Maeve
“Don’t kill me.”
I held my phone between my shoulder and my ear while I did some last-minute packing. “Why would I kill you?”
“Well, there was a minor miscommunication,” Yael said.
“Okay...why does it sound like I might really want to kill you when you tell me what the miscommunication is?”
“You know how Alex is giving you a ride down to Baltimore…”
I frowned. “Yeah...he’s pickin’ me up in an hour.”
I’d spent the last three days running around like a maniac. I had to prepare for the next three months of my life, which included handing in my notice to Carlos—that hadn’t sucked too bad—and packing just enough to get by, but not enough for the guys to hate me for bringing too much on the road with me. On top of that, I’d been teaching myself all Unrequited’s songs, which wasn’t easily accomplished in a city apartment. Thankfully, Haven always knew someone who knew someone, and she’d gotten me hooked up with a temporary practice space.
“Here’s the miscommunication part. Alex is already in Baltimore. For some reason, he thought he was picking you uptomorrowto take you to rehearsal. How that made sense to him when you’ll be staying with me and I’ll be able to drive you, I don’t know.”
I plopped down on the corner of my bed. “Well, shit. How is that your fault, though? I mostly want to kill Murray.” I couldn’t call him Alex, even when I was talking to Yael. He would always be Murray to me.
In my head, I was already going over the train schedule. I’d been looking forward to kicking back in Murray’s car while he drove us south, but I’d ridden the train before. I could do it again. But then I started calculating how much cash I had, trying to figure out if I could trim my already tight budget to afford a last-minute train ticket.
“I arranged a different ride for you,” Yael said, interrupting my thoughts.
“Mo?”Oh, please, please, PLEASE let it be Mo.
“No, Mo drove down with me yesterday. Santi is on his way to get you. He should be there pretty soon.”
I wished I could sink all the way into the floor and become one with the parquet. Five hours in a car with Santiago Garza would be torture. Awkward, silent, torture.
Bright side, at least I’d be saving money I couldn’t really afford to spend. But Santi would probably make me pay for gas, considering he was a dick.
Liam rapped his knuckles on my door frame. I held up a finger to indicate I’d be a minute while I said goodbye to Yael, silently cursing the day she was born.
When I hung up and flopped back on my bed with a loud groan, Liam laid next to me. “Got problems, angel?” he asked.
“Are we sure I need to be joinin’ a successful rock band? Can’t I just stay in Brooklyn, scrounging for money, gettin’ my ass felt up every other night at a job I hate?”
He chuckled. “Did you just answer your own question?”
I scrubbed my hands over my face, groaning again. Then I peeked out between my fingers, getting a good look at Liam’s sweet, smiling face. “I’m going to miss you and Haven, you know that?”
He lifted my hands from my face and booped my nose. “It’s not like you’re moving to another planet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Haven did that one day, but not you. We’ll visit. And you’ll be back.”
I kept telling myself I’d be back, but would I? If this worked out, wouldn’t I want to move close to the rest of the band? It felt like the end of an era right now, so all the excitement was also tinged with sadness.
A throat cleared. “Grumpy, sexy rocker alert. Approach is imminent.”
I raised my head to see Haven in my doorway, and behind her was a scowly Santi, gazing at the man lying next to me on my bed like he was soon to be his latest murder victim.
“You’re here,” I said, ever the observant one.
His flinty eyes shifted to me. “Are you ready? I’m double parked, so we need to hit the road,” he groused, like this was all a massive inconvenience.
I sat up fully, blowing my hair off my face. Liam sat up next to me, slinging his arm over my shoulder. “I’m ready. I wasn’t expecting you for a bit, otherwise I would’ve been waitin’ downstairs.”
He grumbled under his breath. “Got a bag I can carry?”
When I didn’t immediately answer, he ended up taking all three of my bags, lifting them like they were full of doll clothes.