My life changed direction, but I’m back here.
Why am I back here, staring at the path I left behind?
I inhale strongly.
Harriet not only plays well—she plays with desperation.
Tom leans forward, eager and excited. When she finishes, he asks me, “Do you have her application?” since I’m holding the tablet.
I come over to him. He’ll find out soon enough.
Tom skims her credentials. “Harriet, right?”
“Yeah.” She comes to the edge of the stage. “I, um, left some stuff blank, but I’m good. Better than anyone else here.”
Drummers cough in the back rows, pissed at Harriet.
She’s nervous again. “So what do you say?”
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
Tom scrapes a hand over his face. He slumps down and mutters something like, “Of course this happens.” To Harriet, he says, “It’s not just up to me. The label doesn’t want the legal liability of hiring a minor right now. Sorry—there’s nothing I can do.”
I didn’t know that.
She glares at her feet, stuffs her drumsticks in her back pocket, and rushes out the door as other drummers boo her.
“Who’s booing?” Tom stands up, turning to the audience. “Dude, you—you did that? Out. Get him out.” He’s talking to his bodyguard.
Ian Wreath goes and starts escorting assholes out of the theatre through a fire exit.
Excited squeals come from the double-doored entrance towards the back of the theatre. Quinn squeezes his way through. Girls pull at his jacket like a rock god just appeared.
“He’s hot but…whoa, they’re all over him.” Frog sips her coffee like she’s watching a movie.
He shuts the door, closing them out, then descends the aisle towards the stage.
Towards me.
I notice the piece of paper in Quinn’s hand, grin blinding as he approaches. “Akara.” He’s so excited, I can easily guess what happened.
“Farrow cleared you?” I ask.
“150%.” He hands me the sheet of paper.
Frog eyes him like she’s trying to solve a riddle. “What are you like extra good in bed or something?”
He flushes, caught off guard.
I make a face like I sucked on a lemon. “Frog.”
“What?” She frowns. “It was an honest question. I’m a virgin, if you want to know.”
“I do not want to know.” Eff my life.
Quinn tells her, “That’s cool.”
No.
It’s not cool.
“He has a girlfriend,” I tell my cousin.
Frog gives me a look like I’m being weird. Right, I don’t need my cousin (who is also a temp that is around the main roster way too much) to be involved with one of them. Not that there are many single guys left.
Quinn (taken).
Gabe (single).
Donnelly…don’t think about it.
I don’t want to know what Donnelly is up to.
Don’t need to know.
Yes, you do, Nine.
I realize if this has anything to do with why Donnelly has been tattooing more—I should know. I haven’t pried too hard, but if he’s in trouble…?
I want to protect him.
He should be a bigger priority. He’s SFO. He’s one of my men. He’s a friend. He’s been there for me as backup while Sulli is being hounded. I need to be there for him.
I focus back on Quinn and smile. “Welcome back, Quinn.”
He’s grinning. “Where am I going?”
That…
“I still have to figure out transfers. I’ll work it out tomorrow.” I pat his arm, and then Tom goes and talks with Luna and Sulli (they’re safe). He’s speaking fast, and they’re gesturing over to me.
I frown as Tom approaches. “Akara?”
“Yeah?”
Frog slurps on her coffee.
“There is a high probability I might not find a drummer today, but Luna and Sulli said you can play.”
“I’m a bodyguard—”
“Just for Summer Fest,” Tom interjects fast. “Dude, please. It’s the biggest music festival in Philly.”
I haven’t played in years.
Shoot, there’s no way I’d even reach his standards.
But Tom says, “I trust you—you’re dating my cousin, and that’s already a leg up on everyone else. So what do you say?” He’s wincing like preparing for an impact. If Eliot were here, I’m sure he’d be hanging onto his brother’s arm with added dramatics.
I eye the drumkit. My dad would’ve never wanted me to let something I love go, but grief wouldn’t let me return. And I think I’m finally ready to embrace what I lost again.
I nod. “Let me audition first.”
He does.
And when I’m behind the snare, when I touch the kickstand, the beat pumps through me, and rhythm is engrained in me. I play with a smile. I bang each drum like the music never left. Like it’s always been there, waiting.
“That’ll work,” Tom says with a deep exhale when I jump off the stage.
Sulli is smiling, and I’m about to playfully sneak up around her, just to lick her cheek—when my phone buzzes.
I dig out my phone and check the message.
Don’t worry about coming to Queens. We can chat later on the phone. I think I’d prefer that. Tell Sulli that I said hi. I love you, Nine. – Mom
She doesn’t want me to see her.
I’m not surprised. The entire reason she left Philly was to be away, so I don’t have to worry. Me visiting more often isn’t what she’s desired, and I’m going to respect that. But I feel better knowing I tried.
49
BANKS MORETTI
“Come join the party,” I urge my mopey, stressed-out metamour. Akara scribbles a bunch of lines across a sheet of paper, crumpled up balls already strewn across the room.
When we officially moved into Sulli’s room after the Olympics, Sulli and I bought this white oak desk and pushed it up underneath the window. That way when Akara works he can at least have the best view in the room.
He shakes his head and balls up another sheet of paper.
“If I’d known you would glue your ass to this desk, Sulli and I would have never bought it for you.”
“Just give me ten minutes.”
“That’s what you said twenty minutes ago, man,” I refute and wave a hand towards the papers. “All this shit will work itself out in the morning.”
He laughs dryly. “It won’t. Now that Quinn is ready to come back, I have to figure out transitions on the team. And I have to find a new manager to handle an overcrowded gym. And the baby still needs a fudging bodyguard.”
Yeah.
I heard that conversation during the last security meeting.
Went something like this:
Akara: Baby still needs a bodyguard.
Oscar: Babies. Redford is having another one.
Farrow: Okay, but Maximoff and I aren’t the only fuckers here having kids, and yet, we’re being pressured like hell.
Thatcher: I’m putting temps on my baby, and I’m guessing Akara and Banks will do the same.