Chapter 31
31
KATRINA
“J onah,” I gasp, frozen in place.
He looks at me, his brown eyes bright but tired beneath the rim of his navy blue beanie. “Hey, Kat,” he says.
“Oh, thank God!” Knox clips my shoulder as he bolts past, throwing his arms around Jonah. “I missed you so much, baby.”
Jonah chuckles, patting Knox’s back. “I missed you guys, too.”
I step back, tears simmering in my eyes, as the others move in to greet him.
“What are you doing back already?” Jordan asks, giving Jonah a hug after Knox. “You weren’t due for another four days.”
“Well...” Jonah sighs. “Turns out, no matter where you go in the world, Gossipa is everywhere.”
“Reporters followed you, huh?” Addison asks.
“Private resort, so they never got past the gates. But...” He glances past them. At me. “When last night’s story broke, Marla and I decided to come home early.”
I drop my gaze to the floor.
“You didn’t have to do that, Jo,” Jordan says.
“It’s okay. Got our whole lives to vacation together.”
“Great!” Knox says. “Now that you’re here, will you please talk some sense into my wayward little sister? Maybe she’ll listen to you.”
I close my eyes, wishing I could disappear. Just turn and bolt out of this damn guest house and never look back. My chest tightens, heart splintering at the thought of standing beneath Jonah’s gaze and seeing his disappointment.
“Maybe she’d listen to you if you didn’t talk down to her like a child,” Jonah says.
I look up, startled. His eyes are soft, steady.
Knox pulls back as if he’s just been slapped. The others freeze.
“Dude,” Knox says. “Do you have any idea what she’s?—”
“Shut up, Knox.” Jonah cuts him off with a glare. “I overheard enough outside. Don’t make it worse.”
Knox closes his mouth.
Jonah steps between them and stops in front of me. The room holds its breath as he takes me in, scanning me like he’s searching for bruises no one else can see.
“Hey,” he says gently. “You okay?”
I shake my head, too overwhelmed to speak.
“She’s just peachy, Jo!” Knox calls from behind. “Got herself a new douche-bag boyfriend.”
“You’re the last person in the world who should lecture anyone for dating the wrong person, Knox,” Jonah replies, his eyes never leaving mine. “Back off.”
The room falls into silence again, the air heavy. Smothering.
“Logan, huh?” Jonah asks me.
“Uh…” I swallow hard. “Yeah.”
“Is he good to you?”
I blink, caught off guard by the question—by the genuine care behind it. “Yes,” I say. “He’s, uh... he’s actually really sweet.”
“Good.” Jonah nods. “That changes, you say the word. I’ve been arrested for kicking his ass once. I can do it again.”
I let out a short laugh. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but… thanks.”
“I caught the video of you two singing together at The Sin and Sand.”
“You did?”
He grins. “Marla won’t stop talking about it. She ships you guys pretty hard now.”
“Really?”
“A lot of people do,” he says, his smile fading to something softer. “I thought you sounded different.”
“Different how?”
“Not sure. Just… a different you.” His eyes meet mine. The words settle between us like a secret only we understand. “But still you.”
I smile, remembering. I said the same thing to him once. Just after he found Marla. His muse.
“Have you written anything on him yet?” he asks.
The question catches me off guard, though it shouldn’t. If I’ve learned anything from my brother, from Jonah, even from Logan, it’s that matters of the heart often spark the greatest inspirations.
Logan may be my muse.
And maybe I’m his, too.
“Yes,” I say. “It’s far from finished. Not sure if it’ll ever be, but…”
I trail off, unsure.
“Scary time,” Jonah says. “Exciting, too, though.”
“It is.”
“I’m happy for you, Kat.”
“Yeah?”
He nods, brow creased like he’s weighing every word. “I’m glad someone’s finally pulling you into the spotlight.”
It’s not at all what I expected. I thought he’d be as pissed as all the others. But... of course he gets it. Jonah always gets it.
“Thank you, Jonah,” I whisper.
He hugs me. A warm, familiar kind of hug that wraps around all my jagged edges. I exhale in his arms, letting the tension bleed out of my chest. Letting myself feel safe.
Jonah kisses my forehead, then pulls back to look at me. “You okay?” he asks again.
“Yeah,” I say. “I am now.”
He smiles. “Good.”
“Jonah,” Knox says, irritated, “what are you doing?”
“Reminding you of the big picture,” Jonah says, turning to face them. “I expected things to be messy when I got back. But this?” His voice sharpens. “Katrina’s going through something huge. Something wonderful. This isn’t the time for lectures and guilt trips. But what do I hear when I walk through the door?”
“Jo, she lied to us,” Knox says.
“So?” Jonah shrugs. “In her shoes, I would’ve lied to you, too. And she’s right, by the way. You all broke rules left and right on tour. I kept my mouth shut about it then, but I’m not going to stay silent now. You want to cast stones? Fine. I’ll cast them right back.”
Behind him, my eyes widen.
“No one wants to cast stones,” Jordan says gently.
“There’s a big difference between what we’ve done and what she’s doing,” Addison says.
“Is there?” Jonah challenges. “Because the only difference I see is that you don’t like the guy.”
“Because he’s the enemy, Jo!” Knox snaps. “It’s obvious to everyone here that he’s playing her.”
“All the more reason for us to stick together,” Jonah says, voice steady. “To talk things out. Not tear each other down. We should do what we always do—put it into our music. That’s what this is about, right?” He locks eyes with Knox. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
Knox doesn’t answer.
“We’re Criminal Records,” Jonah says, sweeping his gaze across all of them. “We’re big, but we’re not too big to fail. We’re just as fragile as we ever were. And every one of us has a responsibility to protect what we’ve built. To protect each other. I think we’ve lost sight of that.”
