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So even if she had to go through her life alone, at least she’d be authentic about it. Her mother and father had both died too young and continuing to live her own life on autopilot seemed the ultimate insult to the both of them.
Daniel had done decent damage control for her in the press, saying that they’d both figured out that they were better friends than lovers. Ha! If the public only knew how true that was. Daniel still didn’t feel comfortable coming out yet, but she hoped after he grew more secure with the show, he’d take that step as well.
“And now I’d like to welcome my best friend to join me, Ms. Evan Kennedy,” Daniel announced, dragging her from her thoughts.
She took one more deep breath, put on a nervous smile, and walked on stage to publicly break up with the boy she’d plan to marry.
THIRTY-TWO
Jace cracked open the beers and distributed them around the living room to Andre, Reid, and Grant. Then he handed Brynn a glass of wine. His friends had supposedly come over to celebrate Jace’s birthday, but somehow he’d ended up serving them. Lazy bastards.
“You don’t prefer wine, Grant?” Brynn asked. She had her legs draped over Reid’s lap and was looking downright mellow after two glasses of Chardonnay.
Grant took a pull off the beer and smiled. “I don’t trust these Neanderthals to have anything decent.”
“Well, maybe if you’d bring over some free bottles every once in a while, we would,” Andre said. “Your shit ain’t cheap.”
“And waste it on your untrained palates?” Grant said, somehow managing smug with that twangy accent of his. He looked to Brynn. “Darlin’, if you’d like some, I’ll package up a case next time you and Reid are at The Ranch and send you home with some.”
Reid rubbed circles at the base on Brynn’s spine, an unconscious possessive hold on his woman while she was in a room full of dominant men. Jace couldn’t help but feel hollow at the sight. His own hand filled with nothing but a cold beer bottle.
Two months. Evan had been gone two fucking months. It felt like a century.
He should’ve never let her walk. His instincts had been wrong. Once again.
Reid smiled. “Sounds good. I plan to take Brynn out there next weekend. She’s got a bit of a voyeuristic streak that we haven’t indulged in a while.”
Brynn gasped and smacked Reid on the chest. “Reid!”
Reid chuckled. “You’re in a room full of guys, who, except for Andre, have seen you naked and bound for me. You’ve been on your knees for Jace. I think we’re beyond pretending you’re Ms. Innocent.”
Her cheeks stained pink, and she took a dainty sip from her wine. “Well you could’ve at least left Andre with that illusion. Give me some shred of a chance to have someone think I’m a lady.”
Andre smiled. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been on my knees for Jace, too.”
She tried to maintain her composure, but an indelicate snort escaped. Her gaze went between the two of them. “Damn, that’s hot.”
Jace grinned, the melancholy mood that seemed to chase him no matter where he was lately easing a bit. At least he had good friends. And Andre. Jace didn’t know how he would’ve made it through the last two months without him. Exploring the new relationship between them had been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise depressing reel of film. Though both he and Andre were all too aware, even in the heated moments, that there was a vital component missing. A sense of incompleteness neither could shake.
Reid rolled his eyes. “See. Dirty voyeur. And don’t get any ideas, sugar. I’m not sucking Jace’s dick no matter how much it would turn you on.”
“Word.” Jace shook his head. He was about as attracted to his childhood friend as he was to a swarm of wasps. And though he’d enjoyed the ménage with Brynn, Jace knew it’d been a one-time only deal. Reid and Brynn were kinky as shit, but they were built for one-on-one.
Grant grabbed one of the remaining slices of pizza sitting in the open box on the coffee table. “So when are you two going to come back to my place?”
Jace grabbed a chair from the dining room and straddled it, the little lift in his mood flatlining. The thought of going to The Ranch and dominating any other woman besides Evan made his beer turn bitter in his mouth. “I’ve been busy with the store.”
“Been working on a big case,” Andre mumbled at the same time.
Grant took a bite of pizza, considered them. “She’s doing well, you know. I’ve seen her.”
Jace straightened in his chair like he’d been pinched, his possessive gene going on full alert. “She’s been in L.A. What do you mean you’ve seen her?”
Grant rarely left his business, so when he’d “seen” someone it usually meant he’d seen them naked.
“She came back after she taped that first show. I hired her,” Grant said, his tone as casual as his worn jeans. He tore off another bite of pizza.
Andre looked horrified. “As a submissive?”
