“Jared really got to us both, didn’t he?” I smile. “How dare he help us become better people, am I right?”
“Yeah, now I have to owe him for it? There’s no getting out of that.”
“Bet he did it on purpose. It’ll be impossible to tell him no.”
“Dick.” Luca cracks a grin and my chest squeezes at the sight.
“You’re happy now?
“Yeah.”
“Tell me about it?”
So that’s what he does. We sit and talk, catching up about his life in Atlanta, how his bar’s renovation has gone and how his girlfriend, Lacey, has helped him fall back in love with music. I tell him about the months on tour, how Avery and I are truly and completely back. It’s an easy conversation, one that finds its natural rhythm only after a few minutes. The familiarity of it fills a hole in my chest.
Eventually, the lights go dark in the hall, and we trade a look.
“I guess they’re about to kick us out then?” I say, standing. “Thanks for being here, Luca.”
He follows suit. “You know, my friends call me Drew now.” Which I recognize as a shortened version of his middle name, Andrew.
“Do I qualify?” I ask, not wanting to overstep.
Luca was the first person who helped the band become a reality and I’ve missed him and his gentleness for years. Truly, out of everyone in the band, he was the most like me, the only one completely reliant on music to express themselves. And it would mean a lot for him to be back in my life.
“I hope so.” He smiles softly.
“Drew,” I test the name. “A few of us are getting together to perform, nothing big, just twenty-thousand or so people. If you’re up for it, we’d like to have you there.”
“Can’t let you all have fun without me, now, can I?”
I hug my old friend for the first time in a decade.
32
Avery
January 2026
Wes stays behind to talk to Luca a little longer while I head to the hotel for the night. The room fills with the sounds of the shower spraying against tile and rustling of clothes as I undress. As the scolding water runs over me, my fist connects with the wall so hard I’m surprised I don’t shatter any of the small tiles.
Even knowing a part of the truth already, I wasn’t braced for the entirety of what actually happened that night.
How, even when I doubted him, Wes was exactly who I always thought he was. Someone who would show up for the people he cared about, even if it meant losing all of us.
When I get out, Wes’s shoes are by the foot of the bed and the balcony doors are flung wide, a breeze sending a ripple through the curtains.
I wrap myself in a plush white robe before going out to meet him. Barefoot, my toes almost instantly go numb and I don’t know how Wes can bear the frigid air in nothing but a thin shirt and jeans.
“I have to go see her,” he says without turning to look at me, his face tilted up washed in silvery moonlight.
“You don’t. At least not alone.”
“I can handle it. These last few times she took me by surprise, but if I go in prepared, I know I can take care of it. If I don’t, she’ll escalate things until I do. I don’t want to reach that point again.” He sounds so tired, not just from the day, but from releasing a secret he’s kept at his own expense for over a decade.
“Is there anything I can say to stop you?”
“No, and I can’t let you go with me either.”
