“Besides,” Leo said. “I think we agreed that you like Ashley’s company more than you care to admit.”
Dameon glanced around. “Where is she, anyway?”
Remember the house is watching,Winter told himself. “I sent her to deliver some mail for me,” he said.
Dameon raised an eyebrow. “You sent your bodyguard away?”
Winter felt the prickles of his friend’s suspicions. “I’ll be fine,” Winter said with a yawn, gesturing around him. “Eli Morrison’s got his own guards watching the street, and this house is armed to the teeth with alarms. Besides, she’ll be back soon.”
Dameon regarded him. “You’re worried,” he said.
“I’m not,” Winter mumbled to the air.
Dameon crossed his arms. “I know when you’re lying.”
Winter swiveled his gaze away, afraid they would see the truth in his eyes. Bringing the people who knew him best might not have been a good idea.
“Pre-concert nerves,” he answered.
“Nothing you haven’t handled before,” Dameon said. His gaze was penetrating.
“Well, it sounds like a pretty high-profile guest list.”
Leo was staring at Winter with a thoughtful expression, too, his usual cheery grin sobering. “Leave him alone,” he suddenly said. He nudged Dameon and pulled his legs up into a cross on the couch. “He’ll be fine. You remember our first stadium concert, right?”
Dameon’s questioning gaze swiveled away. “LA?” he said.
Leo nodded. “We were all terrified. But Winter pulled it off without blinking an eye.”
Winter did remember—and Leo wasn’t really telling the truth.
It’d happened two years after that fateful fan video of him went viral and he’d been catapulted into stardom. At the time, he could feel the momentum gathering behind that first huge concert, could feel himself pushing at the seams of increasing headlines and sales numbers and records and interviews. The disorienting feeling that he was about to launch so quickly that there would be no ground upon which to steady himself. So ten minutes before showtime, Winter had finally lost his nerve and gone to hide in a closet. Leo had been the one to find him. He could still remember his friend peeking hesitantly through a sliver in the door, then coming inside to sit beside him without a word.
After several long seconds, Winter had whispered shakily,I can’t do this.
Leo had looked quietly at him, then away. When Winter started stammering out a reason, he shook his head.You don’t have to explain yourself to me,Leo had said.
His tone was so soft and so easy. Winter had felt too ashamed to confess that all he could think about were the people who wouldn’t be out in the audience. His mother. His brother. He knew he was about to step into uncharted waters, and he’d have to do it alone.
They’ll all see me,he’d murmured.What if they don’t like what they see?
Leo studied his face for a moment. He hadn’t been the chatty, overly eager, teasing friend then; he’d looked thoughtful and serious, his gaze penetrating.Hey,he’d said at last.Look at me.
Reluctantly, Winter had lifted his gaze to his friend. He’d hoped the low light in the closet didn’t reveal the gloss of tears in his eyes.
Winter,Leo had said,the people who did come today are all here for you.
Winter looked skeptically at him.
Leo smiled.The entire world is about to fall in love with you. I promise.
A few minutes later, Leo had stood and held a hand down to him. Winter had taken it, letting him pull him up. By the time they headed out to the stage, Leo had returned to his usual self, explaining to a frantic Claire that he’d helped Winter fix a wardrobe malfunction and then giving everyone a slew of advice on helpful hacks for repairing clothes on the fly.
The memory faded, and the lapping of pool water around Winter returned. By the couches, Leo was giving him an encouraging smile, and Winter felt a rush of gratitude.
“Just be yourself,” Leo now said. “No big deal.”
To Winter’s relief, Dameon seemed to drop his suspicion, too, as he reached for another cube of cheese.
