Page 208 of Heartbeats & Highways

Something about him looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

Not until he turned to look at me and I knew who he was.

Recognition flashed through his eyes, but then he tamped it down.

Without a word, he pushed away from the wall and sauntered past me, heading down the stairs to disappear.

He hadn’t been wearing formal wear, so I knew he wasn’t an invited guest.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said softly. “I had to use the bathroom.”

Brielle came to me, grabbed my hand, and dragged me into the guest room. She closed the door and leaned against it, her chest heaving.

“Uh, I know it’s none of my business, but who wasthat?” I asked.

“The man I’m sleeping with in secret.”

My eyes widened.

“You can’t tell anyone,” she begged. “Please.”

“I won’t tell anyone. Does Jazz know?”

“No. No one knows.” She bit her lip. “He wasn’t—I didn’t ask him to be my date. But he showed up and . . . and . . .”

“What’s his name?”

She paused. “Gage.”

I wondered if she knew that the brothers from the club knew him as simply—Ghost. Then again, I couldn’t very well ask questions without coming clean about how I knew him.

“How’d you two meet?”

She blushed. “I, ah, one night I went out to a bar. We met. We spent the night together. And then we’ve been . . . in secret.”

“You don’t think your brothers would approve? Because you met someone in a bar?” I asked in confusion.

“Every man I’ve introduced to my brothers, they’ve scared off.”

“No offense, but he looked like he could’ve held his own against them.”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

She sighed. “The entire story.”

“Keep your secrets, Brielle. God knows, I’ve got plenty of my own.”

“That’s just it, though. I’m dying to talk about it with someone, and now that you know I can tell you.”

“I want to hear it all. But now’s not the best time,” I said.

“Right, because of the wedding.”

“That, and I have to pee.” I grinned. “But the minute we have a free day, it’s you and me.”

“Thanks, Evie.” She beamed. “Do your thing. I’ll see you down there.”

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