Page 91 of Always

“Are you drinking?” Skye asks.

Pause.

“Tell me you didn’t take anything else. Please.”

Uh-oh.

That can’t be good.

I don’t know Tessa Logan well. She’s Skye’s best friend, and they’ve been struggling lately.

But Tessa adores Skye. Would do anything for her. When Skye bonded with her pup, Penny, it was Tessa who called and asked me to adopt the dog for Skye, since Skye’s place doesn’t allow pets.

Penny and my dog, Sasha, are at an overnight dog spa. I didn’t want any potential interruptions tonight.

But I didn’t count on Tessa Logan being one.

“Yeah. Sure,” Skye says. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there, okay?”

I hate the thought of Skye leaving my bed, but she won’t let her best friend down. I wouldn’t want her to.

“No need to thank me. Get a hold of yourself, and I’ll be there soon.” Skye shoves the phone into her purse. “Braden, I need to leave. Tessa’s in a bad way.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll call an Uber. Besides, you gave Christopher the night off.”

“I can drive, you know.”

She smiles weakly. “Thank you. This means a lot to me. I’m so sorry. After our wonderful night.”

I dress, adding shoes to my jeans and button-down while Skye heads to her bedroom at my place. When she descends in a comfy cotton T-shirt and fleece joggers, I’m waiting for her at the elevator.

“My cars are all in the garage in the basement of the building.”

“Cars?” she asks, and then, “Of course, cars. You’re BradenBlack. You have more than one car.”

I have ten, to be exact, but that doesn’t matter when her friend is in potential trouble.

I lead her toward my forest green Jaguar and open the door for her.

Once I’m in the car, Skye gives me Tessa’s address, and I plug it into the GPS. Then I turn to her. “It will help if you tell me what’s going on.”

She nods, swallowing. “I’ll tell you on the way.”

I turn on the engine and pull out of the parking space. I’ll give her a minute.

Finally, she says, “I made a mistake.”

“How so?”

“I was selfish. I…” She sighs. “Tessa wanted me to go to dinner tonight with her and Garrett.”

“Ramirez? They’re back together?”

“I guess. I don’t know. He seems to have some kind of spell over her. Tessa is never this silly over a man.”

I have my own feelings about Garrett Ramirez and the architecture firm he works for, and Skye knows all about them. But I stay silent and let her continue.

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