Page 63 of Take It on Faith

Yasmine nodded and sighed again. “Claro. It doesn’t stop the pain that I feel.”

“Of course not. But what is it you always say?”

“What? Better out than in?”

“That’s the one.” His voice rang with warmth. “Yas, you know better than any one of us what it does to the body when you keep that shit in. So let us support you for once. Let me support you. We can weather whatever storm is coming, together.”

Yasmine nodded slowly, wiping her face. “Yes, okay,” she said finally. She took a shaky breath. “I’m so scared, Phil. How do I survive it?”

“Through your faith,” he said. “With God and through God, you can make it through anything.”

Seeing Yasmine and Philip together left more questions than answers. Leroy was their sixth band member who died some time ago; he was the original leader of the band before Yasmine had to take over. But what happened to him? And why did that leave Yasmine so broken?

Outside of that, though, a thought occurred to me. Yasmine was the strongest woman I knew, both physically and—seemingly—emotionally. Could it be because she leaned on others for support?

It reminded me of Dante’s tattoos. I always thought that it was ironic, given his adherence to the Bible and his propensity for fastidiousness, to have tattoos. I mean, didn’t he worry about how many people had been under the same needle? But the two that he deemed important enough to risk it talked about faith, and about leaning on God’s understanding, instead of our own. I frowned at the memory of this, feeling like there was a message that was just outside of my reach.

By the time I worked up the nerve to ask Yasmine anything, we were home. Though I loved being on the road with the band, it would be nice to have some relaxation time with Michael. When I called him, however, he didn’t seem that thrilled.

“Yeah?” He gave someone a quiet order, and I heard acquiescence in the background. “Nice.”

“Are you sure?” I frowned. “You don’t seem too excited.”

“Oh, I am, babe.” To his credit, his voice brightened a hair. “I’ve missed you. It’s been lonely without you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I said, instantly melting. Despite his bro-like attitude, Michael could be incredibly sweet. “I can’t wait to see you.”

“You too.” He sighed. “It’ll be good to have you home again. Your mom is a handful to handle by myself.”

I stiffened. “Do you miss me because you want me to handle my mom, or do you miss me because you miss me, Michael?”

“Hey, let’s not fight.” He shifted the phone from one ear to another as he spoke. “Just come home soon, okay? I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I grumbled.

Talking to Michael left me with questions, too, and an uneasy, molten lava burn in my gut. Something wasn’t right, but the only thing I had to go on was his unaffected tone and Ace, my hypervigilant alter ego. She shook her head back and forth in my mind. Something happened. Something’s about to go terribly, terribly wrong.

“Hey, squirt.”

I rolled my eyes. “Squirt, huh. You know, with everything that’s been going on, you would think that you would be less of a nuisance.”

“Gotta keep it consistent.” Andrew smirked. He stopped to squint at me. Following the line of my restless hands, down to my jiggling legs, he said, “Something happened.”

“Nothing happened.” I made a conscious effort to stop my legs from jiggling, but I couldn’t keep a wrap on my hands. Andrew put his hands over mine and looked at me. I figured I was imagining it, but I felt a tiny spark between our skin. I snatched my hands away. The memory of his lips so close to mine hadn’t faded entirely.

“Nothing happened,” I insisted. I stood up quickly, stomping down the stairs. Andrew followed me with an easy, enviable grace. To stop myself from thinking about it too much, I bent down to grab my bags from under the bus and felt a twinge in my left calf muscle. I ignored it. “I’m just feeling sad for Yasmine, is all.”

“Right.” He loped by my side as I huffed and puffed with all of my bags. “So you didn’t have an unpleasant conversation with Muscle Head?”

“Nope.”

“And he’s thrilled that you’re home early?”

“Sure is.”

“Sure,” Andrew said. “Okay.” I felt more than saw him come to a stop. He placed a gentle hand at the small of my back, and I froze.

Unfortunately, so did my damn left calf.

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