired, got it?”
He sighs, but doesn’t argue, and she turns her attention back to me. “Would you rather…” Jade hums in thought, trying to think of an acceptable scenario. “Be able to fly, or be able to turn invisible?”
Justin leans his back against the counter and taps a finger against his lips, giving the question far more consideration than it deserves. “Fly,” he says, finally. “Hands down. Who would want to be invisible anyway?”
“I don’t know,” I murmur, staring at the cookie Jade gave me, but making no move to eat it. Chocolate chip. My favorite. “I can see the appeal.”
Justin looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. “The appeal? Of being invisible?” He shakes his head. “Flying is a superhero power. You could actually save people if you could fly! Being invisible is just creepy. What good could you possibly do with that?”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I drag it out, throat constricting when I see the screen.
Incoming call: Ashton.
“No one could hide things from you,” I reason, sending the call to voicemail and forcing my voice to be steady. “No secrets, no lies. Like I said, I can see the appeal.”
My phone buzzes again immediately.
Ashton: 911.
Ashton: Pick up. Emergency.
Justin shrugs. “Still creepy,” he says. “No offense, Syd.”
“None taken,” I mutter, staring down at my phone.
