I shake my head and take another sip of my whiskey while the three of them keep arguing.It’s a little bit of chaos, but it’s familiar and light and for the first time all week, some of the pressure in my chest loosens.
“Sadie decide what she’s doing yet?”Luc asks Dean after a minute.
Dean rolls the neck of his beer bottle between his palms.“Not yet.”He shrugs, trying for casual and missing by a mile.“Amped wants her back on the road in a couple months.”
“And what do you want?”Mikey pushes, sitting forward, propping his elbows on the table.
Dean stares down into his drink for a second too long.“I want her where she’s happiest.”
Luc winces.“Jesus.We’re all getting soft.”
“Speak for yourself,” Dean mutters.
Mikey’s eyes shift toward me then narrow slightly.“Except Bass over there.”
I don’t even look up from my glass.“Don’t start.”
“Oh, I’m absolutely starting.”Mikey leans forward onto his elbows.“You’ve been weird for two weeks.”
“I’m not weird.”
“You almost fought Dean over a bass line.”
Dean raises his hands in the universalI told you soway, satisfaction in his tone at finally being validated.“Thank you.”
Luc studies me quietly over the rim of his bottle.He doesn’t push.He just watches.But then, Mikey suddenly freezes mid-sip.His eyes narrow harder.“Wait.”
Dean notices immediately, sits up straighter.“What?”
“This is about a woman.”
The entire table goes quiet.
I set my drink down carefully.“Drop it.”
Mikey’s jaw drops open.“Holy shit, it is.”
Dean leans forward so fast he nearly knocks over his drink.“You have a woman?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Luc mutters into his beer, looking way too entertained.
Mikey points at me like he’s cracked a homicide case.“THAT’S why you’ve been acting insane.”
“I’m not acting insane.”I keep my tone neutral, but my pulse is thrumming hard enough that I can feel my heartbeat thundering against my ribs.
“You threatened murder before noon.”
“That’s fair,” Dean chimes in.
A couple of girls appear beside the table before I can answer further, both of them looking somewhere between nervous and thrilled.“Oh my God.Sorry.We just - are you guys actually Devil’s Halo?”
Mikey immediately flashes them a grin that’s gotten him laid in at least twelve states.“Depends.You legal?”
One of the girls laughs while the other clutches her friend’s arm hard enough to cut off her circulation.“Can we get a picture?”
Ten minutes later, Mikey has both girls laughing, Dean’s signing a napkin for one of them, and Luc’s politely answering questions about touring while simultaneously texting Lily under the table like an eighty-year-old married man.
