Page 66 of Never Say Die
“Why do I feel like you’re still mad?”
“Because you’re too perceptive for your own good,” Aiden said. He turned and caught Shay’s lips, kissing him firmly on the mouth. “Wait for it,” he whispered, and kissed him again. “Wait for?—”
“Absolutely motherfuckin’ not,” Georgia crowed, squawking out laughter. “I cannot believe you were right. This is bullshit, man.Bullshit.”
Aiden braved a glance at the corner table. Georgia shook her head and slapped a folded green bill into Pru’s palm. Dylan opened his wallet and did the same, blowing out a defeated breath.
“Called it,” Pru said.
“Is this how you got him back in the band?” Georgia called out. She wolf-whistled, resting a martini glass against her mouth. “It is, huh? You batted them long, pretty lashes, didn’t you? God damn, Moore.”
“Leave it alone,” Aiden said, helplessly. “That’s not true.”
“It’s a little true,” Shay teased.
“Sell-out,” Georgia sang.
“It was only a matter of time,” Dylan said, gesturing to Aiden and Shay with his dewy beer glass. “Shayisa vocalist.”
Aiden paid the bartender, who looked entirely amused, and snatched his drink, knocking past Shay’s arm. “All right, you know what? Dish it out. Go ahead.” He plopped into the chair next to Pru and gulped his drink, flavored like a garden. “Get it over with.”
“You don’t date bandmembers,” Georgia said, jabbing her finger at him.
“And, I mean, to be fair, I was pretty sure you were gonna kill Shay. Like, legitimately,” Dylan said.
Shay took the last empty seat. “He did.”
Dylan shot him a weak smile.
“Jacob is going to lose his mind,” Pru said, matter-of-factly. “Especially if you go public. And there’s nonotgoing public these days.”
Georgia cackled at the high ceiling. “You signed a three-year contract,” she snapped, pointing at Shay. “So, when you two get sick of each other and put an end to whateverthisis—” she circled her hand around them both “—there’s no escape. You’re stuck, bro.”
Shay opened his mouth, but Georgia cut him off.
“I can’t believe you’re anger-banging Shay Bennett,” she said, and shook her head at Aiden. “I mean, I can. Icertainlycan. But after everything. . . ?”
Shay’s eyes slipped shut. “Anger-banging,” he repeated, stifling a laugh.
“You, shut the fuck up,” Aiden said, and swatted Shay on the sternum. He swallowed the rest of his drink, gesturing from Georgia to the bar. “You, come with me.”
“Uh oh,” Dylan said.
Pru grimaced. “Yikes.”
Shay sighed, like always. “Let ‘em work it out.”
Georgia stood and pushed away from the table, blazing eyes fixed on Aiden as he led them to the far end of the bar. He’d tried to avoid this situation. Georgia, looking at him likethat, and his heart aching horribly behind his ribs, wishing he could reach into her memories and scrub away every shitty thing he’d ever said about Shay. Everything he’d meant and hadn’t. Everything he’d done and regretted. He took her by the shoulders and leveled his breathing.
“I’ve loved him since we were fifteen,” Aiden said. “But you know that already.”
Georgia clucked her tongue. Anger drained, gentling herfiercely beautiful face. “Obviously. Everyone knows, Aiden. You weren’t very subtle. But he. . . He broke you, okay? Not broke like ouch, broke like shattered.”
“I’m a big boy, Georgia. I can take care of myself.”
“Nuh-uh, nope. You’re not allowed to say that to me. I don’t trust him with you, and I don’t trust you with yourself, and I think I’ve earned my suspicion seein’ as I’m the one who had to pump you with Narcan six months ago. Not Dylan, not Pru, not Camila.Me. I had to, because of Shay.” She tapped the bar and ordered two margaritas with extra salt. Worry knitted her brows. “I’m not sayin’ he doesn’t seem dedicated—he does. But you almost died, okay? You didn’t evenhavehim and losing him almost killed you.”
“I’m well aware. But It wasn’t just him. It was everything. I felt like I’d lost my whole life, and I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t okay. I am now.”Sorta. “I’m better, at least.”
