Page 58 of Second to None

Cass disappeared into the garden some time after that, carrying his guitar that had been delivered earlier. A gentle twang drifted over soon after. The notes were tentative, like he was still searching for the shape of the tune. Once, I would have joined him to offer a lyric or two, make it a playful competition about who could find the cheesiest rhymes because it helped him relax, until we eventually settled into an earnest give and take. Half the songs on our last album had started like that, with us—before we broke each other and then the band.

Maybe I should listen to what he’d done without me.

Instead, I checked my emails to make sure nothing important had come in, and then put the phone away because I’d promised Emily this would be a proper holiday. My mum, Emily, and I wasted some time with a board game we found in a cupboard—some dodgy imitation of a known brand with pieces that didn’t quite fit their slots. “I’mbored,” Emily declared after about five minutes of this, like it hadn’t been her idea.

“What would you rather do, then?” my mum asked.

After a bit of negotiation—no, it was too early for a movie and no, she couldn’t have my phone again to keep feeding candy to a green blob with big eyes and an overbite—she decided that drawing a picture of the sea was an acceptable proposal and went off in search of her crayons. Ah, the joys of child management.

As soon as Emily was gone, my mum leaned back in her chair, her warm gaze taking me in. “Honey,” she began, and I raised a hand.

“Please don’t.”

She sighed and picked up a fallen game piece with a dent in it, turning it over in her hand, while my dad was hiding behind his newspaper. Emotions made him uncomfortable, but he tended to hang around in case he could make himself useful—drill a hole, fix a lawnmower, that sort of thing. “I’m not telling you what to do,” Mum said just as the music stopped for a moment. “You’re old enough to make your own decisions—Lord knows you’ve seen more of the world than your dad and I ever will.”

“Mum,” I said, much more gentle. I knew she’d struggled with how fast I’d had to grow up, how neither she nor dad had been able to protect me from the brutal side of fame—vicious rumours printed next to an unflattering photo, being told exactly how to dress and look for a candid backstage shot, gasping for air in a crowd of paparazzi, camera flashes so bright I saw stars, bodyguards forming a human barrier just so we could get to the car door.

Doing this now, with Cass? I was choosing to walk into an echo of that. His fans had grown up some, but the media was still just as volatile.

But years ago, I’d asked him to do this. Now that he was ready, I didn’t want him to be alone. I wanted… I wanted to be there with him, even if it couldn’t fix our past.

“He’s alovelyboy,” my mum said after a beat, just as Cass’s gentle strumming resumed. “You know we’ve always adored him, don’t you?”

I exhaled and let my gaze drift to the view of the garden, the sea a glint of blue peeking through. “I know, yeah.”

“Good, yes.” Another pause. “It’s just that the first time… You took it so hard, darling. We were so worried about you.”

Fuck.

“Mum.” I shook my head, lungs gripped by an iron fist that pressed them into a sad little clump. “This isn’t like that. It’d be so much harder if he had to come out on his own, that’s why I’m helping. He’s still… I stillcareabout him, always will. But we’re not back together.”

She studied me for a long moment, face shadowed. “You invited him here.”

“I invited Mason, too.”

“But Cass isn’t Mason, is he?” Her thoughtful tone didn’t exactly demand a response, the question followed by a rustle of my dad’s paper as he peered at me quickly, then back down at his sports reporting.

‘Cass isn’t Mason, is he?’

I listened to the quiet progression of notes floating on the breeze, thought about Cass’s skin and the curve of his smile, the quiet rasp of his voice in the morning.

“No,” I told my mum. “He’s not. But he also isn’t the same person he was five years ago. And neither am I.”

“I know, honey.” She shook her head, greying hair whispering along her shoulders, eyes bright. “I don’t think we tell you enough, but we are so proud of the person you’ve become.”

Words lodged themselves in my throat, like breathing around a shard of glass. I swallowed, and swallowed again. “Thank you, Mum. Means a lot.”

She reached across the table to squeeze my hand, letting go only when Emily returned with her crayons and a stack of drawing paper that might, in fact, be documents I’d intended to review. I inhaled and let go of the tension in my neck and shoulders, Cass’s music a soft ache that brushed my skin.

I’d be fine. Yes, my mum liked to worry. But I knew what this was, and so did he.

CHAPTER14

Cass

Porto Cervo, Monday, August 25th

It felt like the world had hit the pause button. Or maybe just my world—late evening, the villa peaceful in that way no city place ever truly managed. The night air hung heavy with the hum of cicadas, and I closed my eyes and listened, alone on the terrace for the moment.

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