Reno didn’t believe him but took the phone anyway to give over Luka’s number. Luka would have to forgive him later for giving it to Arnaud without permission.
Arnaud took his phone back and finished Luka’s contact entry before saying, “I just think I should go with Luka to see who he’s hanging out with. Hey, wait—this means he’s stayed, doesn't it?”
Reno half smiled.“Sort of. He’s very sick and will miss the flight. He said he would figure out what to do later.”
“He is staying!” Arnaud celebrated, louder than Reno liked at the moment. “Even more reason to take the darling out clubbing. You’re sitting out of this one, mon ange?1.”
“I think if I saw her again, I would burst into tears.”
Arnaud stopped celebrating. “I won’t let her come near you.Jamais plus?2.”
“Okay.” Reno rubbed at his face, silently proud of himself for not being a mess of tears right then too.
“It won’t be like before.” Arnaud grabbed Reno’s ankle, sliding his fingers under pant fabric, and his hand was warm and grounding against Reno’s skin. “You have protections in place, you have us—even more than you did before—I don’t think the label will let your reputation take a hit like that again. You already proved to them that you were worth the risk; they took a chance on you and were rewarded for it. You have powerful friends and a powerful company behind you. Also, I think if my mom heard a peep from Joy’s direction again, she’d be on a flight here so fast it would be silly.”
“She can be scary.”
“Where do you think I get it from—mydad?” Arnaud smiled; his father was one of the most cheerful, laid-back people they knew. “You’re not nineteen anymore.”
“Luka called me old this morning.”
“Pft." Jaewon put his hand over his mouth, holding back a laugh. “What, did your back give out or something?”
“Knees, actually.” Reno groaned. “I fell asleep half on the couch and half on the floor and it took a long time to get my legs working.”
“Gatito?3, falling asleep in such strange ways.” Sebastian wrapped an arm around Reno’s shoulders and pulled him inclose. Reno let him, resting his head against his shoulder. “Let Arnaud work his magic.”
“I’m still worried. I might have protections in place from you, from work, from the law, but that doesn’t fully extend to Luka.” Reno tucked his feet up under him, curling into a ball. “It’s already bad enough my fans have gotten some pics of us that Sage had to take care of. Now, there was our run-in at the restaurant.”
Reno thought about the way Luka looked in the alley, how afraid and angry he’d been, even if he’d tried to hide it. Reno tugged on the ends of his hair, hating how his chest hurt more by the second.
He continued, his voice barely above a whisper, “Luka’s getting freaked out; he’s trying to act normal, but I can feel it is different now. We are still okay, but I don’t know how much longerhewill be okay.”
Arnaud’s fingers squeezed around Reno’s ankle tightly before letting go. He promised, “I’ll give him Amelia’s number when I see him. Make him text her. She can help him more than any of us can. In the meantime, just focus on helping him recover and try to channel some of this into a song.”
“You’ll have to give me a bit to get up to that,” Reno confessed, feeling miserable and still fighting nausea. “I don’t do angry as good as you all.”
“We can just jam for a bit. Get you in the mood. I got ideas.”
Reno eyed his guitar on the stand across the room and reached his hand out for it. Sebastian was quick to detach himself from Reno to fetch it, and while the weight of it in his hands and on his lap didn’t fix what was happening to Reno, a small part of him clicked back together.
He clipped the tuner to his guitar and finally uncurled himself to follow his friends into the practice room. His body ached from sleeping on the floor and from holding so muchtension throughout the morning. But when Jaewon immediately slammed into a grueling, fast-paced rhythm, Reno closed his eyes, listened to Arnaud scream like his heart would rip from his chest, and shredded his own soul alongside him like he was always meant to do.
Reno was pulling the protection from his ears when Kandi knocked on the practice room’s door. She didn’t give them her usual smile when she walked in. She set a bag of takeout from the coffee shop along with a gallon jug of iced coffee on the table before pointing at Reno.
“Come with me.”
Reno eyed the coffee. “Can I get that first?”
She sighed, in the long-suffering yet somehow kind way she did, and poured Reno a cup herself. She handed it to him and said, “Let's go.”
It wasn’t uncommon for Reno to be pulled from practice to deal with one thing or another. Usually, it was just scheduling, or picking brands to collaborate with, or handling requests from other musicians or booking management companies, but today, Kandi seemed anxious. After the morning Reno had already had, he wasn’t sure he was ready for whatever she was dragging him into.
They were on the elevator, the button for the executive offices pressed, before Kandi finally explained what was happening.
"Someone leaked that Luka is here with you, and we can’t control it," Kandi said. "This could push Sterling to consider cutting funds if they see you as a liability.”
The coffee was so bitter on his tongue—a liability. “What does that mean, you can’tcontrolit?”
