Just then a scream erupts from somewhere in the house, and instinct takes over. I bolt upright and am standing at the door with my hand on the knob in under two seconds.
“Ev, stop. Put some underwear on before you go into battle.”
Soph’s voice rouses me out of my fight response. I look down, realize I’m naked, and search the floor for the shorts I had on when I made us coffee earlier.
Soph shimmies into a pair of black shorts that match the camisole she’s wearing.
Everything in me relaxes when I hear Jess call out, “Hell yeah!”
Pulling on shorts, we meet at the door. It’s not life or death, but we’ve both decided we should go see what’s going on.
Jess and Lola are in the kitchen, huddled around Benji. All eyes are on his phone. Lola’s bouncing in place.
“What’s going on?” Soph asks as she shrugs on a satin robe. It’s black and the bright red script on the back reads:Fueled by coffee, metal, and smut. She said it was a birthday gift from her sister. I love it.
Lola squeals again.
Benji, the true adult in the room, says, “Rock royalty shared a Thicker Than Water video and then followed it up with a post defending Ever.”
When Jess’s eyes meet mine, his smile grows impossibly huge. “He’s basically told the haters to fuck off.”
“Who?” Soph and I say in unison.
Lola spins on her heel. “Ladies and gentlemen, Gus Hawthorne has entered the chat.”
I walk to a stool at the counter and take a seat, because I need to sit down for this kind of news. Gus is the lead singer and guitarist for one of the biggest bands in the world, Rook.
Soph takes the stool next to me, leaning forward and resting on her elbows. She’s looking at Benji because, clearly, Jess and Lola are too amped up to tell the story logically. “From the beginning,” she says.
He sets his phone down so it’s facing us. He rests on his elbows and leans in, tapping the screen a few times until the video Soph posted a few days ago of us covering Rook’s “Killing the Sun” plays.
“Rook shared this late last night.”
The text written over the top of it reads:
Who are these dudes and where did they come from?! THIS IS EPIC!
Jess pumps a fist in the air and then shoots finger pistols at me. It’s ridiculous, but I’d be disappointed by anything less from him.
I shake my head in disbelief.
“Then what?” Soph asks Benji.
He swipes the screen. “An hour or so later, Gus shared the Treachery’s Riot post about Ever’s identity.”
The caption with it reads:
Much respect to the legacy of Treachery’s Riot and the innovative music that will live on and forever inspire. You changed the game. You rewrote rules, ignored genre, and steamrolled norms. Hats off to you. Can’t wait to see what you pull out of your bag of tricks next, Ever. And to those of you bashing the breakup, or his new project, or the leak of his identity, remember there’s a human fucking being on the other end just trying to live his life. Be kind, not shitty.
Soph spins on her stool to face me. “Have you met Rook? Do you know Gus Hawthorne?”
I shake my head. “No.”
Her eyes narrow.
I hold my hands up and can’t help but laugh at the suspicious look on everyone’s face. “I swear, I’ve never met them. It’s one of thosedon’t meet your heroessituations. Their first album is the reason I started writing my own music way back. Gus is a legend.”
“That album was a banger,” Lola agrees and looks at Soph. “Remember, it’s all we listened to for months?”
