“I want to go to an Amanda Chase concert.” Amanda sits on the bed with the little girl.
“Why?”
“Because I want to hear everyone singing your songs at once.” Her voice squeaks, “I think it’s really cool we all know the words.”
Amanda smiles at Jasmine, “I think that’s pretty cool too.”
“Um,” She pulls at Amanda's shirt and points to the camera.
“Do you know who’s holding the camera?” Amanda asks.
The little girl turns to the singer. “Do you?”
Amanda laughs. “Maybe if enough people show up to sing to you, we’ll show the world. How does that sound?” The video loops again. It was posted an hour ago, and it already has ninety thousand likes. Unbelievable.
“You weaponized a kid with cancer?”
Grae’s expression widens into a mock innocence that makes me want to slap him or kiss him, or both. “Only you would think that granting a kid her ‘forever dream’ would be used as a weapon.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Did you or did you not use Amanda’s clout and society’s empathy to gather a crowd of people outside of the hospital to what end? Make it harder for me to leave?”
“You should see Lena’s post.”
The low growl escapes my body without permission. I click on Lena’s post, it's a five second clip. She’s lying on the hood of my SUV. The camera is far above her head, my license plate isn’t shown but most car gurus will be able to tell it’s not a standard make and model.
“Where’s Lena?”
I hate her little ‘Where’s Lena?’ trend. It’s a security nightmare. Then Lena pulls down her sunglasses and winks. “If you see this car, don’t let it leave the parking garage. Kay, byeeee.” I’m going to kill her. Security protocol be damned.
“The three of you are using your fans to keep me here?”
He doesn’t answer, instead he reaches out for my arm and yanks me away from the window and onto his bed. It’s not very comfortable, but his body is warm.
“I looked for you for twelve years, you were the one who gave me a stupid timeline. But that doesn’t mean I was going to let you go without a fight.” I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart and feeling the gentle rise and fall. Damn it feels nice here. “What are you running from?”
“Reality and fear.” I’m quiet. Admitting this is hard enough, but it’s worse knowing there’s a good probability that everyone’s listening. “I can’t lose you again. I thought it would be easier if we part ways on my terms, but no. That didn’t work, because my family sucks.”
“I beg to differ.” He kisses the top of my head. “I think they love you very much.”
“Blegh.” I grimace and draw a little circle on his chest. “There’s so much that can go wrong. Between Mastodon and Grasshopper, and trying to keep the Four Families alive, two weeks was the most I could justify in my life.”
“Do you want more time?” His voice sounds gravelly, like he’s afraid of the answer.
“Of course I do.” I let out a groan. “But your life is crazy, mine is, well, you know. I don’t see how we can have a future. And if I can’t have one with you… I’m not sure if I want that at all.”
“If it’s a time management issue, I’m sure we can work something out.” He pulls me closer. “The problem becomes if you don’t actually want a future because you can’t forgive me.”
“I guess the only thing we have going is that I can’t have kids and you don’t want them.” My heart tears apart saying the words. A family wasn’t something I wanted because I couldn’t have it. But with him, I feel like for the first time I'm missing out.
“We’ll figure something out,” he reassures me, but there’s a hint of sadness too. “Let’s take this one day at a time,” he says, squeezing me closer.
There’s a knock at the door, followed by Izzy popping her head into the room with her eyes closed. “Has Alana pulled her head out of her ass yet?”
Grae chuckles and calls out, “Yeah.”
The room fills in with the women. Macie, Izzy, Waverly, Jenny, and Katya. Along with the pop stars, Amanda and Lena. Izzy’s arms are filled with binders and a huge grin.
“So about three months ago, Penny came to us.” Son of a bitch, I should’ve seen this shit coming. “She said her husband was putting a plan into motion, but he’s a hopeless romantic and doesn’t think of the details and all the ways something could go wrong.” Yeah, that also sounds like Hadeon.
