Page 7 of Second to None

Beverly Hills,Monday, July 21st

Ellis would be easiest, so that’s where I started.

“You’re doingStand Up to Cancer?” He sounded distracted, his two-year old squealing in the background. “That’s cool.”

I walked the five steps from the coffee machine out onto the terrace. Morning had freshened up the air, and I took a deep breath. “I want you to do it with me.”

“Me?” He seemed a lot more present all of a sudden.

“Yes. Well—you, Mason, and Jace.” A pause, less for effect and more because I needed to gather my courage. “And Levi.”

“You’ve spoken to him?” Surprise colored Ellis’s voice, along with a hint of something almost hopeful.

“No. I…” Fucking hell, get it together. “I thought I’d talk to you and Jace first. And if you’re both in… Uh. Mason will call Levi. If you and Jace are both in.”

Ellis took a moment to respond. When he spoke again, a smile shone through. “All right. How do you want to do this?”

* * *

London was eight hours ahead,which made it late afternoon for Jace. Didn’t stop him from sounding like he’d only just woken up.

“Cass,” he said when I asked him if this was a bad time. “You never call me unless it’s stupid voice messages, and you know I don’t listen to those. What is it that didn’t fit in a text?”

I sat down by the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the cool water. “You know, you could at least pretend to let me ease into it.”

“Mate,” Jace said. Mate? “We shared a tour bus for years. You stole my socks and swore they were yours. We’rewaypast politely easing into a conversation.”

“Yeah, all right.” Deep breath. I could do this—compared to facing Levi, this was a piece of cake. “I’m doing one song forStand Up to Cancer. I want to bring Neon Circuit back together for a second one. Mason and Ellis are already in. You?”

In true Jace fashion, he mulled it over at his own pace while I watched the ripples my feet made upon the water. When he spoke, it was slow and careful. “There’s a reason I haven’t performed in years, you know?”

“I know.” Even back in the band, he’d been the one who’d never been as relaxed about going out there as the rest of us. “We could pre-record it. No audience, if you prefer.”

Another moment of silence traveled down the line. The figurative line. No copper wires strung along some pole or whatever, just signals bouncing off satellites, zipping through servers, maybe some underwater cables still buried somewhere.What? My brain was latching onto weird details to bridge the gap.

“Why?” Jace asked. “And no bullshit, all right? I’m in the middle of a date, so I’ve got no patience for you beating around the bush.”

“A date?” I echoed, and—huh. Of the third-base variety, most likely. Sure explained his bedroom voice. “Then why did you pick up?”

“Because you called,” he said as though it was really just that easy. “Now talk, Cass. You’ve got twenty seconds to hold my attention, or I’m hanging up on you. So—why?”

No pressure.

“Because years ago, I made a mistake, and it meant we didn’t end the band on our own terms.”Breathe. I did. “It cost me more than that, personally. And I can’t undo either of those two things. But I just thought… it could be fun. All of us back together, choosing that. Creating a new, better memory of who we became. Even if it’s just for one song.”

Another beat of silence. He wasn’t hanging up on me, so that had to count for something.

“And Levi?” he asked then.

It was my turn to take a moment. Sunlight glistened on the pool’s surface, making my vision go hazy. “Like I said—I can’t change the past. And maybe he’s moved on. But I haven’t.”

Jace made a soft, considering noise. “Was that a question?”

It was tempting to ask how Levi was doing, but,no. I wanted to hear it straight from him.

“No. Even if he has moved on, maybe that’d be good for me to see, you know? See that he’s happy.” It would hurt. But it would hurt more to think that I’d broken him. “I’d still want the band to get together.”

“You know what’s funny?” Jace didn’t wait for my response. “Out of all of us, you seem like the one whose life’s changed the least. Butyou’vechanged. You always used to care so much about what people thought.”

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