Page 16 of Heresy

“Not going to happen, Ames.”

She nudges her shoulder with mine.

“You keep saying that, Brin, but there will come a day when you’ll try it.”

Shane

A phone ringing from my bedside table rouses me from sleep, the body heat against my back also tugging me to full consciousness.

I apparently made the bullshit mistake of not booting someone from my bed.

Son of a bitch.

This day is already starting out screwed up.

Slapping my hand on the surface of the table, I fumble around for my phone, finally gripping my fingers over it and thumbing the screen to answer.

“What?”

Tanner’s pissed off voice bursts through the phone as I shift my position in bed to sit up against the headboard.

“What did you do to Luca’s car?”

Beside me, Hillary mumbles a question about who’s on the phone. I eye her, wondering why the fuck she thinks she can even ask the question.

Like we’re married or some shit.

Damn, this woman moves fast.

I drank too much last night to stomach what I had to do to get revenge on Hillary and Paul. Now my mouth feels stuffed with cotton, and my skull is pounding with an early morning headache. I need to restart this day without a phone ringing, Tanner’s pissed off voice, or a naked chick beside me who needs to leave.

Scrubbing my hand down my face, I answer him.

“Is there a reason you’re calling me at the asscrack of dawn?”

A horn blares from his end of the line, the noise only making my head pound worse.

“It’s ten thirty in the fucking morning. You’re supposed to be at the office. Or have you forgotten you have a damn job?”

I laugh at that. It’s an unspoken understanding that Tanner, Gabriel, Jase and Mason handle the majority of the work at the office while the rest of us spend our time working on more interesting endeavors.

For instance…

Today, I’m supposed to be at the shop helping Priest get ready for an upcoming show.

But what am I doing instead?

Helping Tanner out with his bullshit problems.

Then again, the fact that Tanner still thinks Luca’s car is an issue means Priest hasn’t made it to the shop either. I feel slightly guilty for asking Priest for the favor.

Like me, he’s not exactly a morning person, and I hate pissing him off by asking him to do shit.

My work with Priest matters.

This shit with Tanner … not so much.

Still, Tanner has no right to be angry with me. He asked that I handle Luca’s car, and I did.

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