Page 4 of Burn

“IS THAT cocaine?”

Jacey frowns, her nose turned up at me like I’ve offended her as she stands at the kitchen counter. Let’s face it, offending Jacey is pretty muchimpossible. “What in the hell would make you think it’s cocaine?”

Shrugging, I close the door and kick off my shoes. Owen’s a few steps ahead of me and does the same but doesn’t even make it to his bedroom before he passes out on the floor in the living room. He can literally lie down and be asleep in the next second. I’ve never understood how that’s possible, but it is for him.

Not me though. I can’t wait to get into my bed. I can already imagine the softness of the sheets and my head hitting the pillow. “It’swhite. . . and you have it in a neatly cut line. We also live in Seattle so it’s a very real possibility it’s cocaine.”

“Seattle’s not known for cocaine use . . . meth sure, but cocaine, not really,” she points out, wiping her hands on a towel. I live in a three-bedroom apartment with Jacey, Owen, and my brother Gavin. I know what you’re thinking, three bedrooms? Who shares?

They all have their own rooms, and I sleep in the loft upstairs. At first I thought I was the lucky one. The loft has more space than the bedrooms, but I quickly learned it actually sucks sometimes. There’s no door. And the walls don’t go all the way up, so there’s really no privacy.

Another lesson learned the hard way.

I flop myself on the couch, the trek to my bed seeming to get further and further as the minutes pass. I’m so exhausted it’s totally possible I may not make it up there at this point. The odds are leaning toward me falling asleep right here. “What’s the point of this conversation?”

“Got me.” Jacey shrugs, reaching for the remote as she moves from the kitchen to beside me on the couch. “You’re the one who asked if it was cocaine.”

“What is it?”

She hands me a cookie I eye suspiciously. She once made pot brownies and then Owen and I had to work a tour after eating them. Worst three days of my life. Or should I say, worst three days of everyone else’s lives because Owen and I didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

“Powdered sugar. It’s Christmas Eve, thought it’d be good to make some cookies to take over to your parents’ tomorrow.”

Satisfied with her answer, I put the entire cookie in my mouth at once. It’s some kind of lemon cookie and reminds me of those lemon bars she makes at Easter. “Nice.”

I know what you’re thinking, I just finished telling you how basically all women are ruthless fucking whores and most are, but Jacey’s the exception. Don’t get me wrong, Jacey’s hot, and yes, we’ve hooked up before, but she’s one of my best friends. She’s never been and never will be just a hookup. I actually dated her for two years when we were younger, and then she ripped my heart out and lit the fucker on fire.

Why am I still friends with her?

You can’t stay mad at a girl like her. You can try, but she’s like an infection that won’t go away. As soon as the redness and swelling disappear, she comes back and reminds you she’s there, always.

She’s also madly in love with my oldest brother, Evan. Remember when I said she ripped my heart out and set it on fire? She slept with Evan.

Yep. Exactly.

“Any good calls today?” Jacey asks, her pale blue eyes on the television as we search for something to watch, and she ties her black hair up in a bun.

“Couple car accidents last night and one this morning where a guy ended up in telephone pole wires. We had to wait for the utility company before we could get him out.”

She laughs. “No shit?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was high on more than powdered sugar last night.”

“Sounds like it.” Curling her legs up on the sofa, she faces me. “Hey, if I was trapped in a burning building, do you think Evan would rescue me without his shirt on?”

I quirk an eyebrow at her, not understanding her obsession with my oldest brother. “I’ll never understand why you chosehimoverme.”

“Well, if we want to get technical about this, I didn’tchoosehim. It just happened, and he took my heart the same day and kept it like a treasure that’s not his to have. I only occasionally sleep with him when he needs to forget life. Which if we want to get technical about it, that’s pretty fucking sad for me. Andtechnically, you broke up withme.”

I stare at her in disbelief, kind of disgusted she doesn’t find the obvious as alarming as I do, or did. “Technically you fucked my brother when I was at baseball practice.”

“Here we go again.” She waves her hand around, smacking my temple in the process. “We’ve been over this. I was sixteen and not smart. He was seventeen. Totally took advantage of me.”

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to talk about this.” Running my hands over my face, I groan. “I’m going to bed.”

Sure, I eventually forgave Jacey and Evan for what they did. It was like ten years ago, but still, it’s not something I want to think about either.

Jacey grabs my hand before I can leave. “The fuck you are. I’m working tonight and it’s Christmas Eve. You’re coming out to keep me company. It’s the least you can do.”

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