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both hands over his furiously blushing face. The door squeaked open, and Tristan spotted
Josie and Britney, the hairdresser and makeup artist for Thrice Broken, through the wall-to-
wall mirror. They carried shopping bags and large cups of iced coffee.
 Hey, babes, Josie purred.  How was the concert?
Gabriel recovered first.  It was good. You guys went shopping? What d you get?
Afraid that he d look suspicious just staring at a wall, Tristan reluctantly turned back
towards the threesome. Britney waved enthusiastically at him. He managed a half-smile for
the cute blonde.
Josie was focused on Gabriel.  T-shirts and other memorabilia. We even got a Fisticuffs
T-shirt for you.
BROKEN Sage Whistler
33
Tristan darted a look at his brother, amazed at how calm and collected he looked.
Tristan s hands shook, so he shoved them in his pockets. He wondered if his lips looked as
kiss-swollen as they felt. God, don t let them suspect anything! His belly flipped and curled into
a queasy ball as the realisation of what he had just done sunk in. I kissed Gabriel& I kissed
Gabriel. I kissed Gabriel!
And he d liked it.
 You okay, Tristan? Britney asked worriedly.  You look kinda flushed.
Tristan nodded, but suddenly, it was all too much. The room, Britney and Josie s
curious stares, the bright lights of the vanity, his warm, bruised lips, and the hard-on that
raged like a damning exclamation point within his khakis.
Shaking his head, Tristan headed for the door, fresh air and freedom.
Someone called his name, but he didn t answer to it, didn t wait to see what they
wanted. He just walked and kept walking until he was out on the quiet, lonely sidewalk of
downtown Carson City, Nevada.
BROKEN Sage Whistler
34
Chapter Five
Twenty minutes before two in the morning, Gabriel got the call. Brogan s tired voice
was on the other end of the phone.  I found him.
Gabriel sank down onto the hotel s couch with a sigh of relief.  Where was he?
 Place called Rucker s. Give me twenty. Brogan hung up without so much as a
goodbye.
Gabriel wasn t annoyed. That was Brogan s personality brutally honest and to the
point. Gabriel was just glad Brogan had found Tristan. Though Gabriel would have preferred
being part of the search party looking for his brother, he also realised Tristan might not get in
the car if he was in it.
Son of a bitch. He had no idea how he was going to salvage this. He d fucked up before
but never this royally. Keeping his expression neutral was the best Gabriel had managed all
night. After Tristan had stormed out, Britney and Josie had barraged him with suspicious
questions. It both amused and frustrated him that his own band members and crew
automatically attributed any fallout between him and his brother as his fault. Josie had
proven him right about meeting Tristan. She d all but salivated when she d seen his brother.
Britney had been a surprise. She didn t seem the type to be impressed by a pretty face, but
Tristan was a charmer of that there could be no doubt.
He certainly charmed you, his conscience enthused. No, he d more than charmed Gabriel,
and that was the damning part. He was in love with Tristan, no narcissistic, misplaced,
underlying grief psychosis. Just pure, unadulterated need. Loving Tristan was like breathing:
necessary and impossible to defy. Gabriel had known it since he was thirteen, fought it for
what seemed like forever and confirmed it tonight.
The kiss they d shared had been like nothing he d ever felt. It had nothing to do with
the method, the taste of Tristan s delicious mouth or the pleasure-induced shivers that had
racked both their frames all of which he d felt before to a certain degree. It had everything
to do with rightness. Tonight had felt right, like two pieces of a puzzle being slid into place.
BROKEN Sage Whistler
35
Even now, his gut and things much lower, pulsed with longing. He could imagine what
Tristan must be thinking. Knowing his logical twin, Tristan was trying to reason why he d
kissed Gabriel back, because there was no doubt in Gabriel s mind that, for several agonising
seconds, Tristan had returned his kiss with just as much enthusiasm. Tristan probably
wanted to forget that it had happened at all. Hell, he probably wanted to head back home,
never mind there was little to nothing for him when he got there.
The waiting and not knowing had been tearing Gabriel up inside for hours. If Tristan
left him, turned his back on him, again, Gabriel had no idea how he d recover this time.
I have to get him to stay. At all costs.
Gabriel thought desperately. He was about ready to swear to anything, even if it
burdened his soul. He couldn t lose his brother again. He couldn t.
* * * *
Tristan wasn t drunk. No, the headache from hell he d woken up with the morning
after club Orion had taken care of his desire to douse his conscience in alcohol. But the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]