Page 70 of Reverb

“The musician problem,” I said.

He looked confused. “What?”

“The musician problem,” I repeated. “Musicians make people crazy. It’s a thing. It’s usually women who are susceptible to it, but it can affect anyone.” When he still looked lost, I said, “Why do you think I’m barely making a living at twenty-eight? Why do you think I followed the tour all the way across the country? I could be a dental hygienist by now.”

Some of the tension cracked, and Will gave me a small smile. He was handsome in a different way from Stone, but he was still handsome.

He was Stone’s brother, and Stone was mine—or he would be, once I convinced him of it. It didn’t seem like Will was going anywhere, and he was part of the reason this record was being made. I could at least try to get along with him a little bit.

“Okay,” Will said. He slid the copy of his birth certificate toward me. “You’re good at what you do. You’re really good, and I mean that. So what are you going to do now? Are you going to tell him? Are you going to write this into your story?”

The story. The piece I needed to turn in any day now because it was weeks late. The story about Stone that I couldn’t get quite right.

This was part of the story. But I wasn’t going to fumble it this time. I was going to do it right. People—especially people I loved—were more important than magazine pieces.

“I’m not going to tell Stone about this,” I said. I slid the paper back toward Will. “You are. You’re going to call him, meet him face to face, and come clean. And you’re going to do it today.”

He sighed, as if he’d expected me to say that. “Or what?”

“Or if you have any secrets, I will dig them up and torture you with them.”

He shook his head. “I’m very boring.”

“Then I’ll find out about the time you stole a marker from the classroom in second grade. I’ll find out about the time you watched gay porn when you were sixteen.”

“That was one time.”

I smiled. “I’ll find out who you lost your virginity to and interview them about it. I’ll find the photo your friend took of you when you were passed out drunk at twenty-one. I’ll find the photo your mother insisted on taking when you had a big pimple on your face. And I will publish it.”

Will ran his hands through his hair, taking a breath. “My god, you’re evil. Pure evil. Like Darth Vader and Lex Luthor rolled into one.”

“Do as I say and you will escape my wrath,” I said.

“Fine, fine. Is Stone afraid of you?”

“Not even a little bit. Do you want some advice? Don’t show fear around him. Don’t be fake around him. And try not to piss him off.”

Will looked helpless. “Stone is always pissed off.”

I gave him a smile that was probably evil. “I know,” I said. “Good luck.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Stone

“Well, fuck,” I said.

I was sitting on a park bench by the river, watching people go by. Mothers with strollers, couples, teenagers, women in yoga pants and ponytails. Seagulls called overhead and rain clouds moved over the horizon.

The man sitting next to me shifted in discomfort. “I’m sorry.”

I glanced at him. This was my half brother? This guy? He looked nothing like me. Did he?

When he’d texted me to say he needed to meet with me—alone—I hadn’t known what to think. I’d wondered if maybe I’d pissed him off somehow, even though I couldn’t remember doing it. The best guess I had was that he wanted to bail out of the deal and leave us stranded, and for some reason he wanted to break the news to me alone, which was weird.

This was much, much weirder.

Sienna knew. Hale had told me that, too. Sienna had figured it out, had forced Hale to come clean. I scratched the back of my neck, watching a guy chase his runaway toddler, who was laughing like it was a game.

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