“Elle,” Brodywarned.
“Seth’s already forgiven me, Elle,” Jessa saidsoftly.
“Forgivenyou?” Brody turned toJessa.
“Yes,” she said, looking up at Brody with such total fucking love, I didn’t know how the guy didn’t just melt into a puddle on the floor. “And I forgive him,okay?”
Silence.
“Well, then… there’s really nothing more to say,” Dylan said, carefully. It was the first time he’d spoken up. “I hope.” He looked pretty fucking tired of this whole thing. Kinda like Ifelt.
But I had adrenalin coursing through me, still keeping me onedge.
“Are we putting this shit to a vote?” Zane asked. “Fucking finally? We need this unanimous,right?”
“A vote aboutwhat?” Brody said. Clearly, he wasn’t ready for any suchthing.
I didn’t think I was, either. No matter what air might have been cleared here today, I was in no way ready for the band to vote, right here and now, on myfate.
“No,” Jesse said. “Not right now. I need to talk to my sisterfirst.”
“Yeah,” Elle said softly, coming up next to me. She laced her fingers through mine, and no one in the room could’ve missed it. “And I need to talk toSeth.”
Chapter Thirty
Elle
Jesse did talk to Jessa.Then he and Brody stashed her back in Brody’s truck with her driver and she headed home. Brody followed on hisHarley.
I spoke with Seth outside, briefly, but in the end, I asked him to go on home without me, and I’d meet himthere.
Home…
Seth was definitely a part of what I consideredhomenow. I knew my house would not feel like a home anymore if I got there and he wasn’t init.
He kissed me, and whether he liked it or not, he left, like I asked himto.
Maggie headed home,too.
Jude lingered outside. No doubt he and Jesse had a few things to discuss. But when Jesse came back into the church, Zane, Dylan and I were sitting on the edge of the stage. It was just the four of us, and the church had never felt so silent as Jesse walked up the aisle toward us. He dragged a chair over and satdown.
“So, you want to give Seth a shot,” he said. It wasn’t a question, and he was looking at Zane, not me, when he saidit.
“No, I don’t want to give him a shot,” Zane said. “I want to give him a permanent place in this band.” And this time, he wasn’t trying to push Jesse’s buttons. He was totally serious. “You all know I like the guy. And he’s super fucking talented. Like it’s fucking killing me we’ve missed this much time with him already. The way I see it, there are only three things that matter. As long as…” He counted off the points with his fingers. “Number one: he stays clean. Number two: he wants to be here. And number three: he and Jessa have sorted their shit out… I don’t see any reason we can’t play with himagain.”
“Number four,” Dylan said, crossing his arms over his chest. “He treats Elleright.”
They all looked atme.
I found my voice. “He does,” I told them. “He does treat meright.”
“Wait,” Zane said. “What?”
I looked at him. “Seth and I are…together.”
Zane’s mouth dropped open, as it all came together in his head… And rendering Zane Traynor speechless was a fuckingfeat.
I sighed a little and looked at Jesse. His dark eyes were onme.
