Page 63 of Perfect Pitch

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I open the door to my brother’s apartment only to find his foot propped up on a pillow with a bag of ice wrapped around it. “What happened to you?”

He rolls his head and grins at Austyn with a tipsy smile as he lifts a bottle of Dom Perignon in her direction. “Dancing.”

She giggles back before tipping a bottle of her own directly to her lips. “How was I to know you’re such a lightweight?”

“Darling, that’s something you should always know about a man, especially the ones you’re about to meet where you’re going,” Trevor reminds her.

Austyn taps her finger against the dark green glass causing a ping noise that’s as annoying as nails scraping down a chalk board. “Hmm, true.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “The two of you are trashed. With one of you being under twenty-one.”

“Oh, he’s so alpha. Look, Trev. I’ve got the shivers.” Austyn throws her arm out to show that she does, in fact, have goose bumps.

Trevor nudges her against her breast. “Did you tell him?”

Austyn frowns. “I can’t think.”

“Ahh, that explains his confusion.”

Austyn beams at me, and my heart explodes in my chest. “Tell me what, Beats.”

“I got an offer to play at Redemption,” she announces proudly.

“I heard,” I let slip.

Trevor nods sagely before guessing accurately, “He had someone check you out.”

Austyn shoves her bottle blindly at Trevor before stomp-weaving in my direction. “Did you?”

I brace, “Did I what?”

“Did.” Hiccup. “Did you have me investigated?”

The words escape my lips before I think of their repercussions. “Of course.”

When a pout mars her features and hurt seeps into her eyes, I regret ever making the request.

Other than avoiding interrogation a la Beckett, I drove here just to see her. I wanted to spend time with her doing nothing and everything but judging by the fulminating glare she’s aiming in my direction, I may have shot myself in the foot by admitting I requested a cursory background check on her long before I got to know her and after it arrived, well I’m too captivated by her not to have read it. I brush my thumbs back and forth over her shoulders before admitting my mistake. “I was wrong. I should have waited for you to tell me all about you.”

Though what I found out was utterly fascinating and tells me how humble Austyn is about her talent.

She shoots a fulminating glare up at me before storming back to the sofa, though she does so at a tilt. Trevor hands her back her bottle. After she drinks another lavish guzzle of champagne, she drawls, “Well halle-fuckin’-lujah! Is this where I flutter my eyelashes, giggle, and accept your apology?”

Trevor flops over to his side and guffaws. “Sounds like most of his dates.”

Austyn shudders. “Yeah, he totally picked the wrong person to set his sights on then.” Her head whips to mine. Braids of every color hue slap her across her cheeks.

“I did more than set my sights on you,” I purr, reminding her of what we did in the exact spot she’s sitting in.

Her eyes narrow into slits. Somehow this sends her balance off kilter and she flops over. I can’t hold back a grin. “You’re damn amusing when you’re drunk, you know that?”

“Did you come to that conclusion before or after you read a file on me?” Beneath the snooty tone, I hear hurt. I open my mouth to answer when she flicks her pointer finger at me like it’s a magic wand. “Because, you see, you should have asked me.”

“I know.” Boy, do I know. I asked for the data because I wanted to know more about her, plain and simple.

“How do you know?” she persists.

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