Page 64 of Tight End

Makes me feel less alone since I basically fucked over my best friend and bandmates.

Not even Ben wants to deal with me right now.

And Sam…

I tear my eyes away and focus on James again.

He was smart. Went for the safer choice. The one who’s not an emotional roller coaster, even though said roller coaster is trying hard to reform himself.

Yes, shitting the bed is an understatement for what I did to my life over the past week.

I’m tired of being a dick who doesn’t want to let anyone in. It hurts. And it’s fucking lonely. But I’ve got a long way to go. Lots of fences to mend or whatever the hell they say.

I sit back in the chair with a sigh and take a quick look around after adjusting James’s fingers on the strings.

Davis would have loved this place. He did a lot of volunteering with troubled kids when he moved up here. I guess being a lawyer, he needed to balance shit out and find a way to do good while sucking the life out of corporate clients.

Sam reminds me of Davis in that way. The giving of himself, not the sucking.

Although…fuck, that was good.

James finishes the intro to one of our most popular songs and I clap. “We might need to replace Aiden with you soon.”

He beams like a ray of sunshine. “You really think it’s good? I’ve been practicing every day.”

“It’s fabulous, man. And after only a week?” I lean forward to clap him on the shoulder. “You’re a natural. Keep it up.”

“You’re a great teacher, too.” James adjusts his glasses and stares at the door, the smile fading from his face.

A quick glance over my shoulder confirms his dad is here to pick him up. I force myself to look away before he catches my fiery glare.

How the fuck could he treat his own son?—?

But I stop my mind from screaming out the question because I’ve been asking it for years without any hope for an answer.

Some things are beyond our control and we have to accept what we can’t change.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

James nods, shuffling his feet as he adjusts his backpack. “I was wondering, how long are you going to be here for? I mean, you don’t live around here, right?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m gonna stick around until you learn that whole song, okay?”

I ruffle his hair and grin at him as I hand him the guitar case.

It takes everything in me to not tackle his asshole father and beat him with the case. Clenching and unclenching my fingers, I watch James run toward his dad and his dad barely giving him a look before doing an about-face toward the door.

At least he came inside today.

The past few days he’s just waited outside with that pinched, disgusted look on his face. Christ, I wanna smack that look off so badly.

Just as James and his dad walk out the door, my stomach free-falls into my sneakers.

Chase Hartley, dressed in what looks like hospital scrubs,walks in. He’s like the mayor, waving and calling out to a lot of the kids by name. Even Sofia waves at him like he’s a rock star.

I want to run, but my feet are rooted to the shiny hardwood floor. That same sense of dread from our first meeting washes over me, the air circling my head thick and heavy.

Our eyes meet and Chase lifts his hand in a tentative wave.

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