Page 135 of The Price of Forever

“Seven, you’re the first thing she asks about whenever I see her.”

I swallowed hard. I had daily reports on her coming in from Chico and Trojan, but it still wasn’t enough. I didn’t need to know how she was doing, officially, but I couldn’t help asking. Though it didn’t even scratch the surface of what I wanted.

“And do you tell her?”

“I haven’t told her how bad you’re getting. But the next time she asks, I’m going to tell her you’re a moping dodo bird.” Trojan sent me a pointed look. “Because you are.”

“Well, it makes the most sense to stay the course. It might hurt for now, but that’s better than it hurting for the rest of our lives.”

Trojan squinted at me. “Did you tell her about Olivia?”

I exhaled heavily, popping to my feet.

“Seven.” His voice held a warning.

“What?”

“You fucking heard me. Did you tell her?”

I put my weights back on the rack, loud clangs ringing through the apartment. “No.”

He groaned, covering his face with his hands. “Okay, well, that might be a good place to start.”

I had a few comebacks ready for him, but my phone rang, interrupting my plan of attack. I snatched up my phone from the coffee table, finding Damian’s name on the screen.

I swiped it on, grateful for the distraction but worried he might have yet another suspicion to confront me with. “Hey, Damian. What’s up?”

“Hey, Seven. Got a couple things I wanted to run by you.”

“Shoot.”

“First of all, Axel and I are planning a dinner for Jordan. To celebrate her new apartment and everything. Would you like to join?”

My insides went cold. “When is it?”

“Tomorrow night.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, grappling for some excuse. I did want to go. But I wanted to maintain this clean break more. To prove to him I didn’t have anything going on with his little sister. “Damn. My friend is in town, and we had some plans for tomorrow night.”

“Mmm. Okay.” Damian tutted. “Well, moving along. I’m going to send something to your phone. Could you look at it for me?”

“Sure. What is it?”

Damian cleared his throat, and a prickle in my gut warned me what was coming. “It’s a picture I stumbled across. Take a look.”

I pulled my phone away from my ear and waited for the picture message to finish loading. When it was ready, a high-resolution image of Jordan showed up on my screen—on Eli’s arm.

My mouth parted. I needed a few extra seconds for things to click into place.

But when they did, all I could think was fuuuuck.

“Did you get it?”

“I did.” I pressed the phone to my ear. “It’s Jordan.”

“Yes, it was taken two days ago in Midtown.” Damian said. That had been one of the excursions Trojan accompanied her on. Something like a PR/shopping trip that Eli insisted Jordan attend.

“You know who that man is,” Damian said it more like a statement, but I could tell it was also a question.

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