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  Kat, thank you, friend. You’re an inspiration.

  Acknowledgments

  Filets, you are an amazing group of women. I’m so proud to be one of you.

  Nina, I’m not sure how I would have gotten through this without you. You deserve a superhero cape. With sequins.

  Alice, thank you for having faith in my words and for getting them into the right hands.

  Micki, you are fabulous. I’m so lucky to have made my debut in the publishing world with your guidance. Tatiana, Diana, Marla, and the rest of the behind-the-scenes Gallery team, it’s been a pleasure.

  Alex, as always, thank you endlessly for your willingness to hash things out, to push me and in turn my characters, and for being such an awesome friend.

  Johnny B, one day I’ll use the Oxford comma correctly; until then, your red pen can pretty up my pages.

  Deb, you are phenomenal. Thank you for your encouragement and for believing in me, just like I believe in you.

  WC Crew—thanks for all the laughs and the tears and the hugs and distractions. And the cupcakes. I’m so fortunate to have people like you in my life.

  Brooks, there were some unexpected potholes in the road, but we made it!

  To the bloggers, a remarkable community who share my passion for the written word. Thank you to all of you who have read, reviewed, and jumped on the tour. Getting to know you has been a blast!

  Heather Maven, massive love to you, your generosity astounds and humbles me.

  Fandom friends, it was your positive encouragement and unwavering support that helped give me the courage to keep writing.

  To my family, who taught me to always have a fall-back plan—you gave me the courage to take the leap and the wings to fly.

  Husband, I adore you. You have the patience of a saint. Thank you for catching all the curve balls.

  Cracks in the Armor

  Chris

  I shot Sarah a text message, hoping she’d get back to me if she wasn’t at work. She’d been called in on short notice—again. It’d been hit and miss with her lately, with more misses than hits. Other than some brief stop-ins at Inked Armor, the tattoo place where I worked, I hadn’t seen much of her in the past two weeks.

  “Everything cool?” Jamie asked as he pulled onto our friend Hayden’s street.

  “Cool as it can be, I guess.” I returned my phone to my pocket.

  “Lisa told me Sarah had to bow out again,” he said.

  “Yeah. That boss of hers keeps calling her in.”

  “Sorry¸ man.”

  I shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  Sarah had planned to go to yoga with Lisa and Tenley, but that was off the table now, thanks to work. Jamie knew how I felt about Sarah’s new job at The Sanctuary. So did Sarah. After all the shit that went down after the trial, she traded one strip club for another. She was the one with tuition loans, not me, and tips from The Sanctuary were too good for her to pass up. It sucked, but there wasn’t much I could do since I couldn’t afford to take on her debt.

  I pointed through the windshield. “It’s on the left, number eleven-eleven.”

  Jamie pulled into the driveway and parked, then he gaped at the two-story home with its attached double-car garage. “Wow! This is unreal.”

  “Seeing H in a place like this makes me believe anything is possible.”

  “Almost anything,” Jamie said.

  “You think those two will ever make it official?”

  “You mean get married?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I doubt it. Not with what they’ve been through.” He cut the engine and opened the door.

  Hayden leaned against the trunk of his Camaro, phone in hand, smirk in place. He had to be texting his girlfriend, Tenley.

  I took in the manicured lawn and the flower beds that lined the stone walkway leading to the front entrance, complete with blooming planters. It was the kind of house I’d find on the cover of some home reno magazine. Hayden didn’t do things half-assed, which had always been one of his biggest issues. He was all in, all the time. It seemed to be working for him now, though, since his recent choices weren’t damaging, like some he’d made in the past.

  I followed Jamie up the driveway, and Hayden ushered us into the house through the garage. It led into a huge mud room that was insanely spotless. To the right was a closet. He opened the doors to reveal a collection of shoes and jackets. Winter coats were hung with his on the right and Tee’s on the left. Hayden’s shoes were lined up in perfect, evenly spaced rows. Tenley’s were less organized.

  “You can put your shoes in here.” Hayden pointed to a mat on the floor.

  Jamie arranged his all neat-like beside Tenley’s. I kicked mine off and tossed them in the closet, where they landed on their sides. Hayden glanced at them, a muscle working in his jaw as his fingers twitched, but he didn’t rearrange them like I expected. Instead, he shot me an irritated look, like he knew I’d done it on purpose, and motioned for us to follow him down the hall. It was a serious improvement over his past reactions. Tee had certainly mellowed him out.

  The light came on as soon as we entered the kitchen, and I blinked against the brightness of the overhead track lighting. I got an eyeful of dark wood cabinets, granite counters, and a brushed steel backsplash. Modern, with a hint of classic style. It was totally Hayden. Now, I wasn’t much of a cook. I could screw up frozen pizza if given the opportunity, but even I could appreciate the awesomeness of Hayden’s kitchen.

  Jamie let out a low whistle. “Impressive.”

  “F’real,” I said in agreement.

  “Thanks. I like it.” He smiled, something we hadn’t seen as much of in the past few months.

