Page 6 of Knot Their Opening Act

“How ya going, Jez? It’s been awhile. Sorry about last time. So great to see what you’ve done since then. The new single is an absolute cracker!” His thick accent and friendly demeanor loosens the tightness in my chest. But to be honest, it was only ever Kai I’d butted heads with. Kai the mouthpiece. And what a mouth.

What a piece of work, too.

“Can we put the past behind us? We’re excited to have you on tour,” Holden says. His glance slides back to Kai, as though watching a rabid animal he might have to lure quickly away.

I shake Holden’s warm hand and stare into his eyes, caught by the sudden glint in the bright ocean-blueness of them. He really does seem harmless. And friendly. And genuine. Which surprises me.

These past three years I’ve made a mental dartboard of their faces, but really, itwasonly Kai who said the words that ended my short-lived tenure on the contest.

And yet—can “we” put the past behind us? The fuck.

“It might be in the past for you, but it’s my every day. It’s still in my present. Knowing I could be so much further along. Knowing that you spoke to the show runner, told them my secret, and had me removed. Discrimination at its worst but I guess that’s okay because I’m just an Omega, right? Just an Omega playing girlie songs you didn’t want competing with your serious man-rock, right?”

The room falls silent, and Viv gives a nervous giggle. “You guys, maybe we need to speak alone, just Jez, Ash, and Kai and I.”

Ash pauses before nodding at Fable. Thomas, Nico, and a reluctant Holden leave the room and close the door. I feel even more stifled, somehow, with fewer people but Kai being one of them. I turn my flushed face on him.

“You did the shittiest thing ever. Are you even going to admit it?”

“I did it to protect you,” he growls. “Because nobody with your condition needs to be surrounded by a crowd every day in life. And if you reached the level of popularity you were aiming for, it would make your life hell.”

“Bullshit! You did it because you just didn’tlikeme! You told your bandmates you hated my music, my style, my whispery—what’d you call it, ‘feathery fairy voice.’ Like it wasn’t good enough for you so it wasn’t good enough for anyone else.”

“We were judges on a contest! It was allaboutour opinions!”

“Oh, so you really loved the guy who refused to sing anything but Broadway ballads?” I snap.

“Hey, he ended up fronting that pop band, he was pretty good.”

“He was but you can’t tell me that that was your style! And where is he now, your winning protégé?” I ask. I note that Ash and Viv are watching us like a table tennis match, but I’m glad they’re staying out. I need this as much as air.

Kai holds my glare, his fingers curled into fists at his sides. He knows where the winner went. Back to university to become an equity analyst or something. He’d decided he didn’t like all the media attention and crumbled when his affair with a much older Beta in a pack came to light.

“That’s right,” I say in the void of Kai’s response. “I guess we can’t all be such pillars of strength and perfection under the spotlight. But you at least gave him a chance. You didn’t say his nerves would ruin his career. You didn’t cut him off at the knees before he even got to perform.”

Kai has no response, but I swear smoke puffs from his ears.

“You think you’re going to prove us wrong and somehow earn our respect.” He says it as a statement, but it feels like a threat. Like,Sure, come at us, little girl. Good luck.

I look at him a moment, willing sudden surprise tears to back the hell off. Thankfully, they don’t drop. I’m grateful my body does one thing I need it to, anyhow.

I shake my head ever so slightly and stare back. “Go fold yourself in half.”

Ash blows out a breath he was holding and taps the desk. “Right. That went well.” He raises his voice a notch. “Okay you lot, come back in here.”

I clear my throat as Holden, Nico, and Thomas file back in. And with the quiet snicker from Nico, I gather they all heard us anyhow.

“To answer your earlier question, Holden. I’ve been hard at work. And I’m not stopping anytime soon,” I say, my eyes still glued to Kai’s mossy ones.

Viv gives a mild cough so I step this up a bit. “And how have you guys been? I didn’t see you at the festival last weekend.”

Another cough from Viv. I don’t mean this as a stab. Or maybe I do. All the biggest bands hope for an invite to Summer’s End, and I don’t know the reason for Fable not attending. They might’ve had another gig or recording session booked, or personal time booked off, or maybe other bands were just invited in favor of them this year. They have, after all, played the last several years that I know of.

Maybe … they’re on their way out.

In which case, do I really want to be on tour with them?

But no. They’re still a massive household name. They still have new music coming out. They’re far from over. Sigh. Just my defensiveness.

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