Page 140 of Major Love

Shit.I’d been so focused on deterring Halle that I’d practically forgotten that Riley was right here, listening to the whole conversation. And seeing as Riley is one of my closest friends, I feel guilty as hell about not having been more open with him about my living situation earlier.

Because even if I don’t end up relocating back home to Phoenix Falls, I should have mentioned it to him earlier, seeing as he’s had my back through everything.

I brush a loose curl away from my cheek, feeling like the worst friend ever.

“Riley, look, nothing’s set in stone, okay? And I’m sorry that I didn’t mention it before, but it’s only because I haven’t finalised a decision yet.”

I swallow a little anxiously at the expression on Riley’s face, and I feel Jason shift behind me, his broad chest brushing reassuringly against my back.

“Is this about the article?” Riley asks suddenly. “The headline that sent you away?”

When I don’t respond, he blinks down at me and his eyes widen.

“You’re shitting me,” Riley rasps