Chapter Thirty
~Justin’s POV~
The auditorium was still buzzing when I slipped out of my row and into the hallway. People were talking about Cadence’s performance, about Toby and Paxon’s duet, about the weird magic that had just happened on the stage.
Calling it weird magic was one way to put it.
I kept scanning the clusters of people until I finally spotted them. Paxon was wrapped around Cadence like he was some kind of octopus with abandonment issues. Toby was standing off to the side with his shit-eating, all too proud grin.
Toby saw me first, lifting a hand in greeting. Cadence looked exhausted but smiling. And Paxon, well he looked like a guy who had just survived his own execution.
Good. About damn time.
“Jesus, man,” I said as I got closer. “Let her breathe.”
Paxon actually loosened his grip. Barely.
He still looked like he was terrified she’d vanish if he let go.
I took the two of them in for a second. The way both their shoulders were relaxed, their expressions no longer tense.
Months of tension had finally drained from between Cadence and Paxon.
I had stayed out of it as much as I could.
I knew it was something Paxon had to figure out just like how we had to figure it out for ourselves.
It wasn’t going to be easy. I had done some research once I knew for sure I was in, which was pretty easy for me to decide.
I had lost my biological family, but I had another one, and I was more than happy to put in the work to make it work.
Paxon had to realize that for himself without more of us like Bryan and Seth jumping down his throat.
And it looked like he finally did.
“Great,” I said with a sigh. “Now I don’t have to kick your ass when I see you on campus.”
Cadence blinked at me. “What?”
Paxon winced. “I didn’t tell her yet.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well fucking tell her.”
Cadence looked between us, worry creeping back in, making me feel bad. “Tell me what?”
Paxon let out a slow breath and finally pulled back from her, just enough to look her in the face.
“I’m going to college nearby,” he said quietly.
“I’ll do the summer intern program in Boston and whatever else I need to do.
I don’t need to go to Oregon anymore to do it.
I negotiated it with the company, and frankly, it worked with their interests too since they want to extend the program to Boston. ”
My eyebrows shot up. “You negotiated? Since when do you negotiate?”
Paxon shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Only way to make it work. They want to open an East Coast branch. I asked to help build that project while attending college here instead.”
Cadence’s lips parted. “You did that?”
“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck.
“Otherwise, they were going to lose me. And they like me. A lot. Enough to make accommodations. Not like I won’t be doing the work they want anyway.
Dad helped too. He’s got sway in the psychology world.
More than I thought. He shared his contacts in Boston with them. ”
As the news still settled in Cadence’s brain, Toby practically exploded.
“Holy fucking shit balls,” Toby said, grabbing Paxon by the shoulders. “I get to go to school with you and Justin? Are you kidding me? This is a dream.”
Then Bryan and Seth approached us, Bryan shoving his hands in his pockets, Seth giving a nod toward Cadence like he was checking she was still stable.
“Won’t miss me?” Bryan asked dryly. “All this talk about you three being together on a single campus.”
“Of course I will,” Paxon said. “But you’re like a ten-minute drive down the street. All the campuses in that town are clustered together.”
“That’s facts,” I muttered. “We’ll basically still be neighbors.”
Toby threw an arm over my shoulders. “And you’ll still be stuck with me every day.”
I gave him a warning glance. He laughed and hugged me anyway. Idiot.
I looked back at Cadence and all that tension and stress in my chest eased. She looked lighter. Soft around the edges. Like she could breathe again. And for the first time since Paxon decided to go rogue, the knot of dread sitting under my ribs actually let go.
This right here felt right again.
Cadence stood between us. Paxon’s hand rested gently on her back, and Toby bounced beside her like a hyperactive squirrel. Seth hovered close enough to guard without overwhelming, while Bryan let out the quiet exhale he only gave when tension drained away.
And me. Watching. Cataloging everything. Making sure everything was okay.
Cadence finally looked up at all of us, confusion and relief and exhaustion tangled in her expression.
“Guys,” she whispered, like she didn’t know what else to say.
I offered her a faint smile. “You don’t have to talk. We’re here. All of us.”
It was exactly what she needed, because she closed her mouth and smiled—and it was the smile we’d been missing since before the holidays. The real one. The carefree, completely happy one that lit up her eyes and warmed her cheeks.
I blinked and glanced away. Her sincerity caught me off guard, like when I forgot to open my eyes during my swim laps and I hit my head against the wall. Again.
For the first time in a long time, everything was finally headed in the right direction.