I’m fucking lost.

This whole night has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and I. Am. Fucking. Lost.

Hell, I’m still reeling from the fact that we ran into each other after all this time.

How the fuck did she end up in my sister’s restaurant on the one night I played there? How the hell have I survived the past year and a half without her?

Gracyn lifts the crystal glass to her mouth, and as much as I try to tamp that shit down, my cock twitches, and I have to suppress a fucking groan. Her plump lips curve around the edge of the glass, her take-no-prisoners and fuck-this-shit attitude, the way she drinks her whiskey now. I don’t know what happened, but I plan on finding out.

Back in Destin, this girl needed all the ice and totally preferred a fruity tequila drink to whiskey. I don’t know who the fuck she is anymore. Hell, I’m not sure I ever knew who she was. I thought I did, but …

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Gracyn asks after slamming back the three fingers of whiskey like a boss.

She pours herself another, and all I can do is stare as she moves to the couch and plops down in the corner furthest from me. Her shoes tumble to the floor, and she tucks her feet up underneath her ass. Ankles crossed, knees smashed together, she is the picture of proper and classy. Never in a million years would I guess at the depth of strength in this woman. Or the shit she tends to carry around with her.

I slowly nod my head, gathering my thoughts. “Tell me what happened. What’s happening. What’s going on.”

Her brows rise as she rolls the glass between her palms. “What do you want to know?” she asks, still not looking directly at me.

“Everything. Catch me up on you. Last time I saw you—”

“Was evidently this morning.”

“Your eyes were rolled back in your head, and you were screaming my name,” I toss at her with a shit-eating grin as I settle myself into the other end of the couch.

“Jackass.”

“Catch me up, G. We can hit the hard shit another time, but tell me what you’ve been doing. Graduation, your exam. You still living with your friend? What was her name? Lisa?”

“Lis, and no. She met the man of her dreams while we were hanging on the beach. She moved in with him, and now, she’s planning her wedding.”

“So, you’re living it up, alone?”

She’s not giving much, and I feel like I’m working hard to pull every little piece of information from her.

“No, I found someone new after Lissy left me for her man.” Her laugh is raw and raspy. “Whatever happened to hos before bros? Chicks before dicks?”

I’m mesmerized, watching her sip at the whiskey, darting her tongue out to lick an amber drop that splashed onto her thumb.

“Chick or dick?” I ask.

She eyes me over the top of her glass, lips still resting on her thumb. Her wheels are turning, and I can practically see the snarky-ass response forming in her mind. I narrow my eyes at her and stretch my leg out, pushing at her knee with the toe of my boot.

“Chick,” she finally responds. “But a chick whose former dick decided he was into dick as well.”

I choke on my drink mid-swallow, concentrating with everything I have not to snort whiskey out my nose. Nothing burns like that shit. “Wow, that’s …”

“That’s a tale for another time. What about you? Tour? That sounds like a story. Did you guys get discovered in a scummy beach bar?” She scoffs at the preposterousness of it.

“In fact, we did. Got picked up by a label, and they scrubbed our image, changed our name, and shoved us out on tour.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. “Seriously, you had no idea? What’s your playlist looking like these days? Decide you like the boy bands?”

“Changed your name? Scrubbed your image?” She leans forward and sets her glass on the coffee table. Then, she shifts, so she’s sitting on her heels, bouncing up and down. “What does that mean? Oh my God, is Kane gone or completely reformed?”

“Yeah, we did the college scene before the label decided Dreams of the Unbroken was too much. So, we dropped the Dream and shortened it to just The UnBroken.”

She is fucking distracting with the bouncing.

“Kane is still … Kane. He’s not going to change for anyone. Mostly, they revamped all our social media, and they got us into the studio and then out on the road with a couple of other bands. No headliners, just a multi-band tour, but shit went down with one of the other bands, and we were the ones who had enough material to fill a longer set, so …” I shrug again.

“And?”

I tilt my head side to side, not wanting to brag, but totally wanting to fucking brag. “And we rocked that shit. Sales for the rest of the dates skyrocketed, and we ended up with our own tour. Just finished up last week and came to the city to decompress and hang with my big sis.”

Thank fuck Gracyn slides down off her knees, planting her ass back down on the seat cushion. She grabs her drink from the coffee table and reaches out to tap my glass with hers, placing her free hand on my leg for leverage. And she leaves it there, resting it on the side of my jeans-clad calf before absently running her fingers along the ridge of muscle.

“Good on you, Gavin. That’s … that’s fantastic.” Her smile lights up her face, eyes sparkling, her gaze dancing across my face until it settles on mine. “You did it. You really did it,” she whispers on an exhale.

I nod, taking her in. Happy as shit to see her again, to have this opportunity to just sit with her again and enjoy her infectious light. Drowning in it, basking in her. But fuck if I don’t have questions that I want answered.

I check my phone, digging my teeth into my upper lip when I see that it’s well after midnight. “It’s late, G. What time do you have to be at work?”

Her head flops back against the arm of the couch I’ll be making peace with tonight. “I really need to get in early, so I can talk to Mr. Langston. And I’ll have to check in with my dad. So, seven thirty?” Gracyn throws back the rest of her whiskey and pushes herself up, sliding her skirt back into place where it rode up from all the shifting around she did. “Give me five to wash my face and brush my teeth. I’m thinking the extra blankets and stuff are in the closet in the bedroom?” She stretches her arms over her head and arches her back.

Like a teenager, my mouth goes dry, and my jeans feel way too fucking tight.

“Thank you for this, Gavin.”

She trails her fingers across my shoulder on her way to the bathroom, and I have to suppress the groan begging for escape from the contact, from seeing her again. From being reminded of how much I want her in my life.

I lean back, watching her ass sway as she walks away from me. Fuck, we have a lot of catching up to do.