Chapter Nineteen
Paige
“Thea’s here,” Eli whisper-yells as he skids into the room, tossing his bag to the side with a bang and throwing himself on top of the couch, practically squashing Beau. “I’ve been here the whole ti— Heeeey.”
“I saw you whiz past me on the way in, Eli,” Thea teases, walking into the studio, her heels making soft, deliberate clicks on the floor as she stops at the table, setting her workbag on top. “And I’m not your mother.”
“Yeah, I know, but I mean, you are the boss,” he says as he runs his hand through his damp, tousled hair, hoodie half-zipped. “Couldn’t get outta bed.”
He leans across Beau, shifting to catch Maddox’s eye, grinning wide with that smug glow every red-blooded, single male gets when he’s been laid. “Remember Carma? Long legs, nice ass, huuuge—”
Thea clears her throat. Eli freezes mid-gesture, both hands awkwardly cupped in front of his chest.
“Heart,” he mutters, pressing both palms to his chest. “Nice girl. Cares about the environment.”
“Sure, she does,” Maddox deadpans, his lips twitching into the barest hint of a smirk.
“Hey, she was all about saving water this morning!”
Beau nudges Eli, turning his attention to Thea as she takes a deep breath, her tone all business as she starts pulling color-coded folders from her bag.
“Fresh from the printer,” she says, setting them all out.
“I’ve got everything here for the tour. Press schedules, venues, call times.
This week is full-on prep, so anything you need to take with you”—she gestures toward our equipment, holding out a pack of tags—“label it up so it ends up on the tour bus.”
She tosses them toward the couch, and Beau snatches them mid-air, setting them beside him.
“Okay, you’ve got six days until you hit the road, and there’s something else we need to discuss before you travel.
Just so we’re all on the same page.” She takes a seat, flicking open another folder and clicking her pen.
“You’re getting a lot of attention from Reign and his team.
They’re watching. Everything. Ever since he announced that you’re joining him, all eyes have been on you. ”
Eli’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding.”
“Not even a little,” she says with a shake her head while trying to tame a smile. “He’s impressed. If this goes well, there’s talk of bringing Sip Station on for his European leg.”
You could hear a pin drop. No one moves, I don’t think anyone so much as breathes, the silence as tangible as if it were an actual person. I glance at Maddox sitting completely still, his expression unreadable as my stomach twists into knots.
“So play it smart. This is no longer just you opening for Reign. This is your audition to keep opening for him.”
“Holy shit,” Eli chokes out, bolting upright.
Beau lets out a surprised laugh, grinning, his eyes wide. “No pressure then.”
My pulse spikes, and I clutch the edge of the seat, trying to listen to Thea, but my brain has stopped cooperating. Europe. I thought three months touring with Reign was a big deal, but this… This could change our lives.
Thea keeps talking, answering questions Eli throws at her, and I try to focus, but all I can think about is the microscope we’ll be under.
I sneak a glance at Maddox, pretending I haven’t been doing it since the second he walked in this morning.
He hasn’t looked at me once, not when Eli joked about saving water, not when Thea mentioned the tour.
Nothing. He’s acting like the other night didn’t happen, like we weren’t standing so close to each other that it was impossible to breathe, that we didn’t almost kiss.
And somehow, that makes me feel like a fool for being so hung up on it the entire weekend.
But what I wouldn’t give to know if he thought about it too.
He’s deathly still, gripping the armrest like it might break off in his hand, his knuckles white, eyes fixed in front of him, the tension radiating from him impossible to ignore.
But then he stands abruptly, chair legs scraping loudly against the floor. Grabbing a folder, he stalks to the far side of the studio, Thea tracking him as he moves, lips pinching together as she watches him.
He doesn’t look at anyone, just flips through the pages, reading like he doesn’t believe a single thing that’s written on them. From this angle, I can see his profile, his furrowed brow, lips moving silently, jaw tight like he’s chewing through every word.
I don’t need to ask what’s on his mind. This band has been his baby since he was a teenager, and now he has a chance of getting everything he’s been chasing.
I push to my feet, restless energy crawling up my spine. Eli and Beau crowd around Thea, still swarming her with rapid-fire questions as I hover behind.
“We should lead with whatever song Reign liked most when we’re on tour,” Eli says, practically vibrating as he grabs a fistful of Beau’s hoodie, yanking him into a rough half-hug. “Reign Cooper, Beau! I still can’t fucking believe this.”
