“You really just said that shit to me?” he asks in disbelief. “He did not just say that fucking shit to the man who has walked by his side for years now.”

“There are certain things that are beyond even that. My personal life is one of them.”

“Personal life?” He laughs. “What personal life? We’ve fucked girls in the same room. Hell, we’ve DP’d girls.”

“That was a different time,” I snap.

“Hey.” He holds his hands up. “I know she’s not a hot rocker chick, but I’m game if you wanna play together. No need to go it alone, brother.”

When I lunge across the table and grab him by the collar, Memphis grabs me and Billy grabs him.

“Don’t you talk about her like that, you motherfucker!”

“Let’s go,” Memphis says as he pulls me toward the exit.

“There is nothing off limits between us! I love you like a brother, man. More than a brother.”

“You crossed a fucking line!” I scream at him.

River beats his hands on his chest. “Hard to cross something you never knew existed! Fuck you, Beckett! Fuck you!”

Billy drags him into the bathroom, and I pull away from Memphis.

“Don’t fucking do it, man,” Memphis warns, putting his hand on my chest and stopping me from going after him. “Just don’t.”

I storm out the door and reach in my pocket, searching for something, yet all I get is a fucking Blow Pop.

“Is it true?”

I look back to see Tally and Memphis.

Memphis takes her hand. “Tales, let him be.”

“No, I want to know. I hope it’s true,” she says to him then looks at me. “Is it?”

“Sonya and I are friends,” I say, unwrapping the fucking Blow Pop and shoving it in my mouth.

She pulls out her phone, smiling like the Cheshire Cat as she holds it up and walks toward me. “I knew it!”

“Jesus, Tales, let it be.” Memphis laughs.

“No. No way. Look at this picture from Dallas.”

She hands me her phone, and there’s a shot from the parking lot on the screen. I am holding Sonya, and she is looking up at me. Great picture, but what the fuck?

“What are you, the paparazzi?”

“Easy, Beckett,” Memphis cautions.

“Send it to yourself. That is a seriously hot picture. You two are perfect together. You can see it in your faces. Love, love all around, and—”

“Easy,” I say, shaking my head. “Like I said, we’re friends.”

“More.” She is not letting up.

“Who knows? But right now—”

“You fucking her?”

Tally laughs and covers her mouth. “They so are. You can see it. Look.” She takes the phone from me and hands it to Memphis, who smirks and looks at it, then me.

“Definitely fucking … your friend.” He hands me the phone and covers Tally’s ears. “She’s hot as hell, man. Good tag.”

I try to look pissed, but he sees the truth. “She’s a nice girl. Doesn’t want our friendship to be public, and I don’t, either.”

“Understood. So will River. DP, man? Fuck. Nice.” Memphis grins. “This will blow over when he hits the pipe. You gonna let that happen?”

“Memphis …” Tally pulls at his hands. “Let go of my ears.”

“Shit, babe, sorry, but there are some things you don’t need to hear.”

“Or that you think I can’t handle. I know what DP is.”

His eyes get huge and then he looks pissed. “Don’t you ever ask for shit like that.”

“Well, if you think it’s so ‘nice.’ ” She air quotes, looking pissed before she turns around and tries not to smile.

“I would sooner rip a motherfucker’s heart out than share you with anyone, Tales. Then I’d be locked up and taking it in the ass by some sick fuck, and I guarantee I wouldn’t be down for that, so you better…” As she covers her mouth and starts to laugh, he spins her around. “You fucking with me, Tales?”

“You made me mad.”

“Jealous you mean.” She nods. “My bad. Won’t do it again. Come here.” He hugs her and winks. “You good?”

“Yes,” she says.

He smiles and nods toward me. He was talking about me, but she thought it was about her.

“Tales and I are gonna go have make up sex. You should stay away from River. We can all meet up in about an hour and—”

“Did you just tell him we were going to have—?”

“Don’t worry about it, Tally. We all heard you going at it the entire trip here,” I tell her, then turn to walk away.

“You told me it was sound proof!” I hear her smack Memphis and can’t help laughing.

“Send me those pics,” I yell over my shoulder.

***

I spend the day looking forward to tomorrow, something I haven’t done in a very long time.

When my phone rings, I realize I have spent the entire day thinking of her, yet not calling her at all.

“Yaya,” I answer. “I’ve been thinking about you all damn day.”

“You’ve been on my mind, too.” She sounds happy.

“Maybe you can send me a picture of—”

“You need to get to Minnesota Music Café. Now.”

“Because?”

“Because I heard you guys didn’t have an act yet.”

“What else did you hear?” I ask, hoping she isn’t pissed and thinks I broke a promise.

“I hear that we are friends.” She still sounds happy. “Good friends.”

“It was never my intention to—”

“I’m okay if you are. Finn, there is a cab waiting outside the hotel. I found a band. You have to go now.”

“I’m really not—”

“Stockton Records is there. They tweeted out the band and something about hoping to close a deal.”

“Stockton fucking Records—”

“I know. I know they screwed you, and I don’t like anyone screwing you. Go get your revenge.”

“I’m about peace and love.” I laugh as I grab a sweater and shove my feet in my boots.

“You out the door yet?” She laughs.

“Going now.”

“Don’t just get them to play. Convince them to stay.”

“Stay?”

“Yes. They are good, Finn. So good. And I promise they will be good for you and Forever Four.”

“Better than us?” I ask as I hit the down arrow on the elevator.

“No one is better than you.”

The tone and sound of her voice drive me crazy.

“You’re making me hard.”

“Save it for Cleveland,” she says with a smile in her voice.

“Definitely.” I walk on the elevator. “What’s the band’s name, Yaya?”

“Inappropriate Thoughts.”

I laugh and so does she.

“You see the cab yet?” she asks.

I walk to the door. “Yeah.”

“Have fun tonight and don’t take no for an answer.”

“You remember you gave me that advice.”

“I will.”

I climb in the cab. “Minnesota Music Café please,” I tell the driver.

She laughs. “Talk soon.”

“Count on it.”

I hang up the phone, holding it close to my chest and looking around the room that is now my office but was once my childhood bedroom. Finn Beckett is the light in the darkness I am surrounded by. Finn and Noah.

Noah is doing fine, better than fine. He is healthy and happy and perfect. It has been three amazing days, three days with him and I together. Mother and son.

The first night was hard being here alone. I spent it with a knife and a bat with Noah and I locked in my bedroom. I made sure he didn’t notice, but he did snuggle much more securely to me that night. He’s so intuitive.

He’s asked me where Margie is, and I told him “getting better.” He said he is glad because she gets sick like that a lot when I’m gone. He also asked me to stay, and in that moment, I said I would.

The next night, I worked while he slept in my room. When I was done scheduling my posts and putting up reviews, I started investigating the household account situation, and I found out we a have a second mortgage on the house.

It was taken out the day I left and was apparently taken out by … me. Two hundred thousand dollars. Therefore, now a house that I owned free and clear almost five years ago, I owe almost half a million dollars on. It is worth more than that, much more, but that isn’t the point.