Page 27 of Seven Lost Summers
Her comment throws me. How the fuck does she know that? I didn’t think anyone besides our family did.
Bianca smiles. “We’ll have to jam together sometime.”
Theo nods. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
Quinn looks at me. “And this is Nate.”
Her tone is flat, like she’s bored just saying my name. And fuck, it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. I glance at her, catching the flicker in her eyes she tries to hide. She knows exactly what she’s doing.
“That’s it?” I say, my voice low. “No smart-ass comment? No warning label?”
She shrugs, lips twitching like she’s fighting back a grin.
“Didn’t think you needed one. You usually do a good enough job ruining your own reputation.”
I force a grin and reach for Bianca’s hand.
The second we touch, fuck, it feels like something short-circuits inside me. Static races up my arm, heat pulsing through my chest, burning into places I never realized existed. This isn’t only chemistry. It’s heat behind my ribs. Something waking up that’s been buried too damn long. A hit straight to the system.
Quinn smirks, all teeth and knowing eyes, like she finally caught the first crack in my armor. “I was warning Bianca who to stay the fuck away from.”
I shoot her a slow grin. “Let me guess. I’m top of the list?”
She tilts her head, lips twitching.
“Not yet,” she says, voice laced with amusement. “Still deciding.”
“Good to know,” I murmur, dropping into the seat beside Theo.
Bianca tilts her head, curiosity flickering in her eyes. “Are you two friends or brothers?”
I open my mouth to answer, but Theo beats me to it.
“Brothers,” he says. “Not by blood, but in every other way that matters.”
My eyes shift to him. He never says stuff like that.
Bianca watches him and a flicker runs through her eyes. Not pity, but something real.
“Teaching yourself bass is pretty impressive,” she says.
Theo shrugs, dragging a hand over the back of his neck. “Most of the time, it sounds like shit.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t,” she replies, and that’s when it happens.
He laughs.
And I haven’t heard that sound in a long fucking time. Not since the day I fell out of a tree and broke a bone in my foot, when he stood over me, laughing his ass off while I cursed him out. Or when Scarlet wipes the floor with me in our drum battles and he laughs like he’s bursting with pride.
But this?
This isn’t the same laugh.
The sound comes softer. Almost like the laugh slipped past his guard. And the way Theo’s staring at her…fuck. This isn’t only about the laugh being different. He is the one who’s changed.
I glance at Quinn, catching the way she’s watching Theo, her lips curving slightly. It’s the look that says she sees him too.
But then her eyes flick to me and whatever softness was there disappears in an instant.
