Page 31 of Second to None

‘Although you do love a good spotlight, mate. Must be your sunny disposition.’

‘And didn’t I find that secret album in your sock drawer?’

‘Why were you rooting around my sock drawer?’

‘Matter of fact, we’re all soloists. Just at the same time, in the same band.’

‘Groundbreaking stuff, innit?’

PR-trained to within an inch of our lives, we’d been able to talk circles around most interviewers, organized chaos our trademark. Not because we were assholes, but because it was fair to fight fire with fire when someone tried to catch us on the back foot. Also, there were only so many times we could answer what we looked for in a girl without dissolving into synchronized eye rolls.

We’d been great together. I missed that sometimes—us against the world, knowing that someone would have my back if I floundered.

“Still got it,” Mason said once the last guitar notes faded. “Even if Ellis hasn’t done his reading assignment.”

“Fuck off,” Ellis told him, laughing.

“Aww, no. Youloveme, bro.” Mason, cross-legged on the floor, set the guitar aside to plant an obnoxious smooch on Ellis’s cheek. Inspired by K-pop bromances, playful physical affection had been a big part of our image—hugging, kisses on cheeks, ruffling each other’s hair. Over the months and years, we’d grown so used to it that we kept forgetting it wasn’t normal dude bro behaviour.

And then there’d been Levi and me, of course. Touches that lasted just a little longer, eye contact that held intent. Until we broke up and even a simple hug ached with what we’d lost.

“I hate you,” Ellis declared, wiping Mason’s spit off his cheek. “With a passion.”

“Hate sex!” Jace leaned forward to high-five both of them.

“Lads.” While Levi shook his head, arms crossed, his stance was casual, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. My attention lingered for a beat. “Thought we were here for a practice session. We can be idiots later.”

“Idiots?” Mason asked. “Speak for yourself.”

“Levi is right, though,” I said. “We’ve got hours to go before we’re ready to record anything.”

“Cass siding with Levi?” Ellis winked. “How novel.”

A joke with a kernel of truth. I didn’t quite know how to respond, but Levi stepped in with, “That’s because he’s smart enough to recognize a good idea when he hears it.”

“Must be it,” Jace said, all saccharine. Traitor.

“Speaking of good ideas…” Mason slid down to sprawl out on the carpet, his feet on the couch, his head pillowed on my thigh. “We should post some pictures. Nothing too obvious, though.”

“Like breadcrumbs?” Ellis asked, and it tripped me up for a moment—that I, thatwe, now had the power to do it. Just like that. Back in the day, I couldn’t have put a toe out of line without extensive PR review. I still had a team, of course. But they no longer dictated my life.

“Hansel and Gretel, the Neon Circuit edition?” Levi perched on the piano stool and tucked his hands between his thighs. “Jace posts a picture of Mason’s guitar, Mason posts Ellis drinking coffee, Ellis posts one of Cass and me on the sofa, leaning over some notes…”

Mason propped himself up on his elbows to shoot Levi a probing look. “You and Cass, huh?” His tone implied that Levi must have told him something, and I glanced at Levi just in time to catch his pointed eyebrow raise.

“Yes, Mason,” he said slowly, meaningfully. Then his gaze darted to Ellis and Jace before it settled on me, a question in his eyes. Still protecting me—just like he always had. Was I wrong to lean on him again? I couldn’t hope for another chance if I was still the same person who’d broken us.

“I want to come out,” I told Jace and Ellis. “Which—you knew that already. But, uh. I asked Levi if he’d…”Pose as my boyfriend because it seemed less scary than asking him out for dinner.Kind of true, but also, Jesus, what had I beenthinking? Definitely not something I was ready to admit. Maybe to Mason, at some point. “If he’d help me start some rumors.”

“Huh,” was the extent of Jace’s response, his face shrewdly calculating.

Ellis poked his tongue against the inside of his cheek so it popped out. “Could’ve asked me, you know? I’m an excellent kisser.”

“You’ve got a wife and a two-year-old,” Levi told him. “’Homewrecker’ isn’t quite the rebrand Cass wants.”

Mason opened his mouth, a gleam of amusement in his eyes, then closed it again. I almost let it slide. Then I remembered our last year as a band, how all the things we didn’t say had widened the cracks between us.

“Spit it out,” I told him.

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