“I'm fine. I'm pulling out of Devil's Needle.”
Silence. He could hear her sitting up in bed. “What?”
“That stupid stunt I promised Apex. I'm not doing it.”
“Dustin, it's—” A pause. She was probably looking at the time. “It's midnight.”
“I know what time it is.”
“Are you drunk?”
“No.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No. Well, that's not why I'm calling.”
“Then why are you calling me atmidnight to—” She stopped. He could hear her recalibrating. Marcie was good at recalibrating. You had to be, managing someone like him. “Okay. Talk to me. What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I just can't do it.”
“Apex already started marketing on this. The media buy alone?—”
“I know.”
“They might drop you over this.”
“Iknow.”
“Just tell me why?”
Dustin looked at Tyler's grave. And then he looked at Greg.
“I have things I need to be alive for,” he said.
It came out plain and quiet and nothing like how he usually talked. On the other end of the line, Marcie went silent.
“Dustin,” she said after a moment. “Can I be honest with you?”
“Since when do you ask permission?”
“I'm relieved.”
Dustin blinked. “What?”
“I'm relieved, Dustin. I've been—” She stopped. Started again. “You've been scaring me,” she admitted. “Your stunts keep getting more reckless and I keep telling myself you know what you're doing and you're a professional and it's not my job to tell you what you can or can't pull off.” She exhaled. “But I've been sitting here wondering if I'm managing a career or if I'm profiting off your self-destruction.”
The cemetery was very quiet.
“Marcie,” Dustin said.
“I'll handle Apex. It'll be fine.” Her voice was briskagain, back in control. But it was too late. He'd heard what was underneath. “Get some sleep, Dustin.”
“Yeah.”
The phone screen went dark and the night came back and Dustin stood there with the phone in his hand, feeling the weight of what he'd just done.
Ever since Tyler's death, he'd had to keep running, had to keep moving. He'd been so busy convincing himself he was living the dream—his and Tyler's—that he never noticed when it had all turned into a nightmare he only wanted to wake up from.
