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The bed slumps. “What are you doing?”
“I told you, I’m dead. Go away.”
He pushes my legs, laughing. “You’re not dead. If you are, then you’re a ghost, and we have much bigger problems right now.” It’s funny, but I can’t bring myself to laugh. “Jade, you haven’t replied to anyone. I went down to Rich Records—”
I pop my head out from under the covers. “You went there?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know what else to do. The security guard said they haven’t seen you?”
The security guard. I hold back a scoff. That’s Austin’s friend. My immediate thought is wondering if he knew about the con all along. I shake off the idea and pull the covers back over my head. “Nothing. I just want to be alone. You can leave now.”
“Jade, what the hell is this? You didn’t come back to the studio that day, and you’ve been MIA since then. I called Lily before I went down there, and she won’t tell what’s happening either.”
“Nothing is happening,” I tell him through the comforter. “Leave, please.”
He’s quiet for a moment. I don’t feel the bed shift, so I know he hasn’t left, but maybe he’s thinking it over. My hopes rise, but then they’re dashed when I feel him lie down next to me. “I don’t think we’ve slept in the same bed since we were five.”
“Maddy, get out!” I yell, pushing him with my legs.
“I could call the guys,” he responds, not paying any attention to my feet hitting him through the blankets. On the contrary, he gets up and lies over the top of me. “We could make it a band thing. Sleepovers once a week. We could order pizza and get Rocky Road ice cream.”
“Rocky Road sucks.”
He stays on top of me as I squirm under the covers, trying to push him off. “You take that back!”
“Mint chip forever!”
“Okay, that’s it!”
I feel the weight lift off of me, and he crawls off the side of the bed. The next thing I know, the comforter is being yanked away. My head pops out, and I struggle to pull it back. “No, Maddox! Stop!”
“I’m getting you out of this bed. I’m your brother, so I think I might be the only one who can say this, but … you stink.”
“I do not! Leave me alone!”
“Let’s go, Jade!”
“Stop!”
“Now!”
The blankets are nearly off the bed as I struggle to hold one little piece. My oversized shirt hangs off of my shoulder, and my gray sweats ride up my legs.
“Fine!” I shout, letting go of the blanket. He’s not ready and falls down, still pulling at it. “Take the blanket and leave me alone.” Scrambling under the sheet that’s left off the bed, I yank it back over my head.
I feel the bed slump again. “Jade, come on. What is going on? And FYI, you don’t stink, but you damn sure look like a mess.”
“Thank you,” I sarcastically reply. “I don’t want to talk about it. Would you just leave?”
“No.”
Even with the childish and somewhat humorous exchange we just had, I feel the emotion start to bottle up as my shoulders slump under the covers. “Please,” I whisper.
“What’s wrong? You know you can tell me. Did something happen at the meeting with Richards?”
I shake my head, then finally peek over the covers. Staring at him, gone is the rock star and bad boy of the band that he loves to act like so much. All that’s in front of me is my brother. “I … I don’t want to talk about it.”
He doesn’t move. He doesn’t even flinch. His forest green gaze meets my same colored eyes; the only things that are physically the same between us as twins. I feel the lump of emotion staying in place inside of me. “Jade,” he whispers.
