Page 97 of Reckless

I put the phone away without reading the text. This can wait until tomorrow. I walk back out into the noise and the light, to find Marley on the dance floor. She pulls me into her arms and spins me around like we are eighteen and reckless in a different way than the one that keeps finding me now.

I let myself have this.

I let myself have all of it.

The music, the laughter, and the people I love gathered in one warm, glowing room, because tonight is Marley’s night, and it deserves to be celebrated.

Unknown numbers, cryptic messages, and my chaotic life can go back to normal programming tomorrow.

Chapter Eighteen

GHOST

Two Days Later

Sage texted me an hour ago.

Sage: Still at Unsilenced. The group home inquiry needs another pass before morning. Don’t wait up.

I read it twice before slipping the phone back into my pocket. I’ve learned what those texts mean. She’ll still be sitting at her desk with half a dozen files spread across it because she refuses to stack anything she’s actively working on. The office door will be locked, the blinds drawn against a building that’s probably empty by now, and somewhere beside her will be a mug of coffee that’s gone cold because once Sage disappears into her work, the rest of the world has a habit of disappearing with it.

Part of me considers driving over there anyway. Not because she needs me. But because I’ve discovered I’m considerably better at convincing her to take a break than she is herself. Or maybe I should text Liam to check on her. He’s probably bored out of his brain having to babysit her from the parking lot of her work. The thought barely has time to settle before the clubhouse door opens.

I glance up automatically to see Piper strutting in like she owns the place.

Three weeks ago, she stood in that doorway for almost a full minute, reading the room before she’d taken her first step inside. Tonight she walks straight through the clubhouse as if she’s been coming here for years, greeting people as she passes with an easy confidence that wasn’t there when she first arrived in Vegas.

Koa catches her attention first, and she lifts a hand in greeting. He answers with two fingers against his forehead before going back to whatever Deek is trying to explain with far more enthusiasm than coordination. Piper smiles to herself and keeps walking, not toward the bar or to the women in the club, but toward me.

She reaches my workstation and drops into the chair opposite mine without the slightest hesitation. The same chair Sage claims every time she wanders in here to ‘borrow’ five minutes that somehow become an hour.

The corner of my mouth threatens a smile. Apparently, some habits run in the family.

Piper catches it immediately, and she points at my face. ‘You smiled,’ she signs, smiling right back at me.

‘I did,’ I sign back.

‘I saw it.’ Her eyes are wide like she’s just seen a miracle.

‘I’m aware.’

Her grin widens. ‘I call that progress.’

‘It was brief. Don’t get excited.’

She snorts out a laugh. ‘It still counts.’

I shake my head, reaching for the keyboard while she sets her water bottle on the desk with a quiet thunk. ‘You’re spending too much time around your sister.’

She doesn’t even pretend to be offended. ‘Best influence you’ve ever had.’

I roll my eyes at her. ‘Debatable.’

She snorts silently, her shoulders shaking with the effort before nudging the second monitor toward herself. ‘Liar.’

“Probably,” I mutter under my breath.

Her eyebrows shoot up. ‘That almost sounded like a compliment.’