“I know,” he says through a laugh, steadying himself as he shrugs Eli off, his gaze shifting to me. “I knew having you in the band would change everything, Drummer Girl.”
He lifts a fist, and I bump it with mine, heat blooming across my cheeks as he uses Eli’s term of endearment.
“I doubt I had anything to do with it,” I mumble with a small laugh, trying not to let my eyes find Maddox again, but they do.
He’s still facing away, reading to himself like we don’t exist, and for this wild second, I imagine him looking over, holding my gaze the way he did when we were in the dressing room, like he wanted to sear every inch of me into his memory.
He doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Paige,” Thea says gently, before giving me a look I can’t place. “Actually, while I’ve got you, can I have a word?”
Finally, Maddox shifts, just a flick of his eyes to mine. But there’s something there, something desperate and urgent and far too intense for an early morning meeting.
“Maddox?” Thea adds, his focus redirecting to her. “You, too.”
“Ooo, someone’s in trouble,” Eli sing-songs, right before releasing an oomph as Beau elbows him in the stomach.
A chill runs down my spine as Thea turns toward the hallway. She doesn’t check if we’ll follow; she knows we will. Outside, she opens the control room door, holding it wide. Maddox steps through first, silent and rigid, making a beeline for the far wall like distance alone might fix this.
“Could you give us a minute?” Thea asks the sound tech, who nods and slips out, shutting the door behind him.
Immediately, it’s too small, the soft whir of the monitors drowned out by the weight of what’s been sealed in with us.
I fold my arms tightly around me, deliberately keeping a careful distance from Maddox while my body becomes hyperaware of every inch of space separating us.
Seriously? When the hell did that start happening?
Thea leans back on the desk, arms crossed, and I focus on the full-width window behind her, where Beau and Eli are definitely pretending not to stare through the glass.
“I’ll make this quick,” she says. “This tour is a big deal. I’m not going to let it fall apart before we even pack a bag.” Her eyes cut between us. “So let me ask you both…” She pauses, that split second deafening. “Is there going to be a problem?”
“No,” Maddox says, his voice tight with control he’s barely holding on to. “Why would you even ask that?”
I feel the moment he turns to look at me like a jolt to the chest, unease prickling the air like static, but I don’t turn, trying not to react.
Thea looks at me, too, waiting for my answer, and I shake my head. “I’m a little confused.”
“Eli doesn’t talk at a normal decibel like everyone else,” she deadpans, exhaling slowly, palms flattening on the desk behind her. “I overheard Beau and Eli talking about what happened on stage when I came back to see you guys the other night.”
“You were there?” I ask, chills sneaking down my spine.
She nods, waving off my dread with a flick of her hand. “Look, I don’t need the details. I don’t care who started it; I just need confirmation that it’s over, okay?”
I stare down at my feet, and for a second, I feel like a child again.
“I’ve seen bands crash and burn over personal bullshit.” She continues, the edge in her tone undeniable. “Not happening here. Understood?”
I nod as Maddox mutters, “Yes.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the way his arms fold across his chest, the hardness now in his jaw, his gaze locked on a spot somewhere above Thea’s head. Every breath feels tighter, the space closing in, thick with something unspoken, like the charge in the air before a storm.
And if Thea notices, she doesn’t say anything, holding our silence for a beat longer, then taps her knuckles once against the desk and heads for the door. The sound of her heels echoes like a countdown, a warning siren neither of us need.
“We leave in a week,” she says over her shoulder, her soft smile back in place. “You better be ready, because I’ve got a feeling this tour is going to change your lives.”
The door clicks closed behind her, and I finally let myself breathe.
After a morning of dodging eye contact, now we’re locked in here like I didn’t spend all weekend trying to forget how close we came to crossing a line.
“Well, that was humiliating.”
Maddox doesn’t say anything, his eyes on the closed door like it might open again and save him from this. From me. Then, slowly, he tilts his head to the side, a sharp crack breaking the silence as he rolls his neck, like he needs to break the tension inside him before it detonates.
“Nothing to say? Seriously?” I step around to where Thea stood just moments ago, glaring up at him. “We basically got told off by Mommy for not playing nice, and you don’t even care, do you?”
Still nothing. Just the kind of silence that’s long and loaded and entirely too frustrating that it builds behind your ribs and makes your teeth grind.