Page 66 of The Twisted Beats

Bren and my uncle wait for me to leave. I hesitate, and a knot forms in my stomach. Nothing good can come from hanging out with my ma. I just don’t know how to explain that to Livianna.

Her eyes narrow in on me. “Callum, what’s wrong?”

Chapter Fourteen

LIVIANNA/LILY

Then

The Ghost Who Wears My Name

She lingers like a shadow stitched to my skin, whispering that I’ll never be enough.

Iflip through one of my mom’s fashion magazines as I wait in bed for Callum to text. He was acting weird when he left this morning. I’ve had a low simmering unease throwing me off all day because of it.

Bren sticks his head in my room around eleven o’clock. “Dad didn’t make it home tonight?”

“Nope. He messaged me around six and said he’ll be home tomorrow afternoon.” I sit and motion for Bren to join me. “Can I ask you something?”

He moseys in and plops down on my bed. “As long as it has nothing to do with you and Cash’s sex life.”

“I don’t need to talk to you about that.” I move a pillow over my lap. “Did he seem off today?”

“He always is when he has to do work for Ur Boyz.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Bren lounges back with his palms behind his head and stares at the ceiling. “What’s bothering you, Livianna?”

“When Callum’s uncle brought up Callum’s mom, a strange look passed across his face.”

“Probably because he has to take care of her when she comes back from a photoshoot.”

“Like helping around like Dad does for Mom?”

“Not like that.” Bren glances at me. “His mom is grieving and it hits hard.”

“How so?”

“She cries all the time.”

“Why?”

“Cash just said she can’t let go of his dad. Ever since he committed suicide five years ago, she’s been like this. Big modeling jobs push her over the edge and it takes her days to get back to herself.”

I stare at my dusty-rose-colored duvet and fiddle with the edge while I think about that for a moment. It must be hard dealing with losing his dad. And his mom… My heart aches for him.

“Come on.” Bren pushes up and taps my knee. “This conversation is getting too heavy. We need to lighten up. Literally.”

He scoots off my bed and leads me to his room. “Give Cash a little room this week. He’s dealing with a lot and I don’t want to be chasing him out of the studio every day because he can’t handle the stress.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” My chest tightens as I get comfortable in a huge, dark gray suede swivel chair Bren has in his room.

He has it decorated nicely considering he’s a young guy in a band. When he was putting it together with the designer, I expected pictures of naked women hanging from the walls.

But he picked out framed records or pictures of famousrock stars for the decor on one wall. The other has a couple of guitars hanging from it.

The furniture is black. His duvet and sheets are dark gray, but he has a red throw that drapes over one of the corners of his bed.