Page 27 of Crave

Meet at diner 11am? Need to talk—something happened with Landon!

I stared at the text while my stomach churned. What the fuck was he talking about? I almost shot off a heated response, then remembered we hadn’t publicly announced our relationship yet. Since the moment Max had hinted at some big plan he had to get Landon back, my gut told me something bad was going to happen.

And Landon still hadn’t reached out.

I spit out a curse, wondering what was going on. Quickly, I texted Landon.

Checking in. You good?

I squinted at the screen, relieved at the three dots that immediately popped up.

I’m ok. I miss you. Six pm tonight? Not working Red tonight.

I let out a breath and my muscles relaxed. More of Max’s bullshit stories, probably. I quickly tapped out that I’d see her later and I’d order takeout for a night in.

Quickly calculating my agenda, I decided to meet the guys. Even if I stopped in for a cup of coffee to hear Max’s crap and pretend I believed him, then ditch. I could talk to Noah about the song, too.

I texted that I’d be there and jumped in the shower.

I was the first one to arrive at the diner so I grabbed a booth and ordered coffee for all of us. I’m sure most of us were nursing hangovers. Friday nights were usually legendary in our group, even when we were separated.

Sure enough, Coop and Noah came in looking a bit ragged. We shot the shit for a while, and I realized how much I missed just hanging out with them like the old days. We’d all gotten so busy, our regular cocktail lunches or hangover breakfasts were getting few and far between. I wondered if this was part of how things were going to change for us. I didn’t like to think of splitting up, but once Landon and I told them, I wondered if we’d all be too broken up to return to normal.

“I’ll need to borrow Elle again,” I said to Coop. “She say anything to you about the song we’re gonna work on?”

He shrugged. “Noah mentioned it. Elle finally seems excited about diving into music rather than acting. I’m glad she has you two to look out for her.”

Noah winced. “Yeah, I’m not sure if the music industry or Hollywood is worse.”

“They both suck balls,” I said. “Especially for women. I already told JJ I’d shed him if he leads her wrong.”

Coop nodded. “Thanks, man. I thought she was supposed to sing in a few tour spots with you but said she changed her mind?”

I shrugged. “No big deal. I’m sure JJ will be in touch.”

Coop let out an annoyed breath. “Yeah, but Elle does this. Says she’ll do something, then doesn’t follow through. Pisses me off.”

Noah cut in. “She wasn’t ready.” I looked at him, taken aback by his fierce tone. “Elle said she needed more time.”

“She wants to act but afraid to sing? I don’t get it,” Coop muttered.

“Once Elle’s ready, nothing will be the same,” Noah said

Interesting. Coop didn’t look like he cared that Noah knew more about what Elle wanted than him. He just kept talking. “Well, maybe you can help her out with that. Noah, I haven’t told you how cool it was that you really pushed her on this. You were the one she finally listened to—giving her another possibility other than acting.”

Noah looked uncomfortable, keeping his gaze averted. “No problem.”

I sipped my coffee. “I like the music you’re circling around. I’ll send you some of the lyrics I’m working on.”

“Yeah, mind if we take a shot at it, too?” Noah asked. I arched my brow in question. He cleared his throat. “Umm, Elle and I thought it’d be fun to give you some lyric ideas. If that’s okay.”

“Sure, I didn’t know you were into the writing. Of course, I need to go to the band once we have something solid.”

Noah threw up his hands. “Of course, dude. Not trying to take your place.”

I waved off the comment. “Nah, not a problem. The more minds, the better.”

Coop already lost interest in the conversation. “Where the hell is Max? Didn’t he call this emergency meeting?”

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