I smile, even more of my words coming out of his mouth.
“Today, I propose a new rule,” Jonah says. “I say we ditch the rules.”
“Ditch the rules?” Jordan repeats, frowning.
“We follow our hearts instead. Because right now, who we are, what we’ve become, it’s the best we’ve ever been. After this summer, after all of you found your people, your muses… is that really so surprising?”
He lets the words hang there; the silence giving them weight. I can see it in their eyes—it’s sinking in.
“The rules kept us together, sure,” Jonah continues. “They also held us back. I don’t know about you guys, but I want to see where our hearts lead us next. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” I say, before anyone else can.
He glances over, gives me a soft smile, then looks at the others.
“I do, too,” Addison says.
I meet her eyes and she gives me a nod; the first olive branch between us.
“Yeah,” Bronson adds, gaze forever locked on Jordan. “Me, too.”
Jordan doesn’t speak, but she reaches out and takes his hand.
Knox’s jaw tightens. “Sorry,” he says. “But was that speech supposed to sway me or something?”
“Knox,” Jonah says with a sigh.
“Am I the only one with half a brain here? She’s not screwing some fan. Or the opening act. It’s Logan fucking Shock. And that ain’t okay. It’s never going to be okay.”
I shrink back.
“And you think it’s better for her to leave than for you to look past it?” Jonah asks.
Knox glares at me, then nods. “Yes, I do.”
My heart burns.
“So, this is it for you?” Jonah asks, staying in front of me like a shield. “You’re willing to give all of this up over a grudge match?”
“I guess I am,” my brother says.
“Knox, come on,” Addison jumps in, her voice edged with disbelief.
“No,” Jonah says, cutting her off. “It’s okay. He’s got his principles. Can’t fault him for that.”
“Damn right,” Knox mutters, arms crossed.
His eyes cut to me again. I look away.
“Then we change,” Jonah says, unfazed. “We adapt. We start something new. You’ve got an idea for that, Knox. Let’s hear it.”
Knox blinks. The rest of us look at him in confusion.
“You want to talk about that now?” he asks.
“You wanted to talk about it at my bachelor party.”
“No, I wanted to talk about it later, but you pulled it out of me.”
“And I’m pulling it out of you now.” Jonah stands an inch taller. “Go ahead, Knox. Make your pitch.”
“What pitch?” Jordan asks.
We all fall silent, waiting. Knox shifts under the weight of our eyes, his glare flickering with nerves.
Jonah tilts forward, waiting.
Finally, Knox exhales. “I want to start a record label.”
No one says a word.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought,” he says. “Well... not a lot of thought, but I’ve felt a lot of feelings lately, and it’s all pointing me toward this.”
“Toward…” Jordan leans in, eyebrows raised, “starting our own record label?”
Knox nods. “Yep.”
“Do you have any idea how much work that is?”
“When has hard work ever stopped us?”
Jordan raises a brow. “Is that a serious question?” she asks, dry as sandpaper.
“Fine, whatever. It’ll be hard! But… aren’t you guys tired?” Knox asks. “Because I’m exhausted . I’m sick of guys like Monroe. Of assholes like the ones over at Sugar Sound who thought they could shove us aside to make room for their shiny new band. That’s not gonna stop. There will always be someone newer, hotter—or younger. Sooner or later, we’ll be like Dade Connery. You know? Just another old legend clinging to the glory days, trying to stay relevant in a world that’s moved on.”
He looks at each of us. Even me.
“I don’t want that. I don’t want to go away. And I think the best way to stop that from happening—the only real path forward—is to lay the bricks ourselves. To build a foundation no one can take from us.”
“But…” Addison’s voice comes quiet. “What about Criminal Records?”
“Yeah,” Jordan says, hesitant. “Do you want to…” She goes quiet, unable to say it out loud.
“What?” Knox asks. “Break up?”
We all go still. The superstition in those words turns my stomach and I swallow hard, feeling wretched.
“No, I don’t,” he says. “I want to do this until the day I die.”
“So do I,” Jonah says. “And I doubt there’s anyone in this room who feels differently.”
No one disagrees. No one moves. It’s the air around us that shifts; charged with new possibility. It ripples between us, a pulse of something being born.
Start our own record label?
It sounds insane. It is insane. But…
We could keep making music our way. We could support new voices, like Harvey. Like Harmony. Whoever we find along the way.
We could make damn sure no one does to them what Paul Monroe did to us.
“We’ve got a lot of conversations ahead,” Jonah says. “A lot of decisions to make. But first, we made a commitment, and we’re going to keep it. Like Knox said, we’ve got a show to do. A Battle to win. And we need everyone to do that. Don’t we, Knox?”
Knox narrows his eyes. “You set me up for that one, didn’t you?”
“Big picture,” Jonah replies, unbothered.
“Yeah, yeah.” Knox looks at me in the quiet, his eyes softer than before, but they still feel like knives twisting in my gut. “You one of us, sister? Or one of them?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“You’re sleeping with the competition,” Addison says. “That can get… complicated.”
The silence presses in again. All eyes on me. My friends. My chosen brothers and sisters.
Can I be theirs and his?
I don’t know.
But I don’t see why not, either.
“No,” I say. “It’s not complicated. I’m with you.”
“You’re sure?” Jonah asks, steady.
I nod. “I’m sure.” Then my gaze shifts to Knox. “If I’m wanted.”
Knox parts his lips, then pauses, the tension between us still present on his face.
“Okay, then,” he says, looking away. “Let’s get to work.”