Page 71 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“Lyric Marie Ceran. What did you do?” Andi questioned, voice serious.

“You just middle-named me,” Lyric scoffed in disbelief.

“Don’t change the subject,” Andi snapped. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” she admitted quickly. “Nothing… bad. Just, surprising. Is it okay if I don’t tell you?”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t admit what had happened. She could admit it.

I slept with Emerson.

See? Easy.

But saying it out loud would make it more real, would make everything more real.

“I don’t know. Depends on what it is,” Andi drawled.

Lyric huffed out a laugh. “Funny. It’s already in the past, and everyone’s already forgotten about it anyway. Not even worth stressing over, I promise.”

A beep went off in the background of Andi’s call, and she sighed. “You were saved by the bell just now, literally. You’re a grown woman so I can’t tell you what to do, nor would I want to. You’re smart enough to figure out what’s an issue and what’s not. Good luck on stage tonight. And with whatever the ‘nothing’ is that you won’t tell me about. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Lyric responded. “Bye!”

After disconnecting the call, Lyric grumbled and stared down at her notebook. Andi’s words were worse than Henry’s.

But Lyric pushed the guilt, the uncertainty, and her worries aside, and put her pen to paper.

Of course everything she told Andi proved to be a lie when Lyric finally returned to the common area later that day.

Emerson was facing the television, controller in hand as he and Nohen battled it out in some fictional game.

“Hey, guys,” she greeted, ready for the day. After pouring her emotions into lyrics all day, she was refreshed and ready for anything.

Anything… except the black eye Emerson blinked in her direction after saying hello.

Lyric stared at his back as he turned to face the television again, shouting an obscenity at Nohen and pressing the buttons on the controller furiously. Had she imagined it?

Her steps were soft as she crossed the floor, but her touch as she gripped Emerson’s chin was sharp as she pulled his face around so she could see him. He stared up at her, confusion painting his features before he softened his expression. “Hello,” he murmured softly, arching one brow. “Can I help you?”

Narrowing her gaze, she traced every nuance of the discoloration around his eye. Her thumb brushed just under the bruise as she asked, “Who gave you that?”

Adra, Desi, and Henry had gone silent in the bus, and on the television, the game paused, sending everyone into quietness. The rumble of the road beneath the bus was white noise.

“I did it,” Nohen confessed softly.

Surprise filled Lyric, and she glanced to the beta with wide eyes before carrying her gaze back to the alpha.

“You gave him a black eye? Why?”

A deep, throaty chuckle came from Emerson, and Lyric jerked her hand back, afraid that touching him would somehow reveal how the sound affected her. How it made her stomach flutter.

“There might have been a bit of… miscommunication when I got back to the green room last night,” Emerson offered. He turned to Nohen with amusement on his face. “The kid’s got a nice right hook.”

“Oh… my god,” Lyric huffed, shaking her head.

“I thought he hurt you at first, and I might have overreacted,” Nohen explained further, tightening the knots in her stomach. The idea that she might have created tension between not only herself and Emerson, but the rest of the band too was too much to handle. “But we’re good. Now I’m just ready to kick his ass at this game just like I did in real life.”

Emerson scoffed and grabbed his controller. “Oh, please. If I hadn’t been so surprised it was you who came for me last night, you never would’ve gotten the chance.”