Page 79 of Dissonance

“Lockie…” His name barely makes it out.

He looks up, and the moment his eyes meet mine, everything else falls away. His hand moves from my stomach to my jaw, fingers curling warm around the side of my neck. Gentle, always so gentle with me. He leans across the center console, his lips meeting mine without urgency, just him taking his time. I wrap my fingers around his wrist and hold on, grounding myself against something solid as my heart thunders and riots and starts to feel things I’m not ready to name. Each soft sweep of his tongue against mine does something dangerous to me, because this doesn’t feel like obligation. It doesn’t feel like duty or proximity or circumstance.

It feels like a choice.

I make a small sound against him, his grip tightening in response. And when he pulls back, it’s reluctant, his forehead coming to rest on mine, the space between us charged with everything unsaid. His thumb traces once along my cheek, my lashes fluttering closed.

“Mo Chridhe,” he whispers.

I let out a small laugh, eyes still closed. “I still don’t know what that means.”

The corner of his mouth lifts in that almost-smile I’m starting to love. He kisses me once more, soft and brief, then sits back, flicks off the hazards, and pulls away from the curb.

And the whole drive home, his hand stays clasped in mine.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Thea

My phone lights up before I’ve finished reading the last message. Three notifications stack one on top of the other in under ten seconds. Then four, then six, Tyler’s name blinking at me like it’s personally offended I haven’t responded yet. Somewhere behind my eyes, the headache that’s been threatening since seven this morning decides now is the moment to commit.

“Tell me you’re seeing this,” Mae says, appearing in my doorway, tablet in hand.

“I’m seeing all of it,” I mutter, scanning the email in front of me.

Request: Joint Interview – Reign Cooper & ZeroSaint.

“There’s more.” She drops into the chair across from me like she lives there, which, in the last week, she essentially has. “Two radio requests, one live session, and someone asked, with a straight face apparently, whether Tyler is available for a reality show.”

I look up slowly.

“I told them no,” she adds, hiding her grin.

“Good.”

My phone rings again, and I put it on speaker, pressing two fingers into my temple.

“Hey—”

“Okay, don’t freak out—” Tyler starts before I’ve said another word, breathless.

“Never a promising start.”

“I was speaking to Cooper, and he said his team at the label’s going to reach out about doing something together next month, a proper joint promo for the single. So I want to make sure it’s on your radar. Then some guy called about PR representation, and I don’t know if I should—”

“Tyler,” I say, keeping my voice level. “Take a breath.”

A sharp inhale crackles down the line. Leaning back, I roll my neck once, feeling the tension pulse that hasn’t let up in weeks. On my screen, my inbox ticks upward. Twenty-three unread…twenty-four emails.

“I just don’t want to miss anything that could elevate me,” he says. “Like, what if this is the thing that takes me to the next level?”

I get that more than he knows. But my job is managing the opportunities that would accelerate his career versus the ones that could derail it, which is exactly why he pays me.

“Wait.” I sit up, that last comment buzzing in my head like a neon sign of red flags. “What PR rep?”

“Zane kind of…” he trails off, and I can practically hear him grimacing through the phone.

“Zane put someone in touch with you?”