Page 66 of Burn Bright
Charlie casually leans an arm against the wall and cuts an annoyed look between Harriet and me. “Nice of you to show up.” He sucks on the cigarette while checking his watch. “Twenty minutes late.” He blows smoke in my direction.
I narrow my eyes and waft the air. “I didn’t know this was time sensitive. I thought we were going to a club.”
Beckett swings an accusatory look at Eliot. “You lied to him?”
“I didn’t think he’d show if he knew it was an escape room,” Eliot confesses without a hint of remorse. And he’s not wrong.
I would have rejected him. Again.
Charlie returns the cigarette to Beckett. “There’s this thing called Google.” He lifts his brows at me. “But of course you didn’t look it up.”
I glower. “Yeah, because I didn’t think my own brother would lie to me.”
Beckett slices a powerful, warning look to Charlie likeshut up. Whatever Charlie was going to say next remains a mystery because he thankfully goes quiet.
Placing a hand on Harriet’s shoulder, I introduce her. “This is Harriet Fisher. She’s my friend at MVU.”
“We know who she is,” Tom says, the spite in his voice clear. Beckett lets out an exasperated sigh, and I wonder if he had a pep talk with the rest of our brothers tobe nice.
I warn Tom, “Don’t be a dick to her.”
“It’s fine, Ben.” Harriet stares Tom down like she’s the headlights and he’s the deer caught in her way. “I know who you are too.”
Tom flips open a silver Zippo lighter. “Let’s hear it, Harry. Who am I?”
“Okay,Tommy. Lead singer of The Carraways. Horrible taste in music.” She’ll have to strike harder to land a blow in my unyielding family. I don’t love that Tom is egging her on, but at least she’s not backing down.
“Ihave horrible taste in music?” Tom makes a face. “Says a girl who’s trying to be an Avril Lavigne knockoff. Where’d you get those pants? Hot Topic.”
She glares. “At least my vocals didn’t sound like shit in my most recent live performance.”
Tom stews. “At least I have live performances.”
“Probably not for long.”
That strikes a nerve. Tom chokes on a coarse noise. “Youbeggedmeto be inmyband.”
“And I might’ve improved it, but you’ll never know.”
Tom spreads his arms. “A mystery I don’t care to solve.”
“Glad we’re here to solve one you’re interested in,” she slings back.
Eliot has moved closer to Tom, as if to aid him in battle. Charlie and Beckett are exchanging indecipherable looks from across the parlor.
I never leave Harriet’s side.
Frustrated, Tom spins to Eliot for backup. “Dude?”
“‘Though she be but little she is fierce’,” Eliot quotes. I almost laugh, which slices through the tension.
Tom groans. “You did not just whip out the Shakespeare for her.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “You act like he reserves it for special people. He’s a walking lexicon of sixteenth century plays.”
Eliot takes a dramatic bow, then steals the Zippo from Tom. The lighter actually belongs to Eliot, and he clicks it shut with one swooping motion. “Shall we begin, brothers and Harriet?”
“Please,” Beckett says smoothly, blowing more smoke away from us.
