Page 38 of The Comedown

“But he just—”

“If there’s an opportunity to look like an involved father, he’ll take it. Bodee was already coming to San Diego, he didn’t come for Holter.”

“And Collette? What was that shit about them having dinner?”

Irelynn shakes her head. “It’d be a heavily photographed spectacle. It’s always a heavily photographed spectacle. Bodee likes to put in a high-profile appearance with Collette every so often.”

“And Collette goes along with it?”

“Same objective, just for different audiences.”

“What does that mean?”

“Collette doesn’t want Holter to know, and Bodee doesn’t want everyone else to know.”

“Know what?”

Irelynn doesn’t even blink when she says, “That Collette hates Bodee’s guts.”

I fucking knew it.

Tonight’s show blasts last night’s out of the water and it’s not even done yet. Our speakers showed up in time and aren’t exploding into static every time a beat drops.

I stuck around all day to make sure shit was exactly the way it was supposed to be. I even stayed just offstage after rehearsals to watch Collette’s set.

And as soon as our performance together wraps, I don’t even hesitate to follow her backstage, pulling her to a stop.

Her eyes are wide when she turns around to face me. “What are you doing? You should be—”

“Come back out there with me.”

“What? We don’t have any more songs together.”

“I’ll think of some.”

“On the spot?” She laughs, doubting my ability.

I grin at her, the hook I wrote earlier already spinning in my head. I gave Collette some time alone after Bodee took off, but the impression she and her family made on me during my time with them had me scribbling lyrics anywhere I could once I left her bus. I couldn’t fucking stop the words once they hit. I would’ve recorded them on my phone’s voice recording app, but my bus is way too fucking loud for that.

“Yeah, on the spot,” I tell her.

Doesn’t she know all the freestyle battles I’ve been in? And fucking murdered?

“I can’t,” she admits gently. So gentle suspicion needles its way into my brain. Collette may be a lot of things, but gentle ain’t one of them. Not from what I’ve seen so far.

“You’re not really going to meet Bodee, are you?” When she doesn’t answer, I repeat, “Are you?”

She finally shakes her head. “You don’t understand.”

“You could make me.”

“No, I couldn’t.” Instead of being condescending, her voice sounds tired. Or sad. But then, out of nowhere, she changes her entire tune, saying, “I need to go get ready.”

“Ready? You look perfect.” She opens her mouth, so I quickly add, “Exactly how you are.”

“For the stage, sure, but not for a date.”

Not for a what? Did she really just use the word date? Because she told me the thing she most definitely did not have was a fucking man, but that’s not how she’s acting right now, throwing that word around like she actually meant to.