Page 18 of The Final Deal

Zak stands there with a suitcase like a puppy who was denied their favorite toy and told to go lay down in their crate. His hurt gaze meets mine briefly before he forces himself to move toward his brother’s room.

There was no debate when we discussed plans for Timeless’s studio that would be constructed in the Ramoses’ backyard: it had to have a place to crash and a place to eat, separate from the main house. Zak and I have stayed in here a night or few for our late-night jam sessions, giving us the opportunity to break free from the shackles of business and slide right into pleasure when our hands moved from guitars to bodies.

As I collapse onto the couch and survey my things piled in the corner below the loft, though, it’s safe to say there won’t be much pleasure to be had here. Not when I have a festival to plan, a new business to foil, and secrets to keep.

I reach for my computer bag and pull out my laptop. Maybe I won’t have much pleasure, but I’ve got plenty of work to do.

Robbie knocks at the door. “That’s everything out of my truck.”

“Okay.”

He plops down onto the couch beside me, eyeing my laptop on the coffee table. “Think you’ll be able to keep everything hush-hush living in their backyard?”

I pick at the jagged skin around my nails I’ve been screwing with since all this bullshit started. A manicure is definitely in my future. “I can. I just need to know ifyoucan keep it from your best friends.”

He scratches his chin while focused on the door, where a figure moves behind the closed blinds in the window. “I don’t agree with it, but if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t want to lose them,” I murmur as Adrian opens the door.

My brother studies me carefully with pursed lips and a hand on his knee, elbow stuck out all wonky. He pinches my side. “Don’t give ’em too much hell, okay? I know it’s every teenage girl’s dream to hook up with a vampire, but you’re getting closer to thirty and know better.”

“Ugh, dude, shut up!”

He points at my laptop. “Maybe you oughta take a break for the night.”

I shake my head. “If I don’t keep myself busy with work, then I’m going to find a way to get myself into some trouble.”

He rolls his eyes and groans. “Alright, alright.” An arm circles my shoulders and squeezes, and he kisses my head. “I’m sorry about all this. You don’t deserve any of it.”

I rub my eyes. “Yeah, well. What are ya gonna do, I suppose.”

He points to my laptop. “Throw yourself into planning the best day of the year.”

When in doubt, rock ‘n’ roll it out. “You got that right.”

He stands and meets Adrian at the threshold. “Gave her a talk about the birds and the bees.”

Adrian snorts and smirks. “Yeah, thanks.”

He watches my brother for a moment before closing the door behind him. He stands at the door and stares at me with a stern expression. “Steph, I’m dead fuckin’ serious. Zak is off limits.”

“I heard you the first time,” I respond curtly as I grab my laptop. I rest it over my thighs and tap away until I pull up the graphics I’ve been fiddling with for the past few days. “I’ve got work to do.”

Silence falls between us, the only sound in the room the quiettap,tap,tapof my keyboard.

My fingers hover over the keys as I pause. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, princesa. I’ll bring you dinner in a little while.”

A moment later, the door opens and closes.

My parents might have some devilish secrets and the twins might be upset with me, but it only means I’ll have a few uninterrupted hours to dedicate toward the festival.

Charlie and Abjured are on board, and now I need to figure out some logistics to make the surprise at New Year’s Ball go off without a hitch.

My arms stretch out high above me, fists waving wildly in the air as I stretch over the couch’s arm and crack some vertebrae in the process. “Oh, fuck,” I groan as the tension snaps from my spine.

I blink slowly at my surroundings—the walls lined with guitars, Adrian’s kit with signed drumheads hanging from the wall behind it, the books and notebooks and scratch papers neatly piled in random places all over the place—before my gaze dawdles to the darkened windows.

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