  I’d been to Hayden’s digs before the reno. Some rooms had been taken down to studs. The finished product was a testament to the changes Hayden and Nate had made. Not just in the house, but in his life as well. After Tenley went back to Arden Hills, Hayden had been desperate for a way to keep himself from falling off the deep end again, so when he wasn’t at Inked Armor, or at Tee’s apartment pining for her, he’d put time in here.

  He and Tee had moved in only a few weeks ago, and Hayden got shifty when things weren’t up to his standard of tidiness. As a result, we weren’t allowed to come by until the house was set up. He’d been a bitch to work with lately because of it. All the chaos in his personal space made him a serious pain in the ass. They’d finally unpacked enough for us to get an invite over.

  Hayden walked around the massive granite-topped island, frowning as he moved the fruit bowl in the center an inch to the left. I took in the unlimited cupboard space. I had a total of six cabinets in my kitchen.

  “Where’s your fridge? I asked, searching for a stainless steel industrial-sized monster.

  “Check this out.” Hayden’s grin widened as he opened what looked like a pantry cupboard to expose the ridiculously well-organized interior of a fridge.

  “Nice,” Jamie said with approval.

  Hayden slid open a drawer beneath the upper cabinet of the fridge and retrieved three beers. Popping the tops, he passed one to Jamie and then to me. We clinked before the first swig. In his extensive renos, Hayden hadn’t cheaped out on anything; he had an inheritance in an unknown amount to work with. His parents had been murdered, and he’d inherited everything. Not that it made the loss any easier on Hayden. It h
ad messed him up pretty good for a long time.

  He managed better now, no longer flushing his money down the toilet like he had when they first died. I was proud of him for what he’d done with the place, and how far he’d come in the past year. He definitely deserved what he had. But sometimes I wished some of that good shit would happen to me.

  If I was honest—which I wouldn’t be with him—it was hard not to be jealous. I hadn’t dealt with any of the extremes he had; not the severe losses or the huge gains—like finding Tee had been for him. I just had a steady supply of crappy, followed by periods of mediocrity. Sarah was the best thing that had come my way in years, but she worked so much I didn’t see her often. Being alone was worse, though. Especially now that Hayden couldn’t be my wingman anymore.

  “You want the full tour?” Hayden asked once he’d shown us all the cool stuff in his kitchen.

  “Sure thing,” Jamie said, and I nodded, going along for the ride.

  The main floor was open concept. The dining room was to the left of the kitchen, the living room straight ahead. Hayden’s massive flat-screen hung on one wall.

  “I’ll need you to take a look at that later.” Hayden gestured to the entertainment system below it.

  I paused as we passed, checking out the pile of cords shoved between the unit and the wall. “What’s going on there?”

  Hayden didn’t so much as glance in the direction of the TV, but I could see that jaw working again. “Tenley was trying to be helpful. Come on.”

  Jamie and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us said a word. It must have been driving Hayden mental. That he’d waited this long before he asked me to fix it showed exactly how important Tenley was.

  We followed him upstairs. There were two spare bedrooms, fully outfitted with queen-sized beds. Some of the decorative elements were clearly a product of Tee’s involvement. Aside from some gradient of black to white, the only colors I’d ever seen in Hayden’s condo were dark blue and red. Any deviation from them had to be Tee’s picks.

  Hayden’s master bedroom was so big that it dwarfed the massive, solid wood king-sized bed frame. TK, their little orange furball, was curled up in the middle of the pillows. She lifted her head at the disturbance, mewed, and then tucked her face under a paw.

  The windows on the far side of the room were huge, spanning from floor to ceiling. Lights were on outside, so I could see the backyard landscaping from where I stood, just inside the door. It would be awesome in the summer. I glanced around the spacious room. Beyond the view, the mammoth bed, and the sparkly chandelier hanging above, were a set of life-sized photographs in black and white.

  The subject looked familiar. “Is that Tee?”

  Hayden put his hand up in front of my face. “Don’t look at those!”

  “Kinda hard not to when you hang them on your bedroom wall,” I said, but kept my eyes on the floor.

  I remembered when I’d seen one of the photographs before. Tee had given it to him for Christmas. He’d opened it, his jaw had hit the floor, and he’d rushed to cover it up, but not before we all got a good look. That one was tame in comparison to the others. While I couldn’t see anything important, there was a load of bare skin.

  “Lisa’s been taking photography classes. I think she did a great job,” Jamie said.

  Like it was no big deal there were huge pics of half-naked Tee on the wall.

  “Uh huh,” Hayden said and hit the lights, submerging the room in darkness. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

  On our way to the landing we bypassed a closed door. “What’s in there?” I asked.

  “That’s Tenley’s office,” Hayden muttered.

  “I thought we were getting the full tour.”

  He shrugged, acting nonchalant, but his posture told me otherwise. “It’s nothing special. Just a desk and some bookshelves.”

  “So it’s cool if we see it, then?” I prompted.

  Hayden sighed and turned the knob, pushing the door open. It was dark, but there was this strange pink glow inside, allowing me to make out the shapes of furniture. Hayden reached inside and flicked on the switch.

  “Whoa.” Jamie cringed. “That’s, uh . . .”

