Page 107 of Wicked Heat

“So, you have good reasons to be there.”

“Well, yeah,” I say.

“Except they’re all stupid, too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Call him. Talk to him.”

“I will,” I say, covering the lie with a shrug.

“Dammit, Bree. Ash isn’t Rory.”

I cringe, my body going stiff. “I never said he was. And it’s not about Ash. It’s about me.”

“See? There is something. This isn’t about the cruise or a book signing. Come on, girl. It’s me. Tell me what is going on in that very imaginative head of yours.”

“Why is this such a big deal to you? When did you become such an Ash fan?”

“Oh, I dunno. Maybe when I talked to you and heard boatloads of happiness in your voice. When I saw the way he looks at you in all those tabloid pictures. And the way you look back at him. Hell, girl. You glow in those pics.”

I scrub my palms over my face, then adjust my ear pod. “I used to be happy with Rory, remember? And I thought Kari was my friend. And even though I knew Maggie Bridge was trouble, I never saw this coming.”

“That’s totally different,” Aria says.

“Except it’s not.” I taste salt and realize I’m crying. “I didn’t really see any of them. So how the hell can I trust that Ash is what I think he is?”

“This has happened before, remember?” Her voice has turned gentle. “You had a scary dream, but you got past it. And then you fell in love with him.”

Her words squeeze my heart. And the truth is, I want to believe that. I want to trust in what I feel. In what my heart knows.

Except I don’t trust my heart. Not anymore.

I don’t think I ever will again.

“I like you, Ash,” Aria said, sitting across from him in a Burbank Starbucks. “I really, really do. But I can’t tell you where she is.” She held up a fist of solidarity. Sacred Girl Code.”

He’d flown in that morning, assuming that Bree had gone home. So far, though, he hadn’t found her. Thankfully, Aria had agreed to meet him, though she’d made clear that she wasn’t promising to help and could only talk for a few minutes.

“She’s making a mistake,” he said.

Aria nodded. “Totally agree. I told you. I like you.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“If I guess, will you tell me?”

She bit her lower lip, then shook her head. A second later, her phone chimed. “That’s my alarm. I need to run. I got booked as an extra today in a crowd scene.”

“Sounds like fun.”

She stood, started to reach for her phone, then froze. “So, listen. Would you mind hanging here for a bit while I hit the ladies room? Keep an eye on my purse and phone?”

“Not at all.”

He’d expected her to hurry off. Instead, she lingered, fiddling with her phone. Then she put it on the table and smiled at him before heading to the restroom.