Say You're Mine (The Gallaghers Book 1) by Layla Hagen (comprehension books .txt) 📕

“No details,” Ian said. “Just wanted to drive the point home.”

“Fine, I won’t say anything more on the topic,” I promised. There was a crucial difference between them though. Deep down, I knew Dylan still had a romantic side. I wasn’t sure Ian would ever want to settle down, but I’d been wrong before.

After we carried the plates to the kitchen, I told my siblings, “Okay. I’ll pack. You talk. Who wants to start?”

“I volunteer,” Josie exclaimed. Another reason why I’d asked them over today was because I knew my sister dearly needed to leave her own house, but meeting in the city was more difficult now that Sophie had grown a bit. She wasn’t sleeping all the time anymore and became fussy in restaurants. Josie had been stressed out the last time we met in a restaurant, and I thought this was a good compromise. At any rate, she seemed more at ease.

While the sibs brought me up to date on what was going on in their lives, I tried not to panic. I packed according to Sasha’s list, checking off each outfit as soon as I packed it. My wardrobe wasn’t nearly as fancy as the list required it to be, but I thought I could pull it off with the right use of accessories. I had two huge suitcases, and I was certain I’d need both of them.

At around twelve, my doorbell rang.

“Did any of you order food?” I asked.

“No, you have me, remember? Your own personal chef,” Dylan said. “We’re going to eat a second round of omelets.”

I laughed, blushing a little. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything besides eggs. Food shopping is not my forte.”

I hurried to the front door. Maybe it was the postman.

It was Brayden!

“Hey. You’re an hour early,” I said.

He held up a brown paper bag. “Thought I’d surprise everyone with lunch.”

There was a chorus of “Yes” from my living room.

“Thank you for saving us from a second round of omelets,” Josie said loudly.

“Hey, you said you liked my cooking,” Dylan protested.

“I do, I do. But omelets twice in a day is a bit much.”

“Come in,” I said.

He headed straight to the living room. I purposely stayed behind. I wanted a chance to unabashedly take him in. He was wearing a black T-shirt with short sleeves above rugged jeans, and hot damn, he looked absolutely delectable.

He glanced over at me when he put the bag on the coffee table, catching me in the act. I grinned. He grinned back, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

Those eyes were truly something to write home about. As were his abs and arms, and, well, just every part of him, to be honest.

I hurried to the kitchen to take out plates from the cupboard, and I was smiling so big! I’d told him the sibs were with me today, and he came anyway. I knew he didn’t like gatherings, unless they were with the band, but he wanted to spend time with my family. That meant so much to me.

“Brayden, you’re a national treasure,” Josie exclaimed a few minutes later. We were sitting around the coffee table again, sharing half a dozen delicacies from my brothers’ favorite Chinese restaurant. I’d put everything on my plate from egg rolls to steamed vegetables to fried chicken.

“I’m glad you like it,” he said, humble as usual. The restaurant was in the top ten most recommended in New York. Tourists used to ask me about it. The price tags were astronomical, but the food was truly delicious.

“What’s your schedule like?” Josie asked.

“Depends if we’re performing or not. Tomorrow, we have gym and rehearsals in the morning. Then total rest in the afternoon. At four o’clock, we’re driven to the concert venue. We perform every other evening over a period of three weeks. Then we have a two-week break. Then we’re touring another three weeks and so on.”

I knew all of this, but it still boggled my mind. Were they even human?

“You do this for every album?” Ian asked.

“Yes, but we only release an album every three years. After the release of the first two albums, we toured one and a half years for each. It was insane, but we were also in the top ten highest grossing tours both times.”

“So why is it not as extensive this time?” Dylan inquired.

“It was too exhausting. We picked the venues and cities that performed best, and the total expected revenue is only 35 percent down despite us only performing 40 percent of the shows compared to last time.”

“Wow, that’s good,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s a good balance. We don’t want to disappoint our fans, which is why we tried to spread the tour as evenly as possible geographically. But after the last tour ended, we all knew we couldn’t do it again.”

“I believe that. Even this tour seems insane to me,” Josie said.

“So, is the travel itinerary all set? Security on point everywhere?” Dylan asked.

“Yes. Sasha is on top of everything,” Brayden replied.

“Will Isabelle have her own bodyguard?” Ian continued.

I cleared my throat. “Boys, behave. Let’s not turn this into an interrogation.”

Ian held his hands up in defense. “Hey, I’m not interrogating anyone.”

“I am,” Dylan supplied. I groaned.

“It’s fine, Isabelle. It’s normal that they want to know. And yes, she does,” Brayden said.

I whipped my head to him. “I do? You didn’t tell me that.”

“It’s on the instructions sheet Sasha sent you. I checked.”

The tips of my ears were hot.

“You didn’t read the instructions?” Brayden asked, frowning.

Holy shit! I sensed some overprotective alpha vibes about to be unleashed. I needed to diffuse this tension.

“I must have missed that part. What’s his name? Is he hot?” I batted my eyelashes in a ridiculous manner. Yeah, and I thought that was going to make things better? I was dead wrong. Brayden’s eyes darkened a tad. There was something feral about him. I couldn’t look away. He’d trapped me with that intense gaze. For a few moments, I completely forgot we weren’t alone in the