Page 20 of Grave Misgivings
I cock my head to the side, taking in my appearance once more.
Better.
“Really? You the leading consultant on hangovers now, Z?” I put my makeup and products back in their bag and give one last tousle of my dark hair.
I don’t miss the way his name rolls off my tongue. Familiar.
Even though I haven’t said it out loud in years.
“I might know a thing or two,” he says, his voice apathetic.
“Right. I, uh... got to head out to studio, but, uh...”
I swallow, my heart again in my throat because I know I should hang up, but I don’t want to.
“Can I call you? Later, I mean? Catch up, maybe?”
For a moment, I think we have disconnected because there is nothing but silence.
Then I hear him let out a long, deep breath.
“Yeah. I guess,” he says, but his voice seems different. Guarded.
“Cool,” I say, nodding as I bound down the steps, toward my garage.
“Cool,” he says.
I grab my keys to my Lexus, and the sound of the locks whirring echoes in the room.
He doesn’t hang up. I take a deep breath and hit end call, if only because I do need to head out, and I know if I don’t...
Fuck, I might just forget that I’m a complete and total asshole where Zeb Ingram is concerned. Shit, I might forget that we’re not even friends anymore.
And what’s more dangerous than that?
CHAPTER 6
Zeb
I should not have answeredthe damn phone. I should have let it go to voicemail, or ignored it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for that call.
Because I knew he’d call.
To apologize, tidy things back up. That’s how Geo operates.
Though, I guess I can’t blame him because I’d probably be the same way if I grew up the way he did.
The Graves aren’t bad people by any means, but Geo never really got the chance to just be a teenager like his sister.
His mom started signing him up for gigs on the Christian Rock circuit when he was just thirteen, and soon enough, Geo Graves was on his way to stardom.
I remember seeing him for the first time when I went over their house to hang out with his sister, Katy. We were fifteen.
Fucking hell, he was so pretty.
Tall, kinda nerdy, if I’m being honest. He looked like some amalgamation of a Disney prince and boy bander. By twenty-five he was the perfect dream.
Katy was the one they let get away with murder, because she was the girl. And the baby, of course.
