“Just in public. For the cameras.”
“While Sydney glares at me like I stole her favorite toy? While your band looks at me like I’m a problem to solve? While my brother hides in headphones because the world got too loud?”
He stopped pacing. “I don’t know what else to do, Hadley. Ron says if we annul right now it looks like a cover-up. Fans will riot. Sponsors will pull. The label will lose their minds. Two weeks. That’s it.”
“Two weeks of lying.”
“Two weeks of surviving.”
I crossed my arms. “And what do I get? Besides a roof over our heads and food I didn’t pay for?”
“Security. Money. Whatever you need for your brother. Meds. School stuff. Rent. Name it.”
“I don’t want your money. I want my life back.”
He looked at me then...really looked. “I know I fucked this up. I know I hurt you. I know I hurt him.” He nodded toward the bedroom. “I saw the way he looked at me earlier. Like I was gonna hurt you. Like I was the bad guy. And he’s right. I was.”
Silence stretched. Thick.
“I don’t know how to fix it,” he said finally. Quiet. “I’m not good at this. At… people. At fixing shit. I usually just leave. But I can’t leave this time. Not without making it worse.”
I stared at the carpet. “You already made it worse.”
“I know.”
Another beat.
“Why’d you even say yes?” I asked. “In the chapel. Why didn’t you stop?”
He swallowed. “I don’t remember most of it. Just… you laughing. You looking at me like I wasn’t a headline. Like I was just a guy. It felt… good. For once.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Before I could figure it out, the bedroom door creaked wider.
Eli stood there, one headphone dangling off his ear. Eyes wide. Scared.
“Why’s the man yelling?” he asked. Voice small.
I crossed the room in two steps, knelt in front of him. “He’s not yelling at you, bud. He’s just… talking loudly. Grown-up stuff.”
Eli looked past me at Cal. “He’s mad.”
“He’s not mad at you.”
Eli’s hands started twisting the hem of his shirt. “I don’t like loud.”
“I know.” I pulled him into a hug. He let me. Buried his face in my shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
Cal stayed where he was. Watching. Face pale. Like he’d just been slapped.
I rubbed Eli’s back in slow circles. “Go back to your trains. I’ll be right there. Promise.”
He nodded against me. Put the headphone back on. Shuffled to the bed. Curled up small.
I stood. Turned to Cal.
He hadn’t moved.
