Page 217 of The Forbidden Note

“Rub that stupid grin off your face, Zane.” Dutch grips his knife in red-knuckled fists.

Cadey laughs and rubs her husband’s chest. “I think you’re the hottest guy in this room.”

“You better,” Dutch says, finally dropping the knife.

“But,” Cadey adds, “you have to admit that Zane has a silver tongue and some kind of weird control over girls.” Her brown eyes meet mine. “Don’t you have, like, a million followers just by lifting your shirt and rolling your abs a bit?”

“Oh, yeah! I love those videos!” Vi exclaims.

I shift in my seat, uneasy with my thirteen-year-old sister-in-law seeing my content. “Someone take away the kid’s phone.”

Dutch grunts. “You need some tips?”

“From you? No.” I drop my fork and rise from the table.

“Where are you going?” Finn asks, peering at me.

“You never answer that question, so why should I?”

Cadey looks concerned. “Zane, we were just teasing you. We know things are complicated with Miss Jamieson. Even if she wanted to like you, it’s not like she can come out and say it.”

I know that.

And hell, I always thought I’d be fine living my life in the darkness.

But I’m starting to get sick and tired of mud and shadows.

Maybe, for once in my life, I want to taste what it’s like to live in the light.

CHAPTERFIFTY-FIVE

ZANE

I hop on my bike so I can take a quick run around the cliffs. Since drumming is out of the picture and the only girl I want naked and writhing under me is Grey, all I have to work out my restlessness is my bike.

Riding one-handed is going to be tricky, but there’s no law that says I can’t.

Even if there was, I wouldn’t care.

I walk the bike to the front lawn and I’m just about to throw my leg over it when I see a sleek black car slow down in front of the house.

It’s dad.

I know by the way my skin curdles.

Hopefully, he’s here to screw with Dutch’s head and not mine. I’m down a hand, but my twin has two arms to throw sensible punches with.

The window winds down. Dad appears, wearing dark black shades that hide his eyes from the sunshine.

“Get in. We need to talk.”

Yeah, I’m not doing that.

I use the back of my foot to flick the stand and try to keep the bike balanced with one hand, but it’s so freaking heavy. Maybe I should have kept the stand down so I could balance it better while I hopped on.

By the time I figure myself out, dad’s muscleheads are climbing out of the car. One wraps his hands around my bike while the other grabs my shoulder.

“Off.” I wrench my arm.

---