She looks between the stuffed fish and the goldfish bowl on the corner of my desk. “I’ve heard of a foot fetish. A fish fetish is new. I might have to usethat.”
“That’sHeath.”
“Heath,” sheechoes.
“Heathcliff. As inWuthering Heights.” My chest warms a little as I watch him blow his introspective little bubbles. “He’s from my friend Pen. She’s atColumbia.”
“Ahh. So, you do havefriends.”
I roll my eyes. “Some.”
“Well, I’ve got your back. Rae can do what shewants.”
A smile tugs at my lips. “Thanks.”
My gaze settles on the trunk at the foot of Rae’s bed, which I’ve yet to see her open. “Is it wrong to want a hint of herdamage?”
We look at the trunk, then eachother.
Elle runs her hand over the surface of the trunk, landing on the lock at the front. “Until last night when you stripped off all your clothes to get on stage, I had you pegged as a goodgirl.”
“I was. I grewup.”
She lifts a brow. “Doesn’t that mean the end of childishways?”
“No. It means accepting that we all do bad things for goodreasons.”
6
New York producesthe kind of cold that gets into your bones and won’tleave.
Today, New Yorkers brace against the fall wind with flipped collars oncoats.
I’m one of them as I get my motorcycle from the tiny spot I sublet for cheap in a parking garage around thecorner.
Then I head to a studio in Brooklyn to win my contractback.
“Zeke around?” I ask at the frontdesk.
“Not today,” the woman informs me with a half smile. “You’re in studiotwo.”
I brush off my disappointment as I head to the assigned studio. Inside, I shake hands with the band. As I get out my guitar and take a seat on the stool to tune it, the singer approachesme.
“We made some changes to the first track and added a couple new ones since we reached out to you.” He passes me his notes. “You need a minute to take alook?”
I scan the sheet. “No.”
“Yousure?”
I calmly look at him, then play the section with the changes. “We can do it like that. Or—” I redo it with some flourishes that elevate it. “Likethat.”
He claps a hand on my shoulder, grinning. “Let’s keep itsimple.”
When I came to New York last summer and signed with Zeke, I had a chance to be the one calling the shots. I fucked itup.
Jax wanted me to walk away from Annie and from Dallas so I could do somethinggreat.
I tried to throw myself into it, but right when I thought I was done with my father, he played one last card that pulled me away from the city and from my new gig for twoweeks.