Page 51 of Hollow Heart

How he is able to reel me in like a fish is beyond me, but I don’t have the energy to fight tonight.

I’m tired, in more ways than one.

“You know, you weren’t so bad yourself. All things considered.”

A smile forms on my own face as I nod in response. “Thank you. For having my back out there.” I say the words definitively. Truthfully, I am grateful that tonight Felix wasn’t a total mess.

In fact, he was actually kind of a badass.

But I’ll be damned if I admit that out loud, especially to him. He’d probably be the type to get a big head about it, parade his accomplishments around and press me for praise every chance he got, never letting me forget.

Why does the thought ofpraisingFelix send a shiver through me?

Especially when it is so goddamn warm in here?

His expression softens as he smirks.

“That’s my best kept secret, Duncan. I’m not actually an asshole, you know. I just play one. For the cameras.”

His voice softens and sounds different.

Real.

And all at once, I understand Felix is letting his guard down.

He’s letting mein.

And the magnitude of that is not lost on me.

“For the record, I never thought youwerean asshole. Just a spoiled little brat,” I state, my voice much deeper than I mean it to be. I mean the words to sound humorous, if only to alleviate the weird tension that has found its way back between us.

Felix chortles as he shakes his head. “Tell anyone my secret, and I’ll be a lot more than aspoiled bratwhere you are concerned. I’ll be a fuckingterror.”

I can’t help the smile that spreads on my face. His tone isn’t malicious. Far from it.

It is playful, but also sincere, and I understand his sarcastically veiled threat.

“Noted.” I nod as I take a step toward the door. “See you tomorrow, Felix.”

With that, I am off, like Cinderella catching her carriage before it turns into a damn pumpkin, shedding my velvet blazer and musician visage as I enter the town car.

As I watch the city and its lights pass me by, I can’t help but roll the lyrics of Black Sea around in my brain.

This is only the beginning, and I know that.

CHAPTER 14

Duncan

We’ve beenat rehearsal for nearly two hours, and I feel like I’ve run a marathon.

Maybe getting on the treadmill in preparation for this damn show wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Though, of course, I’m dragging ass, too, because by the time I did get home—to find my kid sleeping like a baby, in his bed where he belonged, thank goodness—it was damn near four in the morning.

I’d barely even heard Bobby wake up, but I suppose as a parent that sixth sense will never truly leave me.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up until damn near four in the morning, passed out, and got up only two hours later and I wasn’t fucked up.

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