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He let out a sigh. “She’s at Youngblood.”
“Are you kidding me?” All this dancing around and she was at my fucking club?
Nacio shrugged. “I wanted to see how serious you were.”
I knocked back the drink he’d given me and stood. This time I was going to truly make Siren mine.
“Oh, and Sam? If you’re planning on proposing, you might want to shower and change first.”
I didn’t bother responding to him as I headed for the door. I’d already wasted more than enough time that should have been spent with Siren. I didn’t plan on wasting more arguing with her brother.
Thirty-One
Piper
I staredat the drink in front of me. The nonalcoholic drink. I’d asked Gayle for tequila, and she’d responded by giving me a ginger ale.
“Okay, spill,” Shawn said from his seat beside me. “What’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours?”
I honestly couldn’t make sense of all the things that were racing through my head. And I felt bad for keeping Shawn up so late on a Sunday night. He had to get up for school in the morning.
“I don’t know what to think at this point,” I said with a glance toward the dance floor where Sierra and Nate were wrapped around each other.
Neither of them had really explained anything to me, and I didn’t think they planned on it tonight. They were too busy losing themselves in the music and feeling each other up.
“Nate and Sierra were acting really weird all day, actually since before we left my brother’s engagement party last night. They asked my mom to babysit this evening, which doesn’t seem like them at all. We grabbed dinner, and then they brought me here. Nate told us to wait while he went upstairs, and when he came back, Joriel was with him, except he looked like he’d taken a bath in a tub of black ink. Nate took off, and the rest of us went to this garage—I didn’t even know this building had a garage—and we hung out there for a while. Then Sierra got a phone call and told me Sam needed my help. We drove to Castle Island, which is supposed to be closed at night, by the way. I was freaking out because I had no idea what the fuck was going on.”
Thomas, who sat on Shawn’s other side, slid his beer across the bar toward me.
Did I really look like I needed alcohol that badly?
“Anyway, Sam didn’t seem happy to see us. Joriel said something about saving Sam from himself. No one was explaining to me what the heck was going on. Sam asked me to trust him, and then he tried to cut my palm but nothing happened.” My voice was edging into hysterical territory.
“Which hand?” Shawn asked, his eyes narrowing.
I held out my left hand, and he examined the unbroken skin until he was satisfied that I wasn’t hurt.
“What happened after that?” Thomas asked, his deep voice soothing.
“I’m not really sure. An angel with black wings told Nate to take me and Sierra away from the island. Nate grabbed our hands and we ran. And now we’re here, and I have no idea what happened or if Sam’s okay or what to think about anything.” I took a long pull from Thomas’s beer.
“Shit,” Shawn muttered. “What can I do to make this better?”
A hand snatched the beer out of my hand and dumped it back in front of Thomas. “She’s cut off,” Gayle said, narrowing her eyes at him.
“I’ve had one sip of beer all day,” I said. “Why are you cutting me off?”
“I’m a bartender, honey. I know how to read a customer like a book. Alcohol isn’t the cure for what you’re going through.”
I groaned. “I don’t evenknowwhat I’m going through,” I muttered.
“This bar is for having a good time and for drowning sorrows. I will not let you use it to run away from your problems.”
“Iamdrowning my sorrows,” I argued. “I had my heart broken this week.”
Gayle shook her head at me. “You are running away. You need to talk to him, and you can’t do that if you’re wasted. So drink your ginger ale, go dance, and then when you’re ready, face your problems.”
Arguing with Gayle was useless and I knew it. I grabbed Shawn’s hand and dragged him off to the dance floor.
