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Henn sighs. “I get it. I’m sorry. I think maybe the difference is that the thing with Jonas happened before I’d even met you, and Mrs. Morgan blabbed to me tonight. Do you see what I mean? So, yeah, it popped into my head to tell you what Mrs. Morgan said, whereas telling you about something that happened before we ever met never even crossed my mind.”
Angus’s face pops into my head and I quickly shove him away. “That makes sense,” I concede. “I guess the thing that hurts my feelings the most is when it feels like everyone else in our friend group knows something and assumes I already know it, too. That’s happening in present day for me, even if the thing they know about happened before we met.”
“Okay, that’s fair. I guess if T-Rod knows about this, then it’s only fair you should, too.”
“It’s not about fairness. It’s about intimacy. I don’t like feeling like you’re keeping me in the dark about stuff and then I have to pretend we’re closer than we are to save face.”
“We are close, love. I love you with all my heart and soul. You don’t believe that?”
“I do. And I love you, too. But I think we’ve both got a ways to go to build full trust. The kind where you know you can say anything, no matter what, without holding back.”
Well, that arrow hit the bull’s-eye. It’s written all over Henn’s face. With a sigh, he lies back down. This time, on his side. With a sigh, I assume the same position, so we’re now lying nose to nose on the moonlit bed.
“Okay, here’s the story,” he whispers. “This is highly confidential. For your ears only.”
My skin electrifies. “I’ll never tell a soul.”
Henn proceeds to tell me the story, which in summary is that, when Jonas signed up for a high-end dating service, he unexpectedly received an anonymous email from someone at the service in response to his detailed application. Henn doesn’t know what the anonymous email said, exactly, but whatever it was, Jonas was hooked like a fish on a line when he read it. Henn says, “Somehow, Jonas was positive it was written by a woman—a smart, sexy, sassy one.”
“Enter Sarah.”
“Yep. Josh called me and told me his brother was obsessed with finding the sender of an anonymous email. And, of course, I’ll always do anything for Josh. First off, I traced the sender’s IP address, and found out it was linked to the University of Washington’s system. Which meant the sender was a student or employee there. Based on some verbiage in the email, Jonas deduced the sender was probably a law student, and he also figured out the sender’s first name was Sarah. So, bada-bing-bada-boom, I did a little internet research, and next thing you know, I’d tracked down a law student at U Dub named Sarah Cruz.”
I clutch my heart, swooning. “And now, thanks to you, Sarah Cruz is Sarah Faraday!”
“Well, I only led the horse to water,” Henn says. “Once she got there, Jonas had to convince her to drink.”
I laugh with glee. “Oh, Henny. That’s such a romantic story. Thank you for telling me.” I lean in to kiss him, but Henn pulls back. I crinkle my brow. “What?”
“I feel like I should tell you something else. The whole truth about the favor I did for Reed. Now that I’ve told you what I did for Jonas, I should tell you that story, too.” Henn swallows hard. “This most definitely isn’t my secret to tell, so you can’t tell anyone, ever.”
“I won’t.”
“Not even if we break up and you hate my guts.”
“I could never hate you, Henn. And I promise, no matter what, I’ll never tell.”
Henn props his cheek on his palm and smiles. “Reed didn’t ask me to do this favor. Didn’t even know I did it, until much later. But I knew he’d put everything on the line for his first band. I knew it was make or break for him. Do or die. If his first band’s debut single flamed out and sank like a stone, Reed would lose everything, and I couldn’t let that happen. So, I gamed some algorithms during release week on the song, made sure the music video racked up huge views during its first twenty-four hours.” He snickers. “Radio stations took notice of this new band’s debut music video racking up millions of views in lightning speed, so they started playing the song, which then meant listeners were downloading and streaming it in droves, which sent the song to the top of the charts that week, which then launched the band—and Reed’s label—into the stratosphere.” He snickers. “And the rest is history.”
I gasp. “You’re talking about Red Card Riot?” They’re one of the hottest bands in the world these days, and I think they were River Records’ first band.
