Page 77 of Hard Rock Temptation
“But you meant it,” I said, repeating her words back to her.
She nodded slowly. “Yes. But I feel guilty that I made it sound like a bad thing. Your emotions are what make youyou, Kaylee. You may be too emotional for some people, but not for me.” She gave me a small smile. “You always feel so deeply, and you let everyone know it. That’s what I love about you.”
I swallowed hard, holding back tears. The crack in my heart that had formed during our fight began to seal.
“I know we don’t agree on what to do about the album, but…” Anya’s eyes shined with hope, “maybe we can put that aside and stay friends?”
My heart ached that she said it as a question. I leaped over to Anya and threw my arms around her.
“We’ll always be friends,” I told her fiercely. “No matter what happens.”
She returned my hug and I could feel the tension in her body relax, as if she’d been a puppet strung too tight and someone had finally cut the strings to release her.
“What are we going to do about the album?” she asked, voice soft again.
“I don’t care about the album right now,” I said firmly. “Right now, I want drag you off for a shopping spree.”
Anya chuckled lightly. “Retail therapy?”
“In a way,” I said. “I kind of started a new thing.”
Anya pulled back and raised an eyebrow at me.
“A newthing?” she repeated. “Should I be worried?”
I shook my head with a grin. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way. But first,” I added, “you need to go wash your hair.” I lifted a greasy strand and wrinkled my nose in an exaggerated motion.
“Who are you to talk?” she teased, tweaking one of my frizzy curls.
“Fine, I suppose we both need to get back to a regular personal hygiene routine,” I allowed.
“Give me thirty minutes,” Anya promised. She turned to leave the kitchen, then turned back to me. “Thank you,” she said. “You know I wouldn’t have had the courage to come to you first.” She gave me a self-deprecating smile then left before I could answer.
It felt like my heavy heart had lifted from my chest and was now floating above my head. I’d been worried Anya would be too upset with me to want to talk, but she hadn’t been. She’d been willing to work things out.
I just had to hope that the same could be said about the rest of the band.
I started to make myself a coffee of my own, andnotusing Anya’s expensive machine which was out of bounds for everyone but her, when my phone pinged. My heart sank back down into my throat. Odds were good that it was my mom. She hadn’t messaged me ever since I’d told her off, ever since she’d gone to Micah. I’d been dreading hearing from her again. I’d been determined to ignore any communication with her, but afterwhat she’d told Micah, I was preparing to do major damage control.
But when I checked the text it wasn’t my mom.
It was Micah, in our group chat. It was the first time I’d heard from him since he’d stormed out of the mansion after our confrontation.
We need to get together. I’ve got something important to tell you all.
That was all the message said. It sounded ominous, and wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. That dread didn’t leave me. In fact, it only intensified. Micah could have wanted to tell us any number of things.
I could have speculated all day about what those things might be, but in the end, I only wrote back a single sentence.
When and where?
THIRTY-FOUR
MICAH
The tension in the room was palpable.
We’d all gathered in our basement practice studio, shuffling in one at a time, without speaking to each other. The group of us sat in silence, eyeing each other warily. I knew I had to be the one to break the silence. I was the one who’d brought us all here in the first place, after all.
