“Fine. Only if I’m the last resort … and you tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours.”

“You want to talk about what’s been on your mind tonight?” Lincoln studies me as we walk out of the bar.

I blow out a ragged breath when we reach my car. As hard as I tried to act normal while working tonight, a sudden chill would rush down my spine at times. I’d anticipate Quinton standing behind me. My throat thickened when I checked my phone, in fear I’d find another text from him.

If he knows where I live, surely, he knows where I work.

I shift from one foot to the other. “Have you ever loved someone you shouldn’t?”

I’m disgusted with myself at times.

Disgusted that I thought Quinton was a nice person.

That I allowed someone so shitty to take a piece of my heart.

Lincoln’s mood changes at my mood-changing question. “I don’t know if I’ve ever loved someone I shouldn’t, but I’ve been involved with someone I shouldn’t have been.”

“Sounds scandalous.” I perk up in curiosity. “Details, please.”

He cups my chin in his hand, sending ripples of goose bumps over my skin. “I’ll give you details when you tell me what made you run out of the bar as if it were on fire.”

Our eyes meet under the streetlight.

His full of questions.

Mine filled with answers he won’t get.

I place my hand over his. “Looks like I’ll get those details another time.”

Chapter Seven

Lincoln

“Thank fuck you got your head out of your ass,” I tell Archer over the Bluetooth in my car.

The news of him and Georgia making up is the best I’ve heard all day.

Hell, all month.

I brake at a stoplight and tap my fingers along the smooth leather of the steering wheel. The feds might’ve seized the bulk of my assets, but I’m also not a complete dumbass. I got smart before they put their grimy hands on everything. Archer packed up my belongings and stored them at his place, and my grandparents purchased my Porsche, which they gifted back when I was released.

“How’d it happen?”

Jesus, I sound like Cassidy, wanting all the relationship gossip.

This is my life now—questioning my brother about his love life since mine is in the tank.

“None of your business,” he grumbles with a huff.

I chuckle. “Happy for you, bro.”

“As bad as I want to kick your ass, thanks for telling Georgia where I was; it really cemented reality into me that I needed to stop acting stupid. I’m a grown-ass man who shouldn’t run away from his problems.”

“Damn straight. I’m on my way to Mom’s. You coming home?”

“Nah, I think Georgia and I are crashing here again tonight.”

“You kids have fun.”