AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I intendedto make sure that Reed followed through on the promise he’d made at his band’s concert. To that end, I’d set a variety of my assistants calling him daily until he had scheduled a visit.
The day had now arrived, and I went to meet him off the private jet, having confirmed with the staff that he had boarded at the other end. He struggled off the jet wearing an oversized hiking backpack, looking for all intents and purposes like he was about to go into the woods, not stay for one night at my luxury apartment.
I grinned as he approached. “You made it.”
“Couldn’t exactly not come, could I?” He was grumbling, but I could tell it was in good nature. He was remarkably similar all these years since we’d parted. “Just exactly how many people have you got employed to wipe your ass, eh?”
“None.” I winked. “They do it for free.”
“Y’always were a freak.” Reed clapped me on the back. It was nice – I’d missed this. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”
We went back to my apartment for coffee before deciding what to do with our day.
“Fuckin’ hell.” Looking around the swanky apartment, Reed, predictably, had a similar look to Luna’s when she’d been on the private jet. They shared a disgust at wealth, possibly stemming from being stung by me in the past just before I’d become extremely wealthy.
“Yeah, yeah. Let me know when you’re done shuddering at my hideous wealth and good charms and I’m sure the coffee will be ready by then.”
We drank coffee on the balcony and made small talk. The kind of small talk Reed and I had used to have, which was a kind of lazy banter, insulting each other back and forth.
My phone pinged with a message from Luna – a reply to one I’d sent earlier checking in with her.
Luna:Yeah, I’m good thanks
Luna:Got home safely etcetera
Luna texted how she talked – fairly abruptly. I smiled to myself.
Reed was curious. “What’re you smiling at? Who’s that you’re texting? One of your bimbos?”
“No.” I put my phone down. “It’s Luna, actually. I think you know she’d object quite strongly to being called a bimbo. Especially one ofmybimbos.”
Reed put down his coffee. “You’re in touch with Luna again?”
I smiled. I knew that’d get his attention. “Yeah, only recently. It’s a long story.” Did I feel bad for slightly using her as a pawn in my plans for Reed? Not really, no. It wasn’t as if that were one of the main reasons I was messaging her – it just happened to be a nice side effect.
“Dang. She forgiven you?”
I shook my head. “You know her better than that. I’ve got trials to undertake before she’d even think about forgiving me, I’m sure.”
“That woman knows how to hold a grudge. Damn, I miss her. Tried to keep in touch, but you know what she’s like. Hard to pry the thoughts out of her brain.”
I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. Before he could ask any more questions, I stood up. “Alright. We’ve got a whole day. Anything you want to do in New York City, we can do.”
Reed kind of groaned. “I’m not a tourist. Honestly, if yer looking to convince me to get the band back together, or something like that... let’s do the whole nostalgia trip. Hell, let’s get out all the old concert footage and spend a day watching it. See if it sparks anything.”
My heart warmed. I’d not thought of that, but now that he said it, that was exactly how I’d like to spend the day, too.
“Hang on, then. Let me order in the popcorn. And we can get takeout for every meal.”
“Perfect.” Reed sighed. “I’m dead tired after that tour. If you tell me I can do part of the reunion concert sitting down, I’m in. Being a frontman’s a hard job. When you’re not out of your mind on drink and drugs and whatever hadyougoing back in the day.”
“Hey. It’s a hard job being that cool, too. Don’t you go comparing now.”
As promised,we spent the day watching oldNeedleheadconcert footage, everything we had in the archives. There was even footage in there of a bunch of our practices. We saw everything – the arguments, the love-ins, the musical breakthroughs, the brilliance, and the horror. My heart lurched every time I saw myself acting up. I knew I’d been playing it up, trying to drive everyone away, but it had hurt to do it, and it didn’t hurt any less watching it back.
Reed noticed I was wincing and paused the footage. “Hey. You safe?”
I exhaled. “I don’t know if you know what was going on back then. Why I, um, acted so badly.”
