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Knox gripped his shoulder and smiled widely. “I’m glad you’re here, bro.”
Seb did his best not to wince. He didn’t want anyone to see just how bad his condition really was. Probably because he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
“Me too,” Seb lied again. It wasn’t that he was unhappy about being in Whisper Lake. Honestly, he’d never given a shit about where he lived. The only thing that had ever mattered to him was tattooing and without that in his life, he honestly didn’t care where he was.
Seb went to the back of the SUV and grabbed his duffle bag, backpack with his photography equipment, and his tattoo case which housed his kits and inks.
“Is that all you brought?” Knox asked.
“Yep.” One good thing about traveling and moving all the time is that he’d spent so much of his life living out of a suitcase, he could fit everything he owned in the back of his SUV. Packing up and leaving his condo had taken under an hour.
The men walked up the stairs and Knox showed Seb around the one-bedroom apartment. The space was small but had recently been upgraded with new finishes and appliances. It had a bed, a shower, and great light pouring in from the large bay windows that overlooked the lake.
It was the perfect place for him to paint, if he could just get past his artist block.
“Hey, are you free tomorrow?” Knox asked.
“Yeah,” Seb responded. His next therapy appointment wasn’t until the day after.
“You wanna roll to the city with Laura and me. We have some shit to do for the wedding.”
The thought of sitting behind the wheel while someone else drove instantly gave Seb anxiety. He’d had two panic attacks in the back of Ubers since the accident. Once he was able to drive again, he hadn’t relinquished control of the wheel to anyone.
“Bro, I just drove for three days.”
“Please, man, I really need the backup.” Knox instituted their Bro SOS Code. All Seb’s life, when a Savage man said he needed backup, you didn’t ask questions, you just said yes.
Even with the longstanding bro-code, Seb still couldn’t bring himself to agree. “What about Keaton or Ford?”
“Keaton has classes and Ford is busy with…things. It has to be you.”
Seb could definitely tell that something was up, but he could also tell that his brother didn’t want to reveal why he was being so fucking cagey. If all of his energy hadn’t been drained from his rigorous PT session after a four-day cross-country drive he might have pressed for more details. But since it was, he just nodded. “Sure.”
“Thanks, and don’t mention it to anyone.”
Seb nodded as Knox left the apartment. He glanced around. It was small, but the large bay windows that faced the lake and Stone Castle let in a ton of light. It would be a great place to paint. Now all he had to do was get some fucking inspiration.
But first, a shower.
6
Kennedy bither lip as she sat watching the second hand on the large wooden clock that hung on the far wall tick around in a complete circle again. This speaker really liked to hear his own voice. The session on the latest industry trends in technology was scheduled to end at noon but had now gone more than an hour over.
She was facing an internal battle. On one side of the argument were the Polite Police. It would be rude to get up and leave while a man was speaking. Facing them down was the On Time Task Force. Kennedy was never late. To her fifteen minutes early was on time.
She’d told Laura that she’d meet her at a quarter to one. It was nearly thirty minutes past that now. It wouldn’t be so bad if she could text and let her know but the attendees had been instructed to turn off their phones. Instead of putting it on silent, like she was sure most people had done, she’d turned hers off. Which meant, if she turned it back on, it would make a sound.
None of that would have been an issue if she’d chosen a seat in the back of the room on the aisle. Unfortunately for her, she’d arrived early for the lecture and gotten a prime seat in the center of the room third row back. Which meant if she was going to leave, she’d have to walk past a half dozen people in her row on either side.
After another minute or so of compiling a torturous pros and cons list in her head, Kennedy made the executive decision that if he was still rambling on at one-thirty, she was going to bite the bullet and walk out. Each minute that passed felt like an hour as her anxiety grew not only from her tardiness but also from the impending embarrassment she’d face as she had to inch past the people in her row and draw attention to herself.
With only two minutes to spare before her deadline, the speaker finally, blessedly ended the session. There was a collective sigh of relief through the crowd as everyone stood and began to file out of the room.
She was halfway to the door when a man stepped beside her. She didn’t know his name, but she immediately recognized him. She’d spotted him when she’d checked in this morning and had been sneaking peeks at him all day. He was around six foot tall with a slim, athletic build. There was a sprinkle of gray right around his temple which made her think he was in his late thirties or early forties.
He looked like the guy who came in the photo frame. The one who was always pictured with a wife, two kids, and a dog on a beach or in the park, or some other wholesome environment. His strong jaw was clean-shaven. Dark brown hair that was a little longer than she would expect him to have, was styled in a messy-on-purpose type of way and gave him a little bit of a sexy edge.
“Hi, I’m Dan.” He smiled and a dimple appeared on his left cheek.
