I cock an eyebrow and fall back onto the bed closest to the door. “She’s on heels, McCrae, so please don’t make her jump and break her neck.”

While she’s tapping her foot impatiently, he stares in my direction, drinking in the sight of me on the bed, as he tells her, “Please don’t lose it this time.”

Jerking the key out of his hand, she rolls her light blue eyes. “What time are you and Cal playing tonight?”

It’s the first time I’ve heard her address Cal by his actual name.

Wyatt must also realize it because he grins. “I’ll text Kylie with the time.”

As soon as he leaves, she crawls onto my bed and collapses next to me. “You were so quiet the whole trip.”

“You were asleep most of the time, and besides, I was tired.”

I slept half the time on the way here, and the other half was spent texting back and forth with Sienna. She and Lucas are heading to my parents today as part of a documentary Lucas is taking part in, and she’s worried my mom and dad won’t like her. I told her the truth—if my parents accept and love Lucas and me with all our problems, then they’ll love her, too.  Of course, Sienna’s messages also tell me that she and Lucas have obviously gone beyond the boundaries of professionalism.

“I’ll be better after I get some sleep.”

“But are you okay?” Heidi asks.

I hate the way she says okay.

My face is numb as I shake my head. “I’m a wishy-washy mess.” I close my eyes and take a calming breath. When I glance at her again, Heidi’s lips are curled down into a frown. She places her head on my shoulder, and we both stare up at the ceiling. “So, no, I guess I’m not okay.”

“You will be.”

I know that I will eventually, and it’s for this reason that I bob my head slowly. “Thank you for coming with me.” I smile tentatively. “Even if the reason for my vacation showed up, and things went to shit.”

She grabs her chest theatrically and blinks back mock tears. “Thank you for still loving me after my douche bag one-night stand broke into our room and stole most of our crap.”

My shoulders relax, and a couple seconds later, I’m laughing, and so is she.

“At least, I still have my iPod. I can play good music while I starve.” As if on cue, my belly rolls. I skipped breakfast this morning, and I didn’t pick up anything at the convenience stores along the way.

“And apparently you are starving.” Heidi rolls onto her flat stomach and grabs a tall brochure off the nightstand. “Room service, it is.” She knows me like the back of her hand because she orders me a cheesesteak and fries, my favorite. When she’s done, she leaves my bed in favor of her own. As we wait for room service, she checks her voice mail to see if anyone from New Orleans has called about Shiner Bock.

They haven’t, and after she hangs up I clear my throat, getting her attention. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything.”

I bite my lip, hesitating, but when she nods her head to encourage me, I start, “You and Cal...have you ever—” My words are cut short when her face flushes bright red. My conflict with Wyatt is temporarily forgotten as I scramble into a sitting position. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

She lets her head loll off the bed. “Rock Fest, two years ago.”

“And?”

“Your Toxic Sequel’s show in Seattle last March.”

“And last night?”

Snorting, she gives me a look. “Um, no. I was staying with him because the guy I slept with the night before broke into our room. Hooking up with Cal so soon after that would have been awkward not to mention an open invitation for all kinds of drama.”

Good point. Still, with their outrageous bickering, I should have already known what was going on between them, and I mentally kick myself in the kneecap for failing to notice. “And you’re just now telling me?”

She shrugs. “You never asked.”

Chapter Seven

It’s eight thirty in the evening on the dot, and I’m dragging a striped, nautical print T-shirt over my head when my iPhone starts ringing from its spot on the dresser. “Shit,” I snap as I shimmy the close-fitting top down my torso and over my belly button. Stepping over a small pile of Heidi’s shoes, I snatch up the phone just before my ringtone, Chevelle’s “I Get It,” moves to my favorite part of the song, the line about living in an imaginary life.

I flip the phone right side up and mutter a soft curse when I see that it’s my brother calling. After sliding my finger across the screen to accept the call, I tuck the phone between my ear and shoulder. “About damn time.”

“I’ve been fucking busy, Ky. Sorry I haven’t called you back.” His voice is so strained that I immediately feel for him. “Besides, you said you wanted to be left alone while you were gone.”

Before I left Nashville to go to New Orleans, I told him that I would quit if he so much as bothered me while I was away. I made a few more threats, but of course, he merely brushed them off.

“Since when do you give a crap whether or not I want to be left alone?”

“Since I decided I don’t want to be bothered either.”

Well played, big brother.

“Right...Sienna.” I lean close to the mirror to determine if I want to spring for makeup tonight. One look at the dark smudges under my brown eyes is all the convincing I need. “How’s that going?”

“She’s good.”

Leave it to Lucas to tiptoe around my question. He knows that I have a soft spot for her. There are few people I want to see at the receiving end of his bullshit, but Sienna’s one of the people that I would actually step in front of to protect from my brother. I told Lucas as much when he first realized that he had a potential second chance with her.

“She’s got everything taken care of here,” he assures me.

I bet she does. “Don’t fuck things up with her,” I warn.

He sucks in a breath. “Jesus, Kylie, stop that shit.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I know. Stay out of your personal life. I get it.”

When I hear a shuffling noise across the room, I look up to see Heidi in a giant robe, padding out of the bathroom. As she wraps a towel around her wet hair, her eyes find mine in the dresser mirror. She shifts one of her eyebrows curiously.

I turn my head around to face her. “It’s my brother.”

“Finally.” She grabs her underwear and a bundle of clothes from her bed before returning to the restroom.

Focusing my attention back on Lucas, I ask, “How was the thing with Mom and Dad today?” While I wait for him to respond, I put my phone on speaker and leave it on the dresser, so I can finish getting ready.  It’s eight thirty-five now, and Wyatt and Cal’s set with the band is supposed to start in twenty-five minutes. If I’m going to make it on time, I’ll have to rush.

“It was alright, I guess. I mean, it’s a fucking documentary about music. I don’t really know why they wanted to talk to Mom and Dad, but I guess they were happy to see me.”

Of course, our parents were happy to see him. Neither of us returns home to Atlanta enough, so my mother and father roll out the red carpet each time we decide to make an appearance. Compared to Wyatt, who rarely mentions his childhood or his parents, Lucas and I are fortunate. I didn’t realize that for years because I had spent so long feeling like I was the kid my parents never wanted. I’d forced myself to believe that until I made myself physically sick.

But I’m lucky.

And I haven’t smothered myself with that type of poison for a long time.

I clear my throat a few times, hoping it will relieve the tightness in the back of my mouth. “I’m so glad it went okay.”

“Remind me why you wanted to let a film crew follow me around again,” Lucas complains.

I can easily imagine the look on his face right now, with his jaw clenched and lips pressed thin.