Chapter 15
Three Years Ago—Ellery
“Okay, Sammy, you’re right. Key West is gorgeous.”
Ellery stretched out on the towel beside her sister, the hot sun baking her back.
Samara pelted her with a sunscreen bottle. “I know. You need to take more vacations. Trust me, Hermosa Key is even prettier, but there’s more to do here. On Hermosa, the most exciting thing to do is clean the barnacles off Dad’s boat. And that’s far less thrilling than it sounds.”
Ellery rolled her eyes and focused on the book in front of her. A girl, a paperback, and a beach. Why didn’t she do this in LA?
“Where are the others?” Samara asked, her eyes covered by enormous tortoiseshell sunglasses. “Selene and Lorraine?”
“They all went home for a bit. Selene to Vermont, Lorraine to Michigan.”
“And Dante?” Samara tilted her glasses down her nose to waggle her eyebrows at her sister.
Ellery’s gut twitched and curled. “He went back to Seattle. His brother Casper planned this huge homecoming party.”
“Did you want that?” Samara leaned back again and folded her hands beneath her head to cradle it. “A huge party? Celebrating the rock goddess?”
Ellery laughed. “No, thank you. After almost two years of Logan Groff’s voice in my head, telling me to work harder, smile more, eat less, hold your hip this way— needless to say, I am grateful for the break.”
“You did always want to be a celebrity.”
“Not really.” Ellery toyed with the bookmark, scraping its edge up and down the spine of the paperback.
“I want to be able to play music. I want people to hear a song I wrote and have it move them.” She marked her page and shut the book with finality.
“I want to look back later in my life and know I tried. I want my family to be proud of me. And all of that takes recognition.”
Samara’s face was hidden beneath her glasses, but her chest heaved like she was holding in a sob.
Uh-oh. She had forgotten why she’d agreed to come home in the first place. Heartbreak never got easier. Ellery sat upright, her shadow adding to the coverage from the beach umbrella. “I’m so sorry, Sammy.”
Her sister rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbow, but didn’t meet her gaze. “Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry about school. I know how hard you worked to get into grad school, and it sucks that they didn’t accept you.”
Samara wiped under her eyes and shrugged, letting her sunglasses settle back over her face.
“It’s okay. I didn’t actually work that hard.
Maybe if I had tried more, or studied more for the GRE.
But I was too wrapped up in Hudson.” She clipped the name of her ex-girlfriend like she was cutting through a flower stalk.
“I’m sorry about that too. It’s awful.”
Samara sniffed. “Yeah. It is. She’s a stone-cold bitch. Whatever. I’m getting over it.”
Ellery nudged her foot with her own. “I can tell.”
Samara laughed and sat upright. “I totally am. Just because I had to move in with Mom and Dad doesn’t mean I’m not getting any action.” She sprayed sand over Ellery’s blanket. “What about you? Getting any action?”
“Please. I barely have time to eat. Dating is not a priority.” Damned nonfraternization clause.
She should have had her father review Logan’s contract before she signed it.
Naive Ellery, trying to make it on her own.
Not that it had stopped Dante. Whenever he wasn’t with the band, he disappeared for hours on end.
Maybe he had a new girlfriend or boyfriend.
Ellery’s stomach roiled. Dante should find someone new, someone who could make him happy.
Samara made a noncommittal sound and glanced down the beach. A slow smile curved up her lips, which was never a good sign. “Hey, El. Don’t be mad.”
“Why would I be mad?”
Samara sat up on her knees, brushing her palms against each other to get rid of the sand. “Because we did a thing.”
Nerves pulsed throughout Ellery’s body as she matched her sister’s height. “What did you do?”
Samara lifted her shoulders and shrugged. “We brought the party to you.”
Ellery’s eyes widened and a laugh bubbled up through her as she caught sight of her parents walking toward them across the beach.
Between them was Dante, his jeans rolled up to midcalf and a Mariners cap on his head.
With the Florida sun at his back, highlighting his languid posture, he was glorious.
Hope bloomed through her. There were no cameras here, none of Logan’s spies. It would just be her, her family, and Dante. For once.
* * *
Then—Dante
This was the closest they’d been in ages, and Dante still couldn’t believe it.
