“Ha.” Braden was pretending to hit the air, his head moving up and down, in rhythm with the music playing in the background. “You guys hold the fort down. We’ll represent nationally.”
The teasing, going back and forth was good-natured, but as Elijah and Emerson both looked towards me, I felt a serious undertone slide into place. The group felt it, too, and everyone grew quiet for a split moment. Then Emerson said to me, “You’ll do great, Bri. I got a pass from treatment. They didn’t know I was coming here, but I had to come and say thanks.”
I was in the band. He was not, but he wasn’t talking about that.
Feeling my throat swell up, I murmured, “Yeah. You’d have done the same…” My sentence hung in the air. No one commented, then everyone started laughing.
Emerson shook his head, grinning. “No. No, I don’t think I would’ve. I was an asshole to you.” His eyes skirted from Elijah to Luke who was standing behind me with a hand on my hip. “I love these guys. Even if I don’t show it, I do, and I thought you were hurting them on purpose. I was wrong.” His gaze lingered on Luke. “I learned more about what you had to do, and anyway, I’m sorry.”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who told him. Leaning back against Luke, his arm moved around me, and some of those nerves started to melt away. “Thank you, Emerson.” I meant it. My cousin was back. He was the cousin I always loved and who had loved me back. Glancing to Braden, who was watching the whole thing, I felt everything click into place. This moment was right. My family was here. Even our mom had been ushered to the dressing room earlier to wish me good luck.
I was ready for that stage.
As if he felt it too, Luke’s hand slid down my arm, and his fingers entwined with mine.
I looked up over my shoulder. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry about it. You’re mine and I want everyone to know.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but it eased my calm into excitement. I was about to go and play with him. Hearing the crowd’s chant of ‘Sustain’, instead of imagining their rejection, I let their cheers meld with me. They were buzzing. So was I. I started to feel the adrenalin in my body. My blood began boiling and the itch to slam my drumsticks down was beginning to fill me up.
I was nearing that intoxicated state. I was addicted. As Elijah and Emerson said their goodbyes and headed for their seats, Luke led the way, holding my hand. Right before we took the stage, I tried to pull my hand free.
He tightened his hold.
We were announced next and then, flashing me a grin, he led me out onto the stage. Walking out to the deafening sound of their cheers, I didn’t care that they saw us holding hands. Luke was right. They’d either love me or hate me. I wasn’t going to hold anything back. If I heard any boos, I wouldn’t care. Every cell in my body was ready to play. Hopping up onto my seat, I got ready. No matter what happened, no matter who came against us, no matter the fights between us, I knew we would be fine. We’d sustain, but now—I raised my drumsticks in the air. Luke looked back and nodded, and I slammed down on the bass—now, I was content to kick ass.
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Coming soon, Elijah!
Oh my word. This book took forever and an entire team of people to help me with it. Thank you to Jay McLean for being the first person excited about this and chatting with me late at night over it. Thanks to my beta Celeste, for really taking the hammer to me in the very beginning. She pushed me to make it better, which resulted in a whole other version of the book. Thank you to all my betas: Heather, Cami, Eileen, and Kerri. I always drop things in your inboxes and you guys help me out, no matter what it is or even if it makes no sense! Thank you, thank you to always being honest. Then another big wave of thanks to my editors: Ami at aldjediting.net, Paige, Marla at proofingstyle.com, and Chris at parececonsulting.com. To Debra Anastasia for reading Sustain and letting me know I’m not insane at times and to Kelly and Teresa. I dropped stuff in your inboxes so much. Thank you for looking it over and reassuring me! Everyone in the fan group, I love you ladies. Thank you to everyone in the street team. All those shares helps so much. I don’t think you guys have any idea. I’m beyond grateful! To my cover designer, Lisa Jordan. I always say it, but you really do ‘put up with me.’ ? Last, to Jason and Bailey. You both really put up with me during this book. Love you both.
“Luke.” I laughed. “What are you doing?”
He grinned down at me and held a finger up to his lips. “Hush, girl. You’re going to get us caught.”
Caught. I shook my head. “Luke, you’re not thinking this through.” We were outside a recording studio at ten in the morning. It was the time we figured no one would be around. After scoping out the place for a few days, we got the routine down; the musicians and workers came in the early afternoon and stayed until three or four in the morning. Ten in the morning was the best time for us to break in and look around. The idea had been Luke’s. He was itching to see inside a real studio. His father talked about it since he used to manage a band, but those days were long gone. Drugs had taken over both of our dads’ worlds, but since forming our own band, the talk about seeing the inside of a studio became more and more common. After a night of getting into my mom’s wine and making out, Luke figured today was the best time to go. Now, we were outside the building after discovering it was locked up completely. There was no way inside.
As Luke checked a window, I tugged on his sleeve. “Luke, come on. Let’s go. We’re not getting in this way.”
“No way.” Steel determination looked back down at me. “Even if it’s just…” He stopped talking and frowned to himself while my alarm bells started going off at his look. He had an idea. I held my breath in anticipation, knowing some of his ideas weren’t always great ones.
I started to say, “Luke,” when he shook his head quickly and bent down and grabbed a rock.