Page 132 of They Break Beauty

He and I being on bad terms twisted me up inside.

I couldn’t stand it much longer.

And I was hoping that the document I was clutching would be an in toward fixing things.

I pulled my pick set out of the back pocket of my jeans. It really came in handy carrying it on me constantly.

Within moments, I breached the lock on his bedroom door, then I shoved it open and stepped inside.

And there he was sprawled out on his stomach in the middle of his bed, reading a music magazine. He jerked his head toward me as I walked in. “Crossing lines all over the place lately, aren’t you? Now we’ve got a mix of invasion of privacy, along with B&E.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? Can we make some peace here?”

“I don’t know, can we?”

“What does that mean?”

“Are you actually being genuine, or is this truce one of your high-level mind games, another way to drive Brianna away from Lev—and me?”

“It’s genuine, Colt.”

He put his magazine down and rolled off the bed, getting to his feet.

“I hope so, because if it’s all bullshit, it’s gonna hurt all of us. Beyond repair, Mason. The brotherhood won’t just fracture, it’ll implode.”

“I get that now.”

“If you’d listened to me in the first place you would have gotten it sooner. Things wouldn’t have gone so far. But you dismissed me.”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t about dismissing you. It was just that I had tunnel vision. The power trip of Hex because I’d taken to heading it alone this time, then my paranoia about Lev’s unstable fixation with Brianna… it all compounded. I guess… it was me struggling to hold everything together.”

He softened a little and stepped closer to me. “I’m here. I’m always here. Fucking well call on me, Mason. You’re not alone. Please, for the love of shit, stop operating as though you are.”

“I’m working on it.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Effective immediately.” I handed the papers over to him. “And I’ve also come with a peace offering.”

He took them curiously, then started looking through them.

That familiar warmth that always infused me whenever he looked at me in that bright way took me as I saw that from him while he read.

“You did it! This is gonna get Will and Flynn off my back entirely. I’ll get to keep all the songs I’ve written, the name of the band, everything.”

“The downside is that the condition is you go solo. No more involvement with them in any way. You’ve got a concert coming up at a high profile club in the City of Tolhurst. Are you sure you can put a performance together and bring in a drummer and base player in time? There are gonna be record company reps there, you can’t take chances here, Colt.”

“As shocking as it sounds, I’ve already thought it through and prepared. I have a list of narrowed down candidates for a new drummer and bass player. It’ll just be me and stand-ins, hired help, different each time or something so they don’t get attached or to thinking they’re Mythic Cry alongside me.”

“Perfect. I’m really proud of you for sorting that.”

“I have my moments.” He walked to his dresser and put the documents down. “Thanks for this, Mason. I really appreciate it.”

“Anything for my brothers.”

He shot me a withering look. “Don’t push it.”

“Are we at least on the road to being good again?” I asked as he walked back to me.

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