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“Don’t worry about me. I’m learning to navigate these unfamiliar waters I’ve been treading the last month or so.” I paused. “What about you? Is it hard to be at a party like this? Being sober, I mean?”
He hesitated. “Not really? At least at a party like this there’s stuff to do, people to talk to, damsels in distress to rescue—” He paused, pretending to give me the stink eye, and we both laughed. Abruptly, he sobered. “Being home alone is the most dangerous time for me. There’s nothing to do and no one to do it with.”
“How come you don’t have a girlfriend?” I asked. “You’re hot, rich, and successful. They must be banging down the doors for you.”
He shrugged. “The ones I usually like don’t want to be with someone on the road for two years at a time. The ones that want me don’t want the real me, they just want Carter Ambrose the rockstar. And the one I love, well, she belonged to someone else.”
“Belonged?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Zeke and I are almost always around if you ever just want to hang out. You know? If you’re alone and you think you’re going to do something you shouldn’t. Just reach out.”
“Carter, there you are.” Aurora came over and slid her arm through his elbow. “There are people I want you to meet. Come on.”
“I’ll find you in a minute,” he said, his tone snippy. “Presley and I are in the middle of a conversation.”
“For fuck’s sake, Carter, I said—”
“And I said no. Give me five.”
“Fine.” She turned in a huff and Carter exhaled sharply.
“You okay?” I asked him, watching him follow her retreating figure with his eyes.
“Do yourself a favor and stay far, far away from Aurora,” he said softly.
“Hey, there you are.” Zeke joined us. “I was looking all over for you.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I came outside to get some air and then Greg Mink was hitting on me and Carter came to the rescue.”
“I see.” Zeke smiled. “Thanks, man.”
Carter nodded. “Anytime. Now, I have to go see what the she-devil wants.”
“She-devil?” Zeke asked as he walked away.
“Aurora.”
Zeke stared after him. “You want to go home? I have a feeling she’s going to do everything in her power to cause trouble.”
“Same.” I hesitated. “But should we leave Carter alone?”
“I’ll make sure Kingston keeps an eye on him.”
“Okay.”
We walked back into the house.
34
Zeke
With my mother in the house, we were able to sleep most mornings. She would get Jeremy up and ready for the day, so Presley and I didn’t have to. More than once, we’d both told her she didn’t have to, but she seemed to be making up for lost time with him much the way I was. Presley worried it was too much, but it turned out to be a nice break for us since one of us was still getting up once in the middle of the night with him. He couldn’t seem to get past that three a.m. feeding time, and Presley had said she was going to start adding cereal to his formula this week.
It was noon before we got up the day after the movie premiere. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d just lounged around in bed with a woman, and I was enjoying the hell out of it. We’d made love, cuddled, and she’d just picked up her phone a few minutes ago. She appeared to be scrolling social media when she gasped.
“Zeke!”
