guess.”
“Janet can’t pay you full time.”
“I know. But maybe she would let me stay with her in exchange for working at the shop.”
“That’s an option.”
“Is it my only one?” I asked, holding his gaze and my breath. “Am I out of the band?”
His gaze hardened. “War’s not the only member in the band who gets to decide things.”
His non-answer was answer enough. I was out.
“Come sit down.” He swept a space clear for me, and I plopped down. “War was pissed as hell last night. But if you talk to him today—”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not doing that. Me being in the band shouldn’t hinge on whether I obey his every command. If he wants me in for my ability, fine. But he’ll have to come talk to me and apologize, not the other way around.”
“You know he won’t.” Dizzy gave me a sad look. “He’s as stubborn as you are.”
“Is there anything else you needed?”
He shook his head.
“Okay.” I stood and moved toward the door.
“Lace,” he called, and I turned.
“Yeah?”
“You should know I told him I’d quit the band if he doesn’t reinstate you.”
“No, Dizzy.” I shook my head. “Don’t do that. Take it back. Tell him you didn’t mean it. Heat of the moment and all, whatever you need to say. Fix it with him, but leave me out of it.”
“Final word?” he asked.
“Final,” I said and exited his room.
Hearing a door slam downstairs, I hurriedly returned to mine. Shutting my bedroom door, I leaned against it and told my hammering heart to slow. I didn’t know what to do exactly about the band, but it would be okay somehow. I wasn’t going to beg War to let me back in the group.
Heavy footsteps outside my door made my heart beat even faster, but luckily the footsteps faded and a door, Uncle Bruce’s bedroom door, I assumed, clicked closed.
Not in the mood for another lecture today, I exhaled in relief. Returning to my bed, I pulled my phone from my jeans pocket and pressed Chad’s number. Tears pricked my eyes when I heard his kind voice.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked.
“I’m still breathing. But I’m out of the group. Dizzy confirmed it.”
“Oh, Lace. It didn’t go well with Bryan either?”
“Actually, that part did go well. He wants to be friends again. Real ones.”
“That’s good. But was that all he wanted?”
“Yeah,” I said, not allowing myself to speculate further.
Bryan might think about kissing me. I certainly thought about kissing him. But I didn’t think there was any scenario where we could be more to each other than we were. Not while he remained so committed to War.
“He doesn’t look at you like he only wants to be friends.”
“We have some chemistry,” I said, staring at my guitar in its stand on the other side of the room. “But it’s not like he has a shortage of girls willing to sleep with him.”
“None that are you.”
“I’m no prize.”
“Well, that’s not true.” Chad sounded irritated. “We need to do something fun and get that wrong thinking out of your head.”
“What do you propose?” I asked. “For fun?”
“A movie and popcorn.”
My mouth started to water. “I love popcorn.”
“I know you do, and you need to kick back and get your mind off everything.”
“Are you offering to take me out?” I asked.
“I’m not offering. I’m telling.”
I smiled. “You’re a great friend.”
“You are for me. But do you really think you can you make a friendship-only deal work with Bryan?”
“Of course I can,” I said airily. “We’ve done it before.”
“You were kids then,” Chad said, his words taking the wind from my sails. “You’re not kids anymore. Friends don’t look at each other the way you two do.”
“I’m wise enough to know not to make it complicated.”
“Wisdom doesn’t count for shit,” he said. “Not when you’re totally hung up on him.”
“I’m not that hung up on him.” Lying, I braced, knowing I risked a lightning strike.
Chad snorted. “You look at him like you want to fuse your essence to his.”
“That obvious?” Worried, I bit my lip.
“To me it is, but we’ve been friends a while.”
“As long as I’ve been dating War,” I said reflectively.
“Is that completely over?”
“Oh yeah.”
He scoffed. “Does War know?”
“I told you what he said last night. He dismissed me without a backward glance.”
“Yeah. But, babe, the way he is with you is a carbon copy of the way you deny being about Bryan. And I don’t think War gives a shit about it being complicated as long as he