Page 53 of Heart of a Rebel

I lift an eyebrow at him. A dare I can’t help but issue.

He steps in so he’s hovering over me, and I can smell the sweetness of the frosting between us. “Game on then.”

But before I can run, his smile holds me in place, just as he plants the plate of cake directly on the top of my head.

19

Adrian

“I’mgoingtobepicking cake out of my hair for a week, no thanks to you.” Eloise walks back into the room with her hair still damp as she weaves her fingers through it.

When her hair is wet, it’s nearly black, reminding me of a river at midnight the way it sticks to her skin in a winding path down her back. The tips brush the edge of skin that peeks out between her cropped tank top and baggy sweats, which are riding low on her hips.

“I seem to recall you starting it.” I raise an eyebrow as she plops down onto the couch beside me.

A couch I’m thankfully not going to be sleeping on since I booked the suite with multiple bedrooms for us. My back has been killing me this past week, and although I’ve made sure not to complain about it, I’m looking forward to having a mattress for once.

“Couldn’t resist.” Eloise smiles, still picking at her freshly washed hair. Her dark eyes flick to me and I swear the space between us shrinks. “So, another trip around the sun, huh, old man.”

Being six years older than the members of the band can sometimes feel like nothing at all. While at other times—like when they trap me in the middle of a food fight—feels like twenty.

“You’ll get there someday, kid.” I don’t miss that she scowls at my teasing her. Eloise might think it’s funny to call me old, but I can dish it back just as easily.

Not that she should worry. There is nothing about Eloise Kane that is anything but mature and drop-dead sexy. Dressed up, dressed down, doesn’t matter. She’s stunning.

“Thirty-three, right?”

I nod.

“Sometimes it all just feels like yesterday, doesn’t it?” She leans back, stretching her legs out on the couch so they almost touch me. “Drinking cheap beer in your living room with all those random people Rome used to invite over.”

“Sometimes,” I agree.

In certain ways, the years since the band signed have flown by. In others, it feels like an entirely different lifetime has passed since my time in the military. A past life somewhere in the cracks inside me. Even as I press my hand over the dog tags tucked beneath my T-shirt, the man who lost Sam doesn’t feel the same as this one.

“Do you ever think we gave up too much?” Eloise asks, her eyes falling to my hand flat on my chest.

I’ve never told her that I only wear Sam’s dog tags when I feel I’m losing my footing, but in this moment, I feel like she senses it. How they’re all I have left to ground me when this past week has pulled the rug out from under me.

“Maybe.” I feel my heartbeat quicken, so I drop my hand to my side. “But no matter what you do in life, you’ll inevitably give up something. It’s just a matter of what.”

Eloise’s eyebrows pinch in thought. She folds her legs in front of her, leaning forward so she’s close enough to me that I can smell her flowery shampoo. “What did you give up, Adrian?”

You…

For agreeing to be the band’s manager.

For walking away that night at the hotel.

For letting us draw a line we couldn’t cross.

For me being so fucking professional.

“Nothing,” I say instead, swallowing the lie. “I already had nothing left.”

“And here I thought I was the pessimistic one.” She dips her chin and shakes her head at me, but there’s amusement playing in her eyes.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Eloise this relaxed. I’d expect her to be on edge with everything coming to the surface right now, but a weight seems to have melted away instead. Her posture, her smile, the air around her is carefree. Almost weightless.

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