Page 29 of Before You Fell

The track starts low.

Guitar comes first.

Dirty from the first note. Cruz has dragged it out of the amp, rough and bleeding. Then Jett’s bass slides in beneath it. Jax follows with the drums and the whole track shifts.

It gets louder. The rhythm crawls through the room until the song has a pulse.

Phoenix closes his hand around the mic. He leans in, mouth too close to the mic, lashes lowered, that bored, arrogant expression still on his face as if the rest of us should thank him for bleeding into the song.

And then he sings.

“You looked prettier cruel than you ever did kind.

Another warm body you chose over mine.

I’m still on the floor with my hands and my pride.

Choking on someone who will never be mine”

Jax’s drumstick goes still against his knee.

Phoenix leans into the mic and continues singing the next verse.

“You remember me when everyone is gone.

Crawl back to my door when the feeling is done.

I’m still here waiting and holding my breath.

Choking on someone who burns like the sun”

Damon raises his hand so Phoenix can see it through the glass. “Stop.”

The music stops.

Phoenix pulls the headphones down around his neck and stares through the glass with the expression of a man who does not appreciate being interrupted.

“What.”

“That last line.” Damon leans into the console. “Do it again.”

Phoenix stares at him for a long moment. The kind of moment that has a point to make.

Then when the music comes back on, he puts on the headphones and leans back into the mic.

“Choking on someone who burns like the sun”

Jax rubs his jaw. “Fuck.”

Cruz looks down at the floor and mutters, “That’s brutal, Songbird.”

Jett keeps his gaze fixed on me. “Are you okay?”

I smile at him because I’d rather swallow glass than answer his questions. “I’m still standing.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“It is today.”