Chapter 55
fifty-five
Liam
Two Months Later
Avonna is the most magnetic person in the room.
She stands near the edge of the private dining space, laughing softly with someone from Atlantic, a glass of sparkling water cupped in both hands.
The emerald satin dress clings to her hips and thighs, skimming the curve of her belly, celebrating the softness she hasn’t rushed to lose.
Her hair falls loose over one shoulder, glossy and wild.
She looks powerful. Grounded. Alive.
I’m in a black suit I’ve owned for a decade, tailored enough to feel intentional.
No tie. Open collar. The kind of clean I save for nights like this.
Padraig lounges next to me, sipping club soda, hair tied back, boots scuffed to hell.
His black jacket’s a little more rock than red carpet, but he wears it like armor.
The Isis Management Grammys pre-party is in full swing.
Linus never does anything halfway, but there’s something especially intentional about tonight.
No blown-up logos, no bloated guest list. Seventy-five people packed into the private dining room at Fleming’s downtown.
The carpet is low-lit, the wine is flowing, servers circulate with trays of steak and salmon, and the conversation crackles with names I recognize from playlists on Spotify.
No one’s performing. No one’s pitching. It’s the biggest award show in music. Tonight is about presence.
Fireball hasn’t toured in two years. Tonight is Linus’s way of saying we’re back without saying a word.
He’s gorgeous, across the room in a dark suit, crisp and sharp, working the crowd. The LTZ guys are posted near the back, talking to a few nominees. Connor catches my eye and tips his glass. I nod. We haven’t had time to catch up in ages.
My focus has been on Avonna. On the girls. On getting through the sleepless nights and early mornings and fragile hours in between.
Padraig’s girlfriend Mara sits down next to him. She’s a pretty girl. Wearing some shimmery bronze number.
A server passes with a tray of drinks and she politely declines the offer stating, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I can’t. We’re pregnant.”
Padraig smirks and shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Figured we’d make the announcement while everyone’s dressed up.”
“Congratulations.” Avonna joins us.
Mara beams. “Thanks. We haven’t told many people. We wanted to wait.”
I nod tensely. “Right.”
“I’m going to go out on tour with you guys.” Mara claps. “I’m so excited.”
There it is. My pulse thuds.
Avonna shifts closer to me. “Wow, a whole tour?”
“Yeah. We’ve talked about it a lot. Mara wants to see the whole thing. Experience it.” He looks at me pointedly. “I figure if your family’s all gonna be there, so should mine.”
I feel the thrum of pressure under my ribs. Avonna and I stepped back for a while. We needed to. Babies. Healing. Everything. But Fireball’s ready. I’m ready. Goddammit. Padraig.
You had to knock her up now?
Padraig grins at me, like he knows what I’m thinking. “Don’t worry. I’ve got earplugs. I never want to walk in on the three of you fuckin’ again.”
“Seriously?” Mara frowns slightly.
Padraig winks at her. “It’s a runnin’ joke now. I survived.”
This is the first I’ve heard of it being a joke.
“I’m happy for you,” I manage. It’s not a lie. It’s not the truth, either.
He shrugs. “Wasn’t planned. But I’m not mad. We’ll figure it out.”
“Besides.” Mara smiles wider. “We’d love to meet the twins.”
My face freezes. “You’ve had over a year.”
Padraig tenses but says nothing.
Avonna touches my arm. Light. Reassuring. I hate I need it. Hate the distance between me and my twin.
We don’t say more. We don’t need to. We’ve had too many years of this. Building the dream, letting it fall apart, chasing it again. This time, it was supposed to be different. Clean. Rebuilt from scratch. Avonna’s the future. The music is coming fast and deep, like something we can’t outrun.
We were supposed to finally be Fireball again. Another day. Another road bump.
Avonna drapes her shawl across her shoulders and gives us a look. “It’s time.”
