“Isn’t he the richest one out of all of them? He owns his own handyman company,” Tristan noted.

“Right, but look at how he jumped in and helped his sister’s soap business when she mentioned it might fail. He didn’t think twice about giving her what she needed and doubling it. He was desperate to keep her succeeding because even the proximity to failure scares him.”

Tristan nodded, reaching for the bowl of chips and crunching his way through agreeing with everything Jake said.

“But Archie was scared, too, right? Didn’t he lose a lot of money in the divorce with Gabrielle?” Jess asked.

“I think Archie definitely has some skeletons in his closet,” Jake said. “And I also think he’s still pretty obsessed with Gabby.”

Yvette nodded and grabbed the card off the table, placing it back in the deck and giving it another shuffle before tapping it on the palm of her hand three times and setting them back down. “I’ve got to agree with Jake. I think there’s something going on with Archie. He seemed to go overboard in complimenting her on the necklace when they bumped into each other at that restaurant. Almost like he knew it was made of bones or something.”

A cold shiver crawled up my back. Wearing a necklace made of bones without even knowing it. The book was only fiction, but that didn’t mean the idea of it didn’t send a physical chill through my body. It’s what I loved so much about reading. The different thrills and sensations that could come from any page, delivering a jaw-dropping twist or some cheek-blushing steam.

“I think that’s a good place to break,” Yvette said, standing up and collecting a couple of empty glasses. Eric got up and helped her with the refills, the two of them disappearing into the kitchen.

Tristan stretched out his legs and covered his mouth as he yawned.

“Next club meet is the annual retreat, right?” he asked to no one in particular.

“A retreat?” Jake echoed.

“Mhmm,” I said, nodding. “Every year, we rent a cabin up in Blue Ridge and spend the weekend there, reading and drinking and soaking in the hot tub. I was going to send out an email tomorrow to the group.”

Jake’s eyes lit up. His smile widened so that they crinkled the corners of those sapphire-blue orbs. “I love a good mountain vacation. I used to spend every Christmas in the mountains with my parents. Haven’t been in a little while.”

“Good, it should be fun. Always is,” I said, realizing that the cabin we booked was already short one room, and that was before Jake joined our group. I made a mental note to try and get that fixed. “I need this escape more than ever.”

“Is everything okay?” Tristan asked, catching on to why I felt like I needed the escape. “Has anything popped up?”