Page 140 of Verses

“Why didn’t you say anything? Were you guys keeping it secret?”

I finally said, “Come on, Pedro. Think about it. I don’t know how Kyle’s gonna react, and I’m not ready for it.” After all, he already knew I was datingsomeone…and that hadn’t gone very well.

“He’s a grown man, Hayley, and he should know. Not saying anything feels kind of shitty.”

“You know what? It’smybusiness. It’smylife. And I shouldn’t feel like I have to tell anybody who I’m dating or why or how long. How dare you?”

“How dareI? Dude, we have a band and we’re tight, and we should be able to trust each other. I don’t think Kyle’s gonna have as big a problem with it as you think he is, but Idoknow he’ll have a huge fucking problem with it if you keep it a secret.”

I got ready to spit back another retort but Wolf leaned forward. I couldn’t read the vibes coming off him, but his voice was calm as always. “Pedro, you’re not wrong—but it’s notyourplace to tell him.”

“It is if you’re not gonna say shit.”

“We’ll tell him when we think he’s ready.”

“Like next year?”

Nowthe air seemed to change slightly, as if everything in Wolf’s body was beginning to simmer with the rage of a dormant volcano beginning to awaken. My friend’s brash, boisterous nature wasn’t doing him any favors. Wolf’s voice sounded almost like a snarl. “It’s notyournews to tell…but we can talk about it tomorrow night at practice.”

Wolf’s tone of voice didn’t seem to faze Pedro. “Good, ‘cause I don’t want to have to keep your secret.”

God…I was so pissed at Pedro, I could spit nails. I’d only thought Kyle could make me that fucking angry. My voice was way louder than I’d intended when I shot out, “What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought you had to go to work!”

“I do, dude, but I left my fucking phone here.” With that, he pivoted and stomped up on stage, picked it up off the floor by the amp, and said, “Happy now?” Sliding it in his pocket, he hopped offstage, walking quickly to the door. “Later.”

Sighing, I looked at Wolf. “I don’t even know how to go about this.”

Although Wolf’s words were just what I would have expected, there was something about it that felt…off. Nothing I could explain but I felt it in my gut. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll do it together.”

“Should we do it before or after practice?”

Wolf grabbed a rag and started wiping the bar. “Normally, I’d say it would be better to do it after so we wouldn’t disrupt the flow. But I suspect if we don’t do it at the beginning, Pedro might lose his shit and do the job for us. So we need to just get it over with.”

“Okay.” If I trusted anybody in this world, it was Wolf. “Do you think it’ll be all right?”

“I have no idea—but it doesn’t change the fact that we need to do it. So we’ll just get it over with. Try not to worry about it. We’llcross that bridge tomorrow. Just…try to think of how you would want someone to deliver the news to you if you were Kyle. You probably know him better than anyone else here…so maybe the right words will come to you.”

Jesus. Was that true? I only felt like I knew one side of my ex…but maybe that would be enough. “Okay.” I wrapped my arms around Wolf from behind and told myself not to worry. Everything would be okay.

But, in my gut, I suspected the shit was going to hit the fan.

Of course,sleep eluded me but the Early Rise called nonetheless. And I had hoped work would distract and preoccupy my thoughts, but I’d done the job long enough that I didn’t have to do much conscious thinking.

Meaning my brain thought of nothing but our upcoming practice.

Unfortunately, it showed up in my work—and, coupled with fatigue from a shitty night’s sleep, it made me look like a horrible barista. I messed up a couple of orders and spilled a few drinks, enough that Ben noticed.

When he came down to give me my break, he asked, “Everything okay, Hayley?”

“I’m just tired. Sorry.”

“We all have bad days. Don’t worry about it.” Ben was too nice a guy—but I appreciated it. I wouldn’t have been able to handle drama at work.

But his niceness probably made it all the more difficult…because I continued dwelling on what was coming up instead of worrying about the job.

Practice couldn’t come fast enough. By the time I was able to walk the short distance from Early Rise to The Apothecary, I was nauseous.

Everyone else was already there. Kyle had his guitar draped over his shoulders, plucking the strings and ready to play. Fuck. For maybe the first time ever, this man was feeling creative and inspired and we were getting ready to crush that spirit.

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