And when Hayden’s laugh echoes from a table to my left, I wish I could ignore that too. Surrounding it, chatting away and smiling, are Hayden, his fiancée Carter, Nikolai, Jane, and Nikolai’s little brother, Milo. Walker and Scar are noticeably absent. I glance around the room frowning. There’s no way Walker would miss this for Nik. But I come up empty. They’re nowhere to be seen.
Everyone’s smiles are bright and energy high as they engage with one another, drinking and eating the appetizers passed around. I fist my drink and shift, not knowing where to go.
It’s such an odd feeling to be in a room full of people and yet feel so utterly alone.
Nikolai catches my eye and beckons me over. I take a step but hesitate, eyeing up the rest of the table. But he angles his head in a way that says,c’mon man,and I walk over.
The chatter dies down the moment I approach, like I brought some sort of black cloud with me, and I scratch the back of my neck.
But surprisingly enough, Hayden is the first one to speak. “We were, uh, just talking about the wedding.”
I glance down at the elegant, artistic ring on Carter’s finger. A pang of something hits my gut, but I force a smile on my face and say, “Congratulations. I’m happy for you guys.”
It’s not a lie, but it feels wrong.
I should’ve been in the know. Helped him pick out the ring if he would’ve asked, talked about the proposal plan until he got it right.
But instead, I found out through Nikolai months ago.
“Thank you,” Carter says.
“Do you have a date set?” Jane asks them.
Carter nods and glances up at Hayden. “We think so, but we’re just waiting to hear from our families that it works for them before we get official save the dates out there.”
“I’ll have my people send you my touring schedule so there’s no conflicts.” Nikolai winks.
Hayden chuckles. “Yeah, you have your people do that. We’ll make sure ourweddingdoesn’t conflict with a little concert of yours.”
Nikolai holds out a hand for Hayden to shake. “Much appreciated, man.” Hayden bats it away with a sly smile.
Arun approaches the table and slaps a hand on Nikolai’s shoulder. “We’re ready for you.” He then pulls him away to get ready to perform. We wish him good luck and the moment he’s removed from the table, an awkward silence descends.
My phone continues to buzz in my pocket, so I finally fish it back out to see Aspen trying to call me again.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter and weave my way through the crowd toward the exit. Slipping outside, I answer the phone. “What?”
“You paid off my student loans?!” Aspen screeches in my ear, and I wince, pulling the phone away.
Thunder booms in the distance like a bad omen, and I rub the spot between my brows. Tonight has already been a lot and I’m not particularly in the mood for this conversation.
“I did what I had intended to do years ago but was robbed of the chance.” I sigh and lean against the brick wall of the alcove. “I believe the words you’re looking for arethank you.”
A pause and I can almost hear Aspen’s gears churning.Amusement makes me smile despite the social exhaustion this evening has already brought on.
“‘Thank you’?” she sputters. “I didn’t ask you to do that! In fact, I distinctly remember you offering and me telling you no, that I didn’t want your money. Do you recall that?”
“Yes, I do recall that.”
“Then why the hell did you pay them off anyways?”
“Because I wanted to.”
“Oh my god, how did you even do that? You don’t know my login. My passwords. Wait—did you hack me or something?”
I can’t stop the laugh that comes out, and Aspen practically growls on the other end of the phone. “Oh, this is just so funny to you, huh?”
“Sort of,” I say. “No, I didn’t hack you.”Just found out your loan provider, made a few calls, and got things taken care of. Money can get you a lot of things. “Look, you only took the job you have now because you needed to pay your bills, not because you love it. Right?”
