Page 97 of Voice to Raise
“Are your knees starting to hurt?” Malik caressed my cheek.
“Are you suggesting I’m getting old?”
He laughed. “Uh, no. I just think we should’ve knelt on a rug rather than the marble entryway.”
“Agreed.”
Together, leaning on each other, we rose.
“Where are your bags?”
“I asked the driver to put them in the garage—we’ll sort everything out when people are willing to leave. Seeing as we last ate about eight hours ago, I’d say they’re starving.”
“Better believe it.” Reese approached us.
She held out her arms for a hug.
I embraced her warmly. “You know?”
“We’d always known. From the moment the plane took off from Vancouver heading east, we knew. This guy took some time to come around to the idea, though.”
I gazed at Malik.
He shrugged. “I didn’t know if I was worthy of you. I had…a lot of time to figure myself out.”
“Which definitely shows in the music. I can’t wait to play it for you and Mama.” Resse offered a genuine smile.
Malik grinned as well. “Wait until you hear the audition tape we sent to the Rocktoberfest organizers.”
I stilled.
“Yeah, we kept that under wraps as well. We’re in!” He threw his arms around me. “We’re going to Black Rock in October.”
I held him close to me, basking in his evident joy. “I love you.”
“Yeah, me too.” He chuckled. “I mean I love you too.”
“It’s okay to love yourself, you know.”
He pulled back to meet my gaze. “Working on that.”
Which was all I could ask for.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Malik
“Dude, I swear that goofy grin hasn’t left your face in three months.” Creed leaned over my bunk as I typed out a quick text to Spencer about our concert in Sacramento.
“If you meet someone as awesome as Spencer, you’ll be goofy too.” I waited for his reply, watching the bubbles. He always responded in complete sentences with proper punctuation. I ribbed him that it was anold guything.
He countered it was alawyerthing. That he never wanted there to be any misunderstandings.
I didn’t bother to point out that, without tone, words could always lead to misunderstandings.
—I miss you too. Mama and I will meet you in Black Rock. —
“There’s that grin again.”
