Page 25 of Fractured Destiny

“Fuck me,” Mason mutters.

Evan points toward the speakers. “Again.”

Ty plays it again. Nobody argues.

The second listen is worse. Better. Both. I don’t have the right word for hearing something inside me come back through studio monitors with Ty Rainier’s fingerprints all over it and my band wrapped around it.

I should feel exposed.

Instead, I feel absolved. Empty in the best possible way.

The song ends again.

Linus exhales through his nose and picks up his phone. “No more takes, it’s feckin’ perfect.”

Ty glances over.

Linus taps his screen. “This is the record that’ll break Lake wide open.”

“We’re fucked, right?” Mason lets out a laugh with no humor in it, only disbelief.

“In the lucrative sense?” Linus’s mouth curves. “Aye.”

Evan’s face barely changes, but he turns to me and nods once. Coming from him? It’s fucking fireworks.

Ty stands and crosses the room. For half a second I think he’s going to hug me. Instead, he grips the back of my neck and presses his forehead to mine, quick and solid. Let’s go before either of us feels weird. “You did it.”

My throat burns. I grab a bottle of water and take a drink.

Diego catches my eye from the corner. The look on his face cracks something open I wasn’t prepared to face.

He’s proud. But, there’s something else there too. Brighter. Bigger. Inspiration with teeth.

I tip my head toward the kitchen. He follows me out.

It’s empty except for takeout containers from Lil’ Woody’s, a cup of cut-up lemons for Ty’s tea, and a stack of plates Zoey must have left before disappearing upstairs. I grab two burgers and hand one to Diego. We sit at the small table near the guest room.

Diego unwraps his burger and stares at it skeptically.

“Vanessa feeding you too well now?” I say with a mouth full of beef.

His smile spreads slowly. Married life looks good on him. He’s softer around the edges without being squishy. “She’d murder you for implying eating healthy is a bad thing.”

“Tell her to take a number. Mason’s been trying to turn me vegetarian for months.” I gesture to the plant-based burger on the counter.

He laughs, takes a bite, chews for a while.

The song plays faintly behind the wall again. My voice leaks through the house, muffled and strange, singing words I wrote about a woman who nearly ruined me and somehow ended up here.

Diego wipes his mouth with a napkin. “You sound fucking amazing in there.”

“Thanks.”

“No.” He points at me and all joking evaporates from the room. “You sound free.”

I stare at the burger in my hands.

Trust Diego to walk straight through the one door I didn’t know I’d left open.