“We should go.” Linus appears beside us, checking his phone. “The cart’s outside. They’re expectin’ you on the carpet in ten.”
He meets Avonna’s eyes, then mine. His expression is smooth, unreadable.
Mara takes Padraig’s arm. Linus offers her a polite smile. “Come with me. Let Fireball have their moment.”
She hesitates. Doesn’t make a scene but you can’t help but notice the flicker of irritation.
Not my problem.
Avonna steps between me and Padraig, looping one arm through mine and the other through my brother’s with a smile that doesn’t quite meet her eyes.
Linus nods toward the exit. “Let’s do this.”
The golf cart waits at the curb. Bright lights pulse beyond the barricade. Flashbulbs. Voices. Media lines.
Fireball’s first public step forward.
We haven’t released the album yet. We haven’t even booked the full tour.
Tonight, we show up.
Avonna. Padraig. Me.
The future might still be tangled, but the spotlight is ours. And it’s time.
Her heels hit the floor with a soft thud.
Avonna’s dress is halfway unzipped, her hair wild. The scent of perfume lingers on her skin. She’s spent from the party. Hours of smiling. Attention she still doesn’t quite love.
I close the door behind us, lean back against it. My chest is tight. Not in a panicked way. In the way it gets when I’m too full of something I don’t know how to name.
Gratitude. Desire. Awe.
Linus sets a bottle of water on the nightstand. He’s already undone his tie, sleeves rolled up. His eyes find mine across the room. Then slide to her.
“Look at you.” He rakes his eyes over her body.
She turns, the green satin hugging every curve, a slit revealing the soft swell of her thigh. No shapewear. No pretense. Only her. Real, lush, glowing.
My mouth goes dry.
“We haven’t been alone in months.” She looks around in wonder. “Really alone.”
I cross the room and kiss her before I answer. Her lips are warm, her breath sweet. When I pull away, her eyes are glassy.
“I miss the girls, but this is nice.” I stroke her cheek.
She nods. “It is. Thank God for your parents looking after them.”
Linus steps behind her, slides his fingers beneath the dress. Peels it down like he’s unwrapping something sacred. When it pools at her feet, she stands there in nothing but the necklace we gave her when the girls were born.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he says.
Her chest rises.
Linus kisses her shoulder. I kneel in front of her, kiss the inside of her thigh. She threads one hand through my hair, the other reaches blindly for Liam.
The bed behind us is already turned down. She crawls onto it without a word, sprawled across the sheets.
Linus undresses, eyes never leaving her. I follow.
We take our time.
My lips trace the faint stretch marks along her hips. Linus kisses the curve of her breast, then her throat. Her hands reach for both of us, pulling us in.
“Let me taste you,” I whisper.
She opens her legs for me. I lower my mouth to her while Linus strokes her nipples until she cries out. Her body rises to meet me. She’s soaked. Sweet. Ready.
“I need to be filled,” she breathes. “Please. Both of you.”
Linus meets my eyes. There’s no hesitation.
He spreads her open to watch me slide inside her. She moans, wraps her arms around my neck. Linus moves behind her, strokes her spine as he lines up his cock with her ass.
“Tell me you want this,” he says.
“I need it.”
Her body accepts him and we begin to move in rhythm.
One after the other. Her name in both our mouths.
She shatters between us. Her nails rake my back.
Her cries echo in my throat. We keep at it, until I can’t hold back.
I grip her hips and spill. Linus follows with a growl, pulsing inside her as he kisses the back of her neck.
When we’re done, we collapse on either side of her. She’s boneless. Glowing. Her thighs still sticky with all we gave her.
No one speaks for a while.
She turns her face into the pillow.
“I love you both so much,” she says sleepily.
We say it back.
Later, when she’s asleep, I think about how far we’ve come. What it took to get here.
Two babies sleeping in Seattle. A band finally ready to rise again.
Tonight, the three of us together where we belong.
I close my eyes.
Wherever they are, I am home.