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“Why? It’s Serge. He’s, like, the easiest person to talk to.”
“Has he said anything about me coming?” I asked, hopeful.
Her lips thinned. “No. But he asked about you a few times.”
“Well, what did you say?” I said impatiently.
“Just that you were doing better.”
“That’s it?” I wrung my hands.
“It’s more what he hasn’t said. He hasn’t been his usual golden-retriever self. Just does his job and reads his books.”
“Gah. I broke him.”
Mish picked up her phone, gnawing her lip between her teeth. “Elle needs us back inside. Just talk to him. But maybe wait until after the show. If he fucks up on stage, your sister and Connor will have his balls.”
Fifty-Six
Sergio
I walked off the stage and toward the bus as soon as they cleared me from soundcheck. Cee was arriving today, and I didn’t know what to expect. Would she greet me like an old friend? Ignore me? Should I casually say ‘hi’ and then pretend like she wasn’t there?
Pull her into my arms and never let her go?
Probably not that last one, even if that was the option I wanted to choose. Instead, I was hiding on a tour bus like a coward until I had to be backstage to sign autographs before the show.
When my phone buzzed with the alert that it was time to go, I had to push down my nerves. If just the sound of her voice every day made me feel so off-balance, what was seeing her going to be like?
As I entered the green room, I looked around for her. I was both relieved and disappointed when I didn’t see her. Instead, Elle immediately ushered me over to a group of fans. I fell into the routine of meeting them and signing the various items they brought.
As Elle was leading the group out of the room with the help of Beth, Cee walked in with Mish. Holy shit, she’s even more beautiful than I remembered.
She looked so much better than the day I found her on that bathroom floor. Healthy. Alive. Maybe even happy. Certainly not the fake-happy look she tried to pull off on our last tour, but a genuine air of contentment seemed to surround her.
I inhaled deeply. It was the first time I had done so without my chest constricting since I’d left her in that hospital room. Even if we never regained a friendship, I was just so damn relieved to see her acting more like the Cee I knew before Eli’s accident. This small win was enough for me if it had to be.
Fuck, I needed her.
Cee caught me staring and gave a wide smile as Mish led her over to grab water. A smile. That was a good sign, right? Was it an invitation to talk to her? Could I even do that without vomiting every thought I hadn’t been able to tell her for the last six months?
What had this woman done to me?
I didn’t get to talk to her before I went onstage, but seeing her watch me from the wings gave me the warm fuzzy feeling I had only read about in my romance novels.
Oh shit.
Because she was there, I may have done my personal best at showing off. I walked off the stage in nothing but my shorts, covered in sweat. The adrenaline high had my confidence soaring, and I didn’t think twice about going right up to Cee and turning on the charm. “Hey, pretty lady! Enjoy the show?”
She smiled up at me. “Man, I’ve missed the high of a concert. You guys were on fire!”
“Damn right!”
“Go shower before my sister kicks your ass. You have some meet and greets. We can catch up later.”
I lost track of Cee for the next two hours. There was an after party to go to, but I wasn’t sure if she would be there. I wanted to be where she was. As the adrenaline from the show wore off, my confidence waned, and self-doubt crept in.
Our interaction after the show was normal, right? We were friends, right? Had I misread the whole thing?
