Page 220 of Goodbye Note

I shrugged. “I did my fucking best.”

Nova held out her hand. “You owe me six dollars.”

I almost swore again but cut myself off, pulling out my wallet to give her a ten. “That’s four dollars credit for the next one. Don’t think I’m tipping you.”

“If you remember.” Nova turned back to Varian. “Dad, which guitar? Olivia is waiting.”

He exhaled, shoving a hand into his hair. “I don’t know.”

“Do I need to ask Uncle Val?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

“That might be better. I can’t remember what he wanted.”

Nova stalked out.

I had my hands over my mouth when Varian turned back to me.

“Thanks, dick.”

“What did you expect me to do? She’s seen the Varik videos! How did you keep it together?” It had never even occurred to me his kid would watch them, but that stuff was all over the internet and had to be such a big part of the lives of kids with celebrity parents. Jesus, the internet was a minefield.

“Clearly, I need to have a talk with my bandmates about what’s appropriate for my kid.”

I pulled him back into my arms. “She knows you love me. You have heart-eyes.”

His cheeks flushed more. “I do have heart-eyes for you.”

I brushed our lips together. “I love you.”

“I’m glad she knows.” He put his arms back around my neck.

I swayed to the distant music. “They are about halfway through their set. Did you do your vocal warmups?”

“Not yet.” He tilted his head.

“What?” I said, amusement tinting my voice.

“This feels good.”

“Have you ever danced with a man?” I asked.

“No… Not since that night we kinda did. After the rave.” Happiness bled into his words.

“It feels good.” I kissed the corner of his mouth.

“I agree. It’s better than a hug. More comfort and full-body contact.”He remained silent for far too long, leaving me in limbo. Finally, he spoke. “I’ve never danced with anyone before. Not like this.” It wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.

“Why not? Did you not go to any school dances?” I pulled back enough to look at him.

He pressed his face back into my shoulder, speaking so low I had to strain to hear him. “Not really. By that point, the fame thing got awful, and with my scar…so we went to this tiny private high school. They didn’t do any of that.” He pressed us. “Did you go to dances?”

“No. I hung out with the stoner kids, and we were too cool to go to any of the dances. The nights we told our parents we were going, we got drunk in a cornfield instead.”

“Ah, typical Midwest.” Varian laughed. “I like this, with you.”

“I like it too.” I slipped my fingers under the hem of his shirt, brushing them over his bare skin.

“Don’t do that. You’re going to make me want to drag you into a bathroom before our set for a quickie like we used to.”

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