Page 39 of The Bridges I've Burned

“You’ve never heard that saying?” He seemed appalled.

“No.” I laughed as I finished getting ready. I didn’t do dress shoes unless I absolutely had to, so I went with a nice pair of boots.

Presley must have noticed me reaching for the blazer I’d thrown on the bed because she suddenly interrupted the conversation again. “Did you bring your bomber jacket?”

I turned toward the camera. “It’s like the seventh circle of hell out there, Pres.”

She merely lifted her brow.

I sighed. “Yeah, of course, I brought it.”

There were two things I never left home without—my guitar and my leather jacket.

I was a walking cliché, and I knew it.

“No one is gonna wear those stuffy suit jackets when they all get inside anyway, so you might as well look hot for…” She pressed her lips together. “What’s her name again?”

“I don’t think I told you, and it’s not like that.”

“Okay.” She grinned, not believing me for a second. “Wear the jacket, Z.”

“Wait, are you two, like, sharing that rental?” It was like I could see the light bulb flipping on above his head.

“Yep.”

“Dude,” they both said in the exact same way.

Regular siblings were weird. Creed siblings were on a whole other level.

“Wait, what happened to your other accommodations?”

“Fell through,” I lied. “Macon helped me out.”

“That’s like a sign from God,” he said as I slipped the bomber over my shoulders and finally grabbed my phone off the dresser, eager to get this call over with so I could go see Elena in that dress again. “You sharing a roof with that hot piece of?—”

“Hendrix,” I warned him, “don’t.”

His brow shot up. Yeah, that was new.

I’d never shut him up over a girl before.

“Well, at least think about it. Maybe think on it for a while. A day or two. Maybe a week.”

“You know I am leaving tomorrow,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, but what if you didn’t? It’s not like you have anywhere you need to be.”

“Yes, I do,” I argued. “I need to be home, which isn’t here. Not anymore.”

Stop. Staring. At. Her. You. Creep.

I’d managed to get us safely to the restaurant without crashing into a tree or swerving into oncoming traffic, but it wasn’t without difficulty.

That damn dress.

Being on the road for so long had done something to me. I’d grown leaps and bounds in my professional career, but my personal life had taken a hit. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone on an actual date or felt any sort of real connection beyond a few fleeting moments with a random stranger.

But the moment Elena had walked into my room in that dress, everything in my body had risen to attention, reminding me what it felt like to truly want another person.

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