Page 47 of Burn It Down

I nod and he turns toward his Challenger, leaving me breathless and questioning my whole life.

Back in my apartment, I find Cora sitting on my couch, typing on her phone with a topped-off glass of wine in her hand.

“Hey, I hope he didn’t leave on my account.”

“It wasn’t you. He needed to get back. He feels guilty being away from work too long.”

“Sounds like the two of you have that in common,” she teases.

“Maybe thethreeof us,” I jest back, nodding at her phone.

She clicks the screen off and places it on the coffee table. “Done working.”

I sit on the cushion next to her and cross my right ankle over my left knee. “If I were to see if Tim could get me tickets to the Beautiful Deceit show in Virginia in a few weeks, would you want to go?”

She scrunches up her nose. “You know that’s not really my scene.”

I shrug a shoulder. “Thought I’d ask.”

“You’ve never called Tim for that favor,” she points out, taking a sip of wine, keeping her eyes on me the whole time. I can see her brilliant mind working out the details that I need to work harder to hide.

I’m sure the guilt of what I just did will crawl into bed next to me tonight when I’m all alone and prevent me from getting the sleep I need, but right now, I’m riding the high and decide to go with the truth.

“I know. I, uh, I found out Dylan’s a huge fan.” Feeling far too transparent for my own comfort, I justify it by adding, “I feel bad that his shop keeps getting messed up. Insurance has started to deny their claims because they’ve hit the limit for filing or some dumb shit. He tried to get tickets when they went on sale months ago, but he couldn’t get them and now they’re all ridiculously expensive.”

“You like him.” There’s no accusation in her voice, but her words are enough to make me tread carefully.

“He’s nice and he’s down on his luck. I just wanted to help him out. If you don’t want to go though, I won’t. We barely get time together as it is.”

That’s not me playing games. That’s me realizing that maybe I’m getting too comfortable saying Dylan’s name. Maybe I’m allowing too many fantasies to play on repeat, tricking myself into thinking this will all work out.

“What’s the date of the concert?” she asks, picking her phone back up, presumably to open her calendar.

“September twenty-seventh.” Beautiful Deceit hails from Virginia so their first few shows of every tour are down the east coast.

“I’m flying to the U.K. on the twenty-fifth for an expo on philanthropic leadership at Cambridge. I won’t be back until after the concert. You should take Dylan.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

I lean over and kiss her forehead. A second later, we both grab our phones. Mine is pressed to my ear and my big brother’s voice comes over the line.

“Jacob. How are you?”

“Hey, Tim. I’m doing well. How are Emma and the baby?”

“They’re fine, but I think Ry’s gonna have an aneurysm when this tour starts.”

“About that…I need a favor.”

Cora ends up spending the night, but thankfully, she’s doesn’t cash in on the raincheck I’d promised her. Content to cuddle, I hold her as my mind tries to process the events of my day until I fall into a dreamless sleep with my arms wrapped around the biggest lie I’ve ever told.

Chapter 14

Dylan

“Pop, can you put the Porsche in bay two?” I call to my dad as I walk over to my ringing phone.

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