Page 76 of You Belong With Me

“Eli won’t care, he’ll be happy for you,” Billy said.

Zach wasn’t so sure about that. Eli’s producing was more important to him than he let on. “I’m pretty sure Leah will care.”

“Because you’re sleeping with her?”

Zach coughed, almost dropping the beer.

“I’m not blind,” Billy said. “You two haven’t exactly been subtle about it. But you weren’t planning to stay here, were you? And she’s a smart girl. She knows that.”

“I think it’s the me screwing her over professionally that she’ll be upset about,” Zach said.

“So, pay her what you agreed. She’s no worse off than she was before.”

That sounded so neat and tidy. But it wouldn’t be. It wasn’t money Leah wanted. She wanted the credit. The success that would make people want to work with her.

“Look, Zach,” Billy said. “This is business. If you want what I think you want, if you want the fame and glory—the kind that Blacklight had—then there’s only one choice for you to make here. Call Davis. Then pack your bags and go wherever he wants you to go and make the best album you can.” His mouth twisted. “Trust me, you’ll regret it if you don’t. Spending your life thinking what might have been sucks. That’s what Danny and Shane and I have been doing since we lost Grey. And maybe I can never find what Blacklight had again but I’m damn well going to try. And you should try to. You’re good. You can be one of the best. But you have to be willing to pay the price.”

The price being taking what he wanted and living with the consequences. He stared down at the piece of paper. Such a small thing. But then maybe all of life came to small things. Big choices in small moments.

“You’ve worked for this for years,” Billy said. “Don’t fuck it up now because of sentiment. Make the call.” And then he turned and walked away.

Chapter Eighteen

By the time it hit two o’clock and Zach hadn’t made it to the studio, Leah was beginning to feel sick all over again. She’d settled his band into the rehearsal room and set them up with the tapes of the songs they’d recorded so far as well as some of her ideas about how the other parts should go, and that was keeping them occupied, but she could tell they were wondering what the hell was going on. So was she.

Eli hadn’t shown up either. That was less surprising. Zach hadn’t answered any of Eli’s calls last night, and there’d been a few. Until the two of them talked, Leah suspected Eli would lay low. She couldn’t entirely blame him. He was between a very big rock and a very hard place stuck in the middle of Zach and Billy. But lack of Eli didn’t explain the lack of Zach.

She looked at her phone. No messages. Should she call him? And what, have him avoid her calls too? He’d let her in last night but he’d been a million miles away, even when she’d been wrapped around him. She’d gone to bed with a sense of dread coiling in her gut that she hadn’t been able to shake. But Zach clearly hadn’t been ready to talk. Pushing wasn’t going to help. So she’d left him alone and come to the studio.

But maybe that had been the wrong approach. Whatever was going on, they needed to talk. She hit the intercom button. All the studios were full at the moment, as were the rehearsal rooms but she could see from the system that no one was actively recording. And all the acts were bands or singers that had been here before and knew their way around the studio.

“Hey everyone,” she said. “I have to go out. On my cell if anyone has any dramas. Or call the Harper Inc. offices. All the numbers are on the wall in the kitchen.”

The sick curl of dread was back, stronger than before, when she pulled up outside the guesthouse. It wasn’t closed up, so that was good, and Grey’s old truck was still out front. Though it wasn’t like Zach would’ve taken that with him if he’d gone.

He’s not going anywhere, she told herself firmly. But the first thing she saw when she opened the door was a stack of guitar cases, and the chill that shivered down her spine stopped her in her tracks.

Just taking them to the studio. That was all.

She took a breath. Made herself move. She didn’t call out to Zach, just walked slowly through the house until she found him in the bedroom. Standing at the end of the bed, staring down at a nearly full suitcase.

Her knees wobbled and she had to grab for the doorframe. He hadn’t seen her yet, which gave her a few seconds to remember how to breathe. How to speak.

“Going somewhere?” she said eventually. The words stung her throat.

Zach froze, a pile of jeans in his hands. He put them in the suitcase, very slowly closed the lid, and then zipped it shut. Then, just as slowly, turned around to face her. “Leah.”

It was more breath than word.

She needed to be calm. Not let him see she was freaked out already. She swallowed. Hard. “That’s me. But not an answer to my question.”

“I—”

“You’re leaving.”

He nodded. “Davis Lewis changed his mind. He wants to work with me.” His voice was flat. Guarded. Cold.

There was a chair near the door. She made it there before her knees gave out for real. He wasn’t just leaving. He was going to throw the work they’d done under the bus as well. “The album’s half done already.”

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