Page 109 of Hollow Heart

He removes himself from my lap, standing, and straightening his jeans.

“Wait a couple minutes so it’s not obvious,” he says coolly as he leaves me alone in the dressing room.

CHAPTER 23

Felix

We need to talk.

I stare at the text, chewing my thumbnail. I know I should ignore it, but when Sully mentions “the cat”, I know I can’t really ignore it.

And to add extra fuckery to an already souring morning, Samson meows like a damsel in distress.

Please, dad, don’t let the big bad asshole take me away! He’ll never feed me on time!

I look at Samson with pleading eyes.

“You are so high maintenance, you know that?” I say as I text Sully back with anokay.

Bel Air’s in an hour work for you?

Of course, he would pick the Bel Air’s cafe. He always raved about the place, but I never found their food or their drinks particularly above average.

Fine, I text back.

Truth be told, I don’t have much to do, other than pack for the trip. With the concert only four days away, rehearsals are lessening. Once we hit sound check, we should be fine.

And the last couple rehearsals have been damn near flawless.

Duncan’s adapted to the material wonderfully, and even Eddie seems to have simmered down a bit. Corpse, too. His playing has always been good, but even I have noticed he’s a lot more focused lately.

I have no worries at all about this show.

We’re going to fuckingkillit!

Though, a part of me is annoyed that SullyassumedI’d be sitting around my house doing nothing, loafing.

It doesn’t matter that he was right, but it pisses me off that he can play off our familiarity, our history together, and irritate the fuck out of me, even when he sounds like he’s trying to wave a damn white flag.

Samson meows, a warning.

“I promise,” I reassure him, though I’m not sure if he understands me. He is a cat, after all.

When I finally make it to Bel Air’s, Sully is sitting outside on the terrace, scrolling his phone.

I notice him slouching, his legs crossed, and he looks disinterested in the world.

He looks up to see me, a wide grin spreading across his face, like he didn’t just punch me in my damn face a couple days ago.

He was probably high and doesn’t remember, Felix.

“Lixy, so nice of you to come.”

“Don’t call me that,” I bite as I round the table, sliding into a seat across from him.

Sullivan smugly grins. “What the matter, baby? Didn’t get your daily dose of dick yet?” he taunts me.

His words are like slime, dripping down a steel wall.

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