Page 29 of The Final Deal

Once the overhead lights fade as Adrian starts the engine, I search the darkness engulfing the Devil’s House property. No shadowy figures, no cowboy hats—but there is the owl hiding in the trees, watching from its high perch not too far away, behind the sign.

Adrian’s warm hand covers my bare thigh below the frayed hem of my jean shorts, startling me out of my hypnosis on the night zooming past. He rubs his hand up and down my thigh in apology.

Road noise and Upon a Burning Body plays at a low volume until he takes my hand. “We’re gonna protect you, princesa. Me and Z. Shitheads, bad guys, the devil—don’t matter what it is. Ipromised I’d protect you. We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

I squeeze his hand. “I know.”

The Tacoma parks in front of the twins’ place, beside Zak’s Hellcat. Adrian doesn’t kill the engine yet.

“I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise before,” he murmurs, his expression turning forlorn.

I’ll do everything I can to protect you, princesa. You’re gonna be so annoyed with me for watching you like a hawk to make sure nobody hurts you ever again.

I believed that promise. I believed it so much that the phantom pain of him not keeping it aches in my chest.

Warm fingers tip my chin up.

“I know you think I’m trying to keep you away from Zak and all to myself,” he starts quietly, “but I’m not. I’ve watched you bleed out in his arms twice; if it happens a third time… if I lose you for good…” He trails off, and his expression struggles to remain neutral as his jaw clenches and eyebrows twitch.

He stares into my eyes with a look I’ve seen before: the same one he gave Zak and me when he caught us kissing behind the venue after our post-record label signing show, when Zak asked me out.

Pure, unadulterated heartbreak.

“Ijustgot you. You makin’ us dinner tonight and bein’ a pain in my ass was the first real glimpse I’ve had of the rest of our lives, and I want it so fuckin’ bad it hurts.” He jabs his index finger into his chest repeatedly. “I’ve spent so long runnin’ from this feeling that I don’t know what to do with it besides make damn sure you’re safe so we’ll have this longer than until Zak snaps and drains you for good.”

“Honey,” I whisper. Fighting off the tears as we watch each other grows more difficult, like the pain from Adrian’s thoughtsof losing me are radiating from his psyche into my skin. “We’ll have this for as long as you want it—even if it’s forever.”

His head shakes. “Not if you keep testing shit with Zak.”

“I won’t stop loving him, Dree. You can’t keep me from loving your brother.”

Just when I think I got him, his gaze softens. “I don’t want you to stop loving him. I want you to love me as much and not test fate so Icanhave the rest of forever with you. Both of you. Because you’re right: it’s always been the three of us. But I have a lot of catching up to do.”

The smile on my face is small, but it feels like my heart keeps swelling past the confines of my rib cage. “Good thing we have the rest of our lives for me to show you how much I love you and for you to catch up, huh?”

The corner of his lips lift up briefly. “Yeah, but what’s that gonna look like for us? Zak’s the face, and I’m still the secret you keep locked away in your bedroom.”

“I told Rosa we’re dating.”

He blinks. “You and Zak?”

“No—you and me.” I make a face. “And I might’ve implied Zak, too.”

I peer at Adrian, expecting some weird sense of elation, but instead I find him staring with his jaw set like stone and eyes widened. “Please tell me you did not tell her that.”

My brow arches. “She asked if I was dating you, I said yes; she then said it doesn’t look good to jump between brothers like that, so I was like, ‘who said anything about jumping?’”

Adrian growls and scrubs his hands over his face.

“Did I do something wrong? I thought you wanted to tell people about us.”

He tugs his hair and lets his hands fall to his thighs. “Yeah,us—not usand my brother.”

I raise my own hand with my palm facing upward. “If we’re doing this trio thing, then that’s how it’s working.”

“No, it’s not,” he says with finality. “The three of us might be fine with it, but we don’t know what others are gonna think of it. Especially Tia Rosa, and she’s the puppeteer of everything that isn’t Timeless.”

My eyes roll hard. The Ramos family matriarch has always been a pain in the ass, but… “She would let you and Z get away with murder. Why would this be the thing that gets her panties in a wad?”

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