Page 182 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

She couldn’t lie to herself anymore. Now that Lyric had bonded with Adra and Emerson, she realized she wanted a connection with each of them in the same way. She wanted them all and she couldn’t help herself.

Just the imagery of watching them walk away was enough to make her heart pause. And while she didn’t know exactly what it looked like—buying a house together? Renting an apartment together? Getting out of the brownstone?—she knew that Adra, Emerson, and Nohen would be there.

But what about Javi and Henry, and even Desi?

Well, I’ve already broken my biggest rule. What are a few more?

Lyric chuckled to herself and looked up at the clouds, the skeletal hands of the trees reaching for each other like forbidden lovers.

What would happen if Lyric just… let it happen?

Her heart skipped a beat.

Was she finally willing to let go of all of the rules she’d stacked up around herself like armor?

Lyric’s pulse raced as she considered the possibility.

Lyric frowned as she envisioned her brownstone, awaiting her to fill its empty space. The thought of returning to the apartment didn’t seem normal to her anymore.

No, her new normal consisted of shouted curses as colorful racing carts zipped around a pixelated track, her own cheers filling in the background. It consisted of Henry’s stupid safety rules, and Adra’s frustrated hums as he sketched, erased, and grumbled some more. Javi’s constant tinkering in the kitchen and searching up new recipes, asking her opinion on flavors and tastes.

It was noise and color and affection and… passion. So much passion.

Her empty brownstone seemed lackluster in comparison.

At the end of it all, she didn’t want to go back to normal. But she also… Lyric recognized she couldn’t make herself jump in head first either.

Little late for that. Bonded, remember?

Just because she was bonded didn’t make all her issues go away. It wasn’t a magical Band-Aid over all the fucked up issues she had in her head.

Her gaze landed on the side of the bus, and she watched a shadow pass behind the blinds.

“What am I doing?” she asked herself, the words leaving her lips in a puff of white.

Lyric was trying to make a decision by herself when she had an entire bus full of support just waiting for her to ask for help.

And for the first time, she didn’t see it as a bad thing that they were ready to help her. Because she realized they didn’t expect her to need help, but they were there, ready to offer it to her if she wanted it.

And right then?

She did want it. Completely.

Lyric stood, brushed the leaves off her butt, and turned to head toward the bus. Toward her… pack.

A smile grew on her lips as she rolled the word over in her mind.

They were her—

A rustle of leaves caught her attention, and she jerked her head around to stare at the woods. Nothing but trees and the underbrush, the moonlight peeking through the branches.

She turned back to the front, the hotel lights bright and beckoning, the rumble of the bus even closer.

Movement caught her eye to the left, and she slowly stepped forward. “Okay, I know the buddy system is your rule and all, but this is taking it to another level if you’re out here, Henry,” Lyric said dryly, her heart rate picking up. She talked mostly to alleviate her own growing anxiety. Even if it was a prank, or a terribly timed attempt to keep an eye on her, Lyric was running for it.

Sure, if it was Nohen or someone Henry had sent to keep an eye on her, she might feel silly later, but better to feel silly than to feel a whole lot of dead, or worse.

Henry’s updates about the sex trafficking ring suddenly echoed in her head, and her heart rate skyrocketed.