Page 160 of Now Their Starlet

He wraps his arms around me, burying his face into my neck.

“Andi,” he breathes out, pressing a kiss against the bond mark he left on me.

“I thought you had some business to attend to in LA!” I say as I pull back from the embrace so I can see his face.

“Yes, well, I couldn’t miss such an important occasion, now could I?” Everett says, his eyes twinkling.

I peer past his shoulder to Beck, who’s on the stage, watching us with an unreadable expression.

“Do you think Beck’s mad ‘cause we’re late?” I whisper. “He’s on his last song.”

“He’ll probably milk this so he can sleep next to you tonight,” Eli says, his voice low. “But I don’t think he’s upset.”

I jump slightly because he sort of just spawns in behind me. It’s a wonder that a man that large can move as silently as he does.

“Eli!” I say, grinning up at him.

“Princess,” he says, dipping his head down and capturing my lips with his, uncaring of the fact that Everett still has his arms wrapped around me.

As the music for Beck’s last song fades he makes his way to the edge of the stage.

The screens behind him flicker away from the visuals for the concert and my brows draw down in confusion.

“That doesn’t seem right,” I say, tilting my head. “Should we fix that?”

“I don’t think it needs to be fixed,” Beck says. He’s close enough that I can hear him, but he’s still choosing to speak into the microphone.

I realize in that moment that the unreadable expression I saw on him earlier is mischief.

“Andi,” he says, his voice carrying on the speakers of the venue. “Do you recognize this?”

A video plays on the massive screens behind him. A video of the drive up to my dad’s house.

“Yeah, it’s my Dad’s neighborhood,” I say, glancing from him to Everett and Eli who remain by my side.

“Errrr, wrong.” Beck’s dramatics never seem to cease.

The video must have been taken from the dashcam of Everett’s sports car, considering the familiar hood. But it doesn’t drive into the driveway of my dad’s house. It drives next door.

“What’s going on guys?” I ask.

And then I see it.

A sold sign.

My eyes fly up towards Everett.

“Was—was this why you were gone?” I gasp.

“Yes, Honey. I was closing on the house. I wanted to make sure there was no chance of anyone else stealing this opportunity from us.”

“You’re taking all my mojo,” Beck whines into the mic. “I’m supposed to be the one who gets to tell her.”

“Then stop with the drama queen act and tell her,” Eli snorts, his dark eyes soft as he stares up at Beck.

“Okay, okay,” Beck says with a wave, hopping down from the stage. He doesn’t fully drop the theatrics, considering he’s still carrying the live mic. “Andi, after countless nights spent in hotel rooms where we fight to see who gets to sleep next to you, I think we’re all ready for a break. And what better place to take a break than in our own home?”

I feel the burn of tears behind my eyes and my lower lip wobbles. It’s the kind of reaction that I would’ve felt was pathetic and juvenile, before I met all of them, but I’ve learned there’s a time and place to cry like this.