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“You ever meet someone? And they just …” His pause hangs in the air like hope, dangling there for anyone to reach up and pray he’s talking about them. “Change your fucking life?”
“Nope!” I wrap up the enthralled bestie and her distracted sister in my arms, pulling them to the nearest exit to cut off the heartbreak before it gets any worse.
Last time it took weeks to get Aria back. She wasn’t the same when she left the photo shoot, something that we’d intended on being a beacon of hope in a grey time for her that turned into a fucking mess.
She came out better than ever, taking a chance with her passion and all, but I’d rather not have her go through more bullshit to keep it.
She deserves better than a lie.
Aria opened her own damn online boutique with her creations even if she refuses to call it that, got her sister into a bigger studio, and moved into the open space next to my chair.
I’m not losing the only family I’ve got.
“Hey!” They both chastise me when we make it into the damp alley at the side of the building, Aria smacking my bicep, Aurora huffing with her hands going to her hips.
“What?” I snap more than I’d intended, knowing that what came out of Rex’s mouth next was not going to go well.
I can hear it now—he met a girl, fell in love, is getting married. Or some other heartbreaking bullshit.
Blah Blah Blah.
But I know it’s not my bestie and she’s gonna get better than anything that liar could give her.
“What the hell, C!” I scoff, but corral the two ladies closer to the opening of the alleyway, and to the public, further away from the company we’ve found ourselves in.
Dark alley outside a bar during a huge rock show is not a good place for pretty girls like them. I didn’t think that part through when I dragged them out here. I was focused on getting the fuck out the closest exit before Rex fucking Thompson broke my best friend.
Again.
The ratty looking group of guys drifts closer, but as we edge to the busy sidewalk, they fall back into the shadows where they came from.
Thank fuck.
“Let’s go somewhere else.” I respond as if that’ll appease them, but all I get back is arches in their sculpted brows and popped hips.
“What are you talking about?”
“Hell no, you love As Above.”
I’m not quite sure why Aurora is rejecting the idea, but I suspect she wants the comments to be about her sister. Or maybe she was looking forward to grinding on Jonathon.
We’ll never know though, because we’re not going back in there. Not a fucking chance.
“No readmittance, ladies.” Heady grip on their wrists, I start dragging them down the road in hopes of catching a cab or coming across another bar. We wade through people selling band merch, loitering at a chance to buy or sell scalped tickets, and make it to the next block over before neon signs start illuminating the crowd.
“Cedar, stop.” Aria yanks her wrist from my grip as we approach the next crosswalk with a hundred other people in tow. We jam up the foot traffic, but I don’t much care about them and their dirty looks. “What’s the deal?” I shake my head but push us off to the side when one too many shoulders brush against me, the bass from the show still vibrating the street.
Knowing I made the right call, I look up at the brick wall next to me, barely registering the wall of windows exposing the storefront inside, and try to work through in my head how to answer the questions.
“Cedar.” Aurora shakes herself from my grasp I didn’t realize was still connected and rubs at my forearm. She means well, I know she does, but it doesn’t stop me from snapping again.
“None of us would have benefitted from hearing what the fuck he had to say.” I shake my head when heads whip to me from passerby’s and lean against the wide window with a foot cocked up on the glass.
Somebody’s gonna have to clean that tomorrow.
“You’re right.” Aria concedes and lounges next to me. “I know you like them, though. Not fair to you to miss out on a show because of me.”
“Don’t fall on your sword, Ari.” She shrugs, her doe eyes meeting mine in apology. I muss her already messy hair to break the tension building between us, pressure in my chest beginning its decent.