This dive bar—literally, there was a swim-up dock opening into the Gulf—was not really that different from any of the other places he and Ellery had met over the years.
The breeze off the water cut through the odors of stale beer and cigarette smoke.
Talking fish were mounted beside the old license plates and a few arcade games beeped at the back.
He didn’t care where they were. He would follow Ellery anywhere.
It had been increasingly difficult to keep his distance from her, to deny how badly he wanted her.
All the nights touring, playing beside her, then off to separate hotel rooms. At least she hadn’t taken anyone with her to hers.
Neither had he. When he had finally learned how good it could be with someone, he didn’t want anyone else.
All of which meant the want inside him raced wildly out of control.
Goddamn Logan Groff and his no-fraternization policy.
But Logan wasn’t there. Logan wasn’t in that bar, knees almost kissing hers as they sat side by side on barstools. Logan wasn’t the one watching as she lifted the glass to her lips, the crimson of her smile burning so bright it filled the dingy room.
Dante was.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Ellery said, setting her glass down atop a weathered coaster. “I thought Casper was throwing you a giant welcome home party.”
“He did.” He sipped his beer to keep his hands to himself.
They had far too much of a tendency to wander toward her.
“The day I went home. It was great. A bunch of people I hadn’t seen in ages.
My parents and Casper and I hung out for a while.
” He coughed slightly. How to cover this.
“Then Samara called. A beach vacation sounded awesome.” He didn’t love the beach, but anything to see her.
“It is awesome.” She shook her head, as if in disbelief. “It’s great that you’re here. Lately, I feel like all we have time for is the band and band stuff. I never get to hear about you. Just you and how you’re doing.”
How was he doing? Back in LA, he spent nearly every night in his apartment, wishing he were with Ellery. Replaying the kiss. Counseling himself to take it slow. It doesn’t matter. Bide your time. Attraction fades.
Blah, blah, lies.
The simple truth was he knew Ellery wanted to be famous.
She wanted her songs out there for the masses.
He wanted her to have that, even if it meant he had to deal with not being able to be with her.
Even if there was a ticklish sensation at the back of his neck that she was changing—without him. Logan was changing her.
But here was different.
Here in this musty, salt-weathered bar, they weren’t bandmates. They were just Ellery and Dante.
Ellery arched an eyebrow toward him, like she was waiting for his reply. “Are you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“What it is you do when you’re not with the band.” She cast her gaze on the wet ring her glass left on the worn bar top. “Are you, like, dating somebody?”
The idea was so preposterous—didn’t she realize she was the only person he ever even considered?—that he laughed loudly. “Seriously?”
“It’s not a weird question.” She drank the rest of her cola in one gulp, then burped.
If Dante hadn’t been lost before, he was now.
She hid the burp with the back of her hand and giggled twice, which was the most unexpected, un-Ellery thing he could imagine.
Desire surged within him, and he sipped his beer to cover it.
“Lots of people date. And look at you. You’re young and a killer musician.
You’re hot.” Her cheeks flushed, and she tinkled the ice in her otherwise empty glass.
“You think I’m hot?” He took a long sip of beer, pleasure coiling around his lower spine and licking upward. Coming to Florida had been the best decision he had ever made.
She tossed her hair and rolled her eyes. “You’re avoiding the question. Where do you go when you’re not with m—the band?”
“It’s not a secret.” Though he never really spoke about it. “It’s not a big deal or anything. I volunteer sometimes, with this LGBTQ+ hotline for teens. They call or text or whatever and we talk.”
Her eyes had widened and her jaw slackened slightly.
Embarrassment rolled through his muscles but he shook it off. “What?”
Now her eyes shone and she covered his hand with hers. They were the same shape, though his were a little bigger. Their calluses matched.
“That’s amazing, Dante. You help kids in your free time? All I do is sleep or google elaborate cake recipes.”
“I didn’t think you cooked.”
“I don’t. But I love reading cake recipes or watching people decorate them. It’s soothing, whatever. Don’t nullify your accomplishments.” She shrugged, the little straps of her dress staying half a centimeter above her shoulders. “Dante, what you do is legit amazing.”