Page 56 of Goodbye Note

“I wished on a star, and here we are.”

He laughed again. “You are something else. Good thing I like it.”

“You like it?” I had to know why.

“Arik?” Ser called in a drunken stammer. “You here? We got to leave!”

“Fuck.” My heart jumped to my throat. I searched Varian’s face, not really wanting to explain to Serafin why there was another dude in bed with me. “Want to pull that closed.”

He narrowed his eyes like he’d object but reached behind himself to tug it closed.

“I’m here. In my bunk,” I called out, keeping my eyes locked on Varian’s to make sure I wasn’t pissing him off.

“Sweet. Koa come back okay?” Ser asked.

“I haven’t seen him, but someone is locked in the back lounge. I haven’t seen Hael either.”

“You not staying up to keep drinking?” Ser asked after another second.

“I’m pretty wiped. I think I’m just going to lay in here.” I held my breath, hoping he wouldn’t try to get me to come out or rag on me for it.

“Cool. We’ll try to keep it down. But if you’re going to sleep, put on your noise-canceling headphones.”

“Will do.” I mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to Varian because we hadn’t thought this through enough to grab any of his shit. He lifted a shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal.

A knock sounded toward the back of the bus, and Ser’s voice followed. “Who’s in here? We’re about to leave.”

“You’re so cute being Band Daddy,” I called out.

“Fuck off.”

“Me and Hael fell asleep,” Kiernan said, his voice husky and laced with sleep. “We got fucking lit.”

“Why is the door locked?” Serafin asked, voicing the question on my mind.

“Good question,” Varian whispered.

“No shit,” I replied in a hushed tone.

The door creaked open.

“We had it locked earlier so no one would come fuck in here. Must have stayed that way when we closed it,” Kiernan said easily.

“Have you seen Fox?” Ser asked, clearly accepting that answer.

Did that door stay locked after a key was used?

“I’m testing that later,” I muttered, sure I couldn’t be the only one that sounded fishy to.

“You better, or I will. Do you think they are hooking up?” Varian asked, eyes lighting up with amusement.

“I’ve never gotten that vibe.” I thought about it for another second. “I never got the gay feeling from either of them.”

“Do you think you’d be able to tell?” he asked, and it came off weird to me.

“I do spend a lot of time with both of them. But who knows?” People hid shit for all types of reasons.

“I’m here. I’m here!” Koa burst in, crashing into something.

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