Page 2 of The Final Deal

When his face appears on the screen, my heart leaps in my chest. It thuds harder when his mouth curves into a wide smile accentuated with gold rings. “Hey, babe.”

“Hi,” I say shyly. “You rang?”

The sound of guns firing cuts through the phone. “Yeah. Dree mentioned the BS with Norma; thought I’d check in, see if you’re okay.”

“Oh, his bitch ass is too busy to check in with me, himself?” I tease loudly as I sprawl out on my bed.

As predicted, Adrian shoves his way into frame. They’re both shirtless, showing off their assortment of grayscale tattoos with the exception of the Texas flag coloring on Zak’s stomach.

Dree forces a smile. “Answer him, please.”

“I’m fine,” I respond with a roll of my eyes that aches a little. My sight settles on the twins, their terra-cotta glow decorated with tattoos, their focus solely on my picture on Zak’s screen. I blurt, “I think I’d feel a lot better in between my favorite twins, though.”

They both snort, smirking uncomfortably, and shake their heads.

“Where’s Ty?”

Zak’s expression falls somber the longer he watches me, searching what little he can behind me for any sign.

The lump returns to my throat. “Ty’s gone.”

His dark brow quirks. “You mean it?”

“Yes,” I say firmly, watching light flicker in his eyes. “He’s gone back to Atlanta.”

The twins glance at each other so quickly that I question if they actually did, and when their honey brown eyes return to me, it’s like a huge wall comes tumbling down.

Warmth explodes in my chest. “I wish I was there with y’all.”

The corner of Zak’s mouth tweaks upward at the same time as Adrian’s.

Dree nudges his brother’s shoulder with his own. “Maybe if this one ever chills the fuck out with the Dracula bullshit.”

“I vant to suck your blood,” Zak says in a terrible matching accent.

I cover my mouth to suppress a snort as Adrian glares at him. “Too soon, bro.”

Zak peeks at his phone screen, finding me silently cracking up, and he half-grins. “She thinks it’s funny.”

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t the one cleaning up y’all’s disaster of a bloody fuck-fest, so maybe don’t.”

My amusement quickly dies down, and so does Zak’s. I wet my bottom lip with a swipe of my tongue. “Maybe… maybe we oughta try again soon.”

Zak cocks his head and says, “What?” the same time Dree’s eyebrows dart sky-high and he nearly shrieks, “Excuse me?”

My eyes widen. “Not like that! I mean try being around each other. Jesus.”

Adrian shakes his head and moves off screen, I guess turning his attention to the game. “Absolutely not. To either idea.”

I scoff. “Y’allare the ones who went there. Not me.”

I glimpse at the window the same time Zak smarts off with something. I wonder if that owl is still out there.

“Babe? Earth to babe!”

Blinking, I turn my attention back to my phone. “Sorry, what?”

“I said we’ll see you at practice tomorrow, anyway. Benefits of dating your coworker, huh?”

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