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I don’t get to pick the city I’ll end up in but I do get to pick who visits me.
“I’m never going to ask you to make your life smaller so mine can stay big.” He looks into my eyes.
Oh. My heart might explode out of my chest. I bite my lip hard to stop it from trembling.
“And...there’s something else I need to tell you.”
I brace myself. “What?”
“I fired Danny.”
I turn to him, my eyebrows creasing together. “Your manager?”
“Former manager.” His hands tighten around the steering wheel. “The leak wasn’t an accident. Outside the band, he’s the only person who had it. He sent the demo to someone he knew would pass it on. Called it creating an opportunity.”
“He leaked it,” I confirm.
“Yeah. I’m sorry, Bea.” Cal’s jaw shifts. “Firing him doesn’t undo any of it. I still wrote the song. I sent it before I spoke to you about it. It was a crappy thing to do. Immature. I’m sorry.”
He stares through the windshield.
“Danny did what he did. I did what I did. I’m not trying to hide behind him.”
“Good,” I say.
“I know.”
“The Apex contract hadn’t been signed yet,” he says. “Danny was handling the negotiation, and he tried pushing for the original version. I told the boys what happened, and we fired him. Hired our own lawyer. Told Apex they could have the rewrite or they couldn’t have the song.”
“But that means… You could’ve lost the deal.”
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t know they’d agree.” My heart pounds for him.
“No.”
A truck passes in the opposite direction, its wake rocking the car gently.
“Were you prepared to lose it?”
His throat moves.
“I was fucking terrified,” he says. “But yes.”
I look out at the road.
“But it’s all good. We got a new manager, and they kept the deal,” he continues after a moment. “Turns out they wanted the band, not Danny. And we get to release the rewrite of Notes of Attraction.”
His thumb moves over the seam of the steering wheel.
“I’m not telling you because I think it makes up for anything.” He exhales. “I just needed you to know that I took it seriously.”
I look at him, but he’s avoiding my gaze. I pull one hand from beneath my legs and rest it briefly on his forearm.
“Okay,” I say.
His breath leaves him slowly.
