Page 31 of Marked By Shadows

“Al,”Trinesays.Theentire band is eating breakfast downstairs and we’re going to set off after we do that. Devon has gone over the dates over and over again, but I’m not paying attention. I’m eating a dry croissant and drinking black coffee while I watch Trine say something, but I’m not paying attention to her.

“Alana!” Trine says, waving her hand in front of me.

I bite my tongue instead of the croissant, my mouth filling with copper. “Fuck,” I say. “What?”

“Nothing,” Trine says. “Just wanted to know if you were okay. We heard about the elevator.”

“I’m fine,” I say. “Just a bit shaken. I think I drank too much last night.”

“Girl, you had like one drink,” Kelly says. “I’ve seen you do way more than that.”

“Yeah, never when my brain is deprived of oxygen,” I say. “I blame the altitude.”

“You’ve been exceptionally grumpy lately,” Sierra says, picking at her fruit salad with her long fingers. “And look, babe, I love it. It’s your brand. It fits you. But it’s been worse over the last few days. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I rub my temple. “I think I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed,” I say. It’s not a lie, they just don’t need to know everything. “When we decided to do this, I knew it would be hard, but we haven’t even started and I’m already struggling to wrap my head around it. We put time and money in it, and I’m just…I guess I’m just nervous.”

They all look at each other.

I wave them off before they can console me. “I’m fine,” I say. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a dick lately. I’ll try to stop that.”

“Good luck with that,” Sierra says, flashing me a radiant smile.

Bryony, who has been uncharacteristically quiet up until now, clears her throat. We all turn to look at her. “I know that this is a lot, but can we please try not to make any drama? This could open a lot of doors for us. Like, guys, get hyped. This is fucking South America. It’s a huge deal. When we get back, we’ll be able to play the festival circuit, and then we can go back to Orlando and do our little circuit. Best of all? We’re getting paid for this shit. So, like, Al, I get you, but let’s go ahead and keep a little perspective, okay?”

She’s right, and she sounds angry. Bryony is snappy, quick, with a little bit of a temper. But I’ve never actually heard her sound angry and I don’tlikeit.

“You’re right,” I say, putting the end of my croissant down. “I’m sorry. I do think I’m more hungover than I would usually be.”

It’s because of the threesome, obviously. I’m exhausted and spent and everything hurts. But I promised I was going to keep it to myself and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

As if Javi had heard me, he walks up to our table. “Hi,” he says. He’s wearing sunglasses even though we’re inside, and he meets my gaze for only a second before he looks around. “I don’t think I got a chance to meet you all last night. Just wanted to say, I’m very excited to start this tour.”

The girls agree with him. Soon, Misha arrives with a cup of coffee and slings an arm around Trine, then Devon and Dom join us. There are a lot of people around and I zone out, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and check my messages.

I only have one message. It’s from my dad and he’s asking me how the tour is going and how the trip was. I text him to let him know that I’m alive, the journey didn’t kill me and that the tour hasn’t started yet. Then I put my phone back into my pocket and when I pick my head up, I find Javi staring at me.

I raise my eyebrows, but I can’t exactly ask him why he’s staring at me.

“Hey,” he says. “The building manager has some questions for you about the elevator.”

I point to myself.

“You and Dom,” he says. “It shouldn’t take too long.”

I roll my eyes, but stand up. “We need to start loading gear in.”

“I know. Like I said, it won’t take long.”

“We’ll start loading your stuff too,” Bryony says. I have to force myself to smile at her since she’s only being nice, I just don’t think I should be with Dom and Javi alone.

“Thanks, babe,” I say, and then turn away from her because I don’t want to talk to her anymore.

Once we’re out of the restaurant, Javi starts talking quietly. “Hey, so the building manager does actually want to see you, but there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“What’s up?” I ask. “We’ve already talked about…well, we’ve already talked about everything.”

“Clearly not,” Dom says. “What’s up?”

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