Page 6 of Before Now

“Don’t sweat it.” Colton nudges me down the hallway. “I’ll set ’em straight for you.”

I give him a doubtful look, wondering how much sway a security guard has over the band, but I decide not to point it out. So instead, I say, “And if neither of you can change their minds?”

He shrugs. “In the slim chance it happens, you got a free trip to Prague. You ever been?”

Following him around the corner, I shake my head. “I’ve never been out of the states until yesterday.”

“Let me guess, you haven’t been anywhere other than the airport, your hotel, and here?”

I don’t answer him, and he chuckles.

“Well then, I guess you’ll have plenty to do.”

We pass the two security guards from when I arrived, and Colton pushes open the exit, the fresh night air hitting me. He holds it open, and his mouth turns up as he shouts over the screams.

“Go sleep in the five-star hotel the label paid for, and tomorrow, download a tourist app or just wander around until you’re lost. Experience the world, Remi Sinner.”

His words still echo in my ears on the car ride back to the hotel. I lean my head against the window, watching the lights of Prague pass by. Wander. It’s exactly what I want to do, but I don’t think I could get lost here if I tried.

It might be my first time in Prague, but the truth is, I know it by heart. That’s exactly where I’ve kept this city since the last time I wandered it—only then it was through a phone screen. And I saw every second of it through someone else’s eyes.

As we pull up to the hotel, I pull out my phone, and after a quick app search, a familiar logo appears on my screen. Then I hit download, and for a second, the air warms.

2

FOSTER

She didn’t even recognizeme. Then again, why would I expect her to? It’s not like we’ve met—notreally,that is.

I remember everything about her, though, and she’s exactly the same as she was five years ago. Same high cheekbones and delicate jawline. The rosebud lips I spent hours memorizing. And, of course, those eyes, devastating with the sadness and tearing their way into my soul no matter how hard I tried to keep them out.

The black bleeding in at the ends of her auburn hair is the only difference I noticed. That and she wasn’t Remi Sinner back then.

No, it was Remi Saint who haunted my dreams, waking and asleep.

The elevator dings, dipping to a stop on the lobby floor, and my eyes lift from my phone screen, but I stay against the wall.

I know what happens when I walk into the restaurant, and I’m putting off the inevitable. At least I plan to until Colton rips the phone from my hand.

“Your majesty,” he says, dropping into a low bow.

I swipe my phone on the way by, stepping into the buzzing lobby, voices bouncing off the marble floors and cascading from the vaulted ceilings, leading to the skylight two stories above us.

“So, we’re going with silent and broody today?” Colton falls into step beside me, his eyes sweeping the faces while I continue to ignore him.

The security is most likely overkill with the sunglasses. And those are deemed necessary after a night of trying to forget reawakened ghosts. Even with them on, the glare through the windows is nearly unbearable.

None of this would matter if today had gone the way it was supposed to have, with me buried under the blankets and the heavy curtains drawn. I ignored my phone for a reason this morning. Fucking Colton let himself into my room, tucking his into my hand.

“Christian Vero,” he tells the hostess outside the hotel’s restaurant.

Her eyebrows shoot up, followed by her gaze. They land on Colton first before sliding to me, where they settle.

“Of course.” She bites her lip when she smiles. “Right this way.”

I huff out a chuckle and hold out my hand as Colton groans. He digs in his pocket and slaps cash in my palm and mutters, “Unbelievable,” leading the way with another guard trailing behind us but at a distance.

Overkill.

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