Chapter Forty-Six
Declan
By the time Levi and I make it out of there, it’s well past midnight. My ears are still ringing, and my chest hasn’t stopped aching since I saw him disappear into the crowd again.
“Man, that was…” He blows out a breath between his lips. “Holy hell. He’s different now, like grew into himself. But he’s not an egomaniac about it.”
“Yeah,” I say, though my voice sounds far away. “I know what you mean.”
He glances at me, slowing as we reach his car, my truck parked farther up the lot.
“Tell me you at least had fun?” he asks, nudging me lightly.
I stare over his shoulder, back at the stadium lights. “Yeah. Sure.”
Levi studies me, and his excitement flat lines for the first time all night, replaced with something more cautious. “Dec, you sure you’re okay? I get it, tonight was a lot, and maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to com–”
“I’m fine, Levi. Just tired.” I say, forcing a laugh. “Go home. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
Eyeing me, he taps the roof of his car before sliding inside.
I watch him leave until the taillights fade onto the street before heading to my truck.
For a minute, I don’t start it, hands fisted around the wheel, the night pressing in around me.
I can still feel the ghost of Cooper’s hand on my arm, hear his voice when he said he was glad I was there.
Pulling onto the street, I quickly search on my phone, checking to see if he’s texted in the time since I last looked, but there’s nothing there.
Guess I’ll just wait at his hotel bar or in the parking lot.
The engine rumbles as I pull up at a stoplight, the chatter from the radio finally seeping in when the mention of Reign Cooper snags my attention.
“Not only did he wrap up a sold-out gig tonight,” the DJ gushes, “but he also just dropped his brand-new single. That’s right, you’ll hear it first here. This is Reign Cooper, ‘Mine.’”
“I never knew you could feel so right,
It’s in the way you look at me in the dead of night.
I swore I’d never feel this way again,
But you’ve fixed what I thought was broken within.”
My stomach sinks as the track continues to play, each word turning my blood to ice. Pulling up to the hotel’s valet, I can’t shut off the engine, the world beyond my windshield nothing but shadow.
Cooper’s voice slices through me, too raw, too close, each word drenched in something that sounds like love.
And I know.
I know who this is for and isn’t me.
The valet raps on my window, the loud knock startling me. “Sir, are you…getting out?”
Waving him off, I pull away, searching for somewhere—anywhere—quiet. When I stop, I just sit there, gripping my phone, scrolling down to the bottom of my messages to our old thread. The unanswered texts glare back at me, a history of one-sided effort.
He said he wanted to talk, but that song, that video, that man wrapped around him... He’s already got someone else to talk to.
My thumb hovers over the screen, heart stuttering as I stare at the words until they blur. For half a second, I can still smell him, feel his touch, and it's not fair that it lingers like this.
Me
Something came up. I’ll catch you next time.
Pressing send, I back out to my message log, my finger moving across our thread, and watch years of friendship disappear in a single swipe. His number stays, though. I don’t know if that’s a hope or a weakness, but deleting it would mean admitting I’m done.
And I don’t think I’m ready for that lie.