“And now she’s gone.”
“She’s not gone, brother. She’s home. She’ll be here when you get back.”
“She better fucking be.”
“She will.”
“You’re an asshole yourself, you know?”
Brody was silent.
It was rare that Brody and I argued. I remembered how Katie had described her friend Devi as her in-case-of-emergency phone call. For me, that call was Brody. The friend who’d been my rock since day one, who’d kept the crazy at bay, kept me from capsizing as I weathered the wildest, most fucked-up storms of my life.
The only person who really knew, whoreallyknew, what this album meant to me.
And why.
“You know,” he said, “Jude wouldn’t even tell me where you went the other night in L.A..”
Fuck me.
My heart fell about two feet. Brody knew. Or at the very least, he suspected that I met up with Jessa in L.A. and didn’t tell him.
“She asked me not to tell anyone, man.”
“Right,” he said. “Family first.”
“For fuck’s sake, Brody. You want me to choose between you and my sister?”
“Not asking you to choose, brother. Never asked you to choose.”
Jesus. How did we get onto this? We never talked about this.
Ever.
“Right,” Brody said when I didn’t respond. “So maybe this is a good time to remind you why you’re doing this tour in the first place. This album was your idea. Remember who you’re doing it for.” Then he hung up.
I stared at the phone in my hand. It was the first time in fifteen years of friendship and business partnership that Brody had ever hung up on me.
And he was right, of course. Brody was rarely wrong.
I punched the bed, because it was a better idea than punching the fucking wall, which I really wanted to do.
Then I texted Katie.
Be home in 5 days. Can we talk?
It was barely five in the morning, so I didn’t expect a response. I was lucky Brody picked up, but then again, Brody would take my call any time of any night.
Fuck.
I couldn’t even be pissed off at the guy. Not when he was the only one who knew what was at stake here, and the only one who cared about it as much as I did. Which was why I’d called him. Because I also knew he was the only one who’d be able to talk me into finishing the tour.
Yeah. Justfuck.
I scrubbed my hand over my face. I knew I had to finish what I’d started, but I couldn’t wait to be done with this fucking tour. I was already done with pretending I didn’t feel for Katie what I felt.
Done pretending I didn’t want her like I did.
