Page 140 of Broken Lines

“Oh, it’s the book.” I exhale heavily as I stare into my drink. “I’m in it, apparently.”

Her eyes widen as her face falls grimly.

“Jesus, there’s no bottom floor with Judy, is there?”

“Not yet.”

She winces as she puts a hand on my arm.

“She’s not…fuck, Mel—”

I shake my head. “No, not that. I mean, not that I know of, at least. She wouldn’t, though. I mean she can’t, not with the NDAs.”

June’s mouth thins venomously. She doesn’t knowwhothe monster is—no one but Judy and I know that. But she knows about that night.

“Dude, you really didn’t have to come out tonight.”

“Yeah,” I smile wryly. “I did.”

To support a friend, yeah. But also, I think I just needed to be doused in creative output. I neededmusic.

And whiskey. Lots of whiskey.

“Well, cheers.”

“Bottoms up,” I mutter, knocking my glass back.

June raises her brows.

“Oh, it’s gonna be that kind of night, is it?” She frowns. “And wait, hi, hello. How the hell was your trip? And what’s with this story that you, by-the-by, never actually told me about?”

I’m pretty sure the black cloud over my head tells her everything she needs to know.

“Aaahh,shit,” she groans. “Well, what’s your next assignment going to be?”

“It’s going to be…not at Ignition, whatever it is.”

Her jaw drops.

“Did Becca seriously not come through? She’s been blowing my phone up about that dumb fucking story for a week!”

“No, it’s not her.” I sigh. “I didn’t get the story. So, there’s no job.”

Her face falls, but I shake my head.

“No, come on, let’s change directions.” I smile at her. “Your show was awesome.”

“You stared death at the back of the guy in front of you through the whole thing like he owed you money.”

I wince. “Sorry.”

“I already said, don’t be. You’ve been to more of my shows than basically anyone.”

“I wasn’ttotallyzoning out. That new one is great, by the way.”

Her eyes light up.

“Wait, can I show you something?”

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