  “Yeah.” Hayden shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “Did you let a unicorn with the stomach flu loose in here?” I asked. I was only sort of kidding.

  “It was perfectly fine when we moved in, nice and neutral, but then Lisa offered to help Tenley paint it last week.” Hayden directed a glare at Jamie.

  “Why are you looking at me like it’s my fault?” Jamie asked.

  “Tenley might have picked a different color if Lisa had bothered to argue against this.” He gestured to the walls.

  Jamie snorted. “Not likely.”

  “Lisa could have at least tried. She’s supposed to be my fucking friend.”

  I gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Sorry, H, it looks like it’s chicks before dicks on this one.”

  One wall was painted black. The other three were a shocking electric pink. The room was difficult to look at, it was so bright. On the hardwood floor was a zebra print throw rug. The white stripes appeared deceptively pink, due to the way the walls tinged everything. Two of the pink walls were lined with bookshelves. It helped break up the color. Not really.

  Tee must have picked the color purposely to rile Hayden up; the rest of the house was painted in the same neutral tones he always went with. It was kind of ironic, considering the sleeve on his right arm was so vibrant and eye-catching.

  I looked around the room and noticed a cardboard box on the floor beside Tee’s desk. “Xbox and games” was written across the side. “Tee’s into video games?”

  “Huh?”

  I crossed over and knelt down beside the box. The tape had been removed, so I opened the flap. Carefully packed inside was an Xbox 360. It was a couple of years old, but it came loaded with games.

  “Score, brother!” I rifled through the contents. “Are you telling me you didn’t know Tee had this?”

  “Tenley and I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the TV.”

  I had a million comebacks, all of which would probably set him off. I kept them to myself. “I’m hooking this up and we’re playing tonight.”

  “I don’t know. This is Tenley’s stuff . . .”

  “Why would it matter if I set it up for her? Besides, wouldn’t you rather I do it now, than have her take care of it later?”

  He mulled it over before he finally relented. “Fine. Whatever. Hook it up if you want. Just let me shut the door. This room gives me the spins.”

  I tucked the box under my arm and followed Hayden into the hall.

  Five minutes later, I had a fresh beer in my hand and I was staring at the mess of cords behind the entertainment system again. “You said Tee was being helpful?”

  Hayden shifted uncomfortably on the black leather couch. It was the same one from his condo, except now it was accessorized. I had no idea what the deal was with all the frilly pillow shit, but girls seemed to like them a lot.

  “No. I said she was trying to be helpful.”

  Hayden yanked a throw pillow out from behind his back and tossed it to the other end. Then he glared at it for a couple seconds, leaned across, and rearranged it so it wasn’t cockeyed. He repositioned it three times, muttering about the “fucking pillows.”

  Meanwhile, TK, who had followed us downstairs, jumped gracefully onto the arm of the couch and trotted across the back. She rubbed herself against Jamie and continued to Hayden. When he didn’t pay her immediate attention, she head-butted the side of his face and climbed down his chest, curling into his lap. He cooed at her and scratched under her chin. He’d turned into such a sap. It was good to see.

  I held up the nest of tangled cords. “Everything you own is wireless. Why are there so many damn wires?” I’d already done this for him once before, when he bought the condo. Things had been set up perfectly. All he had to do was move it and hook into the new sy
stem.

  Hayden didn’t bother to answer. Honestly, what could he say that would make any sense? Instead, he drained his beer, picked up TK, and draped her around his shoulders like she was a scarf. Then he pushed up off the couch and headed for the kitchen.

  “Nice pussy wrap,” I called after him.

  He flipped me off. It was a classic evasive Hayden maneuver. He’d never win at poker because he always gave away his hand. He had tells, things he did that made it clear how he was feeling. He was pretty good at letting me know when he was pissed.

  But things had changed. Hayden wasn’t nearly as explosive. Not since Tee had come back from Arden Hills. The recent shitstorm surrounding the trial over his parents’ murders had been difficult, but otherwise Hayden was less anal, more relaxed. Except right now. At this very moment he was antsy. I had a feeling there was more to his dodging the question than just letting Tee set up the electronics.

  “What do you think that’s about?” I asked Jamie when Hayden was safely out of hearing.

  He shrugged. “No clue.”

  I didn’t have any experience with solid relationships. I was currently dating a girl who waitressed at a strip club. While she didn’t get naked on a nightly basis, there was a chance it would go that way.

  It was either that, or she would quit. Again. Maybe this time for good. The alternative wasn’t something I wanted to consider. I couldn’t stay in another relationship where I had to worry about whether the girl was going to bang some dirtbag for an extra couple hundred bucks a night. Sarah wasn’t anything like Candy had been, but things could change. And I didn’t want that to happen. I liked Sarah a lot, enough that I didn’t want to be with anyone else. Candy had been the only other person I’d tried that route with, and it hadn’t worked out that well in the end.

  I pushed the worries aside and moved the entertainment system away from the wall so I could get at everything. Hayden returned with more beers and grumbled about the mess. His anxiety over what was behind the TV console was obvious. It was fun to watch him get all flustered over something that wouldn’t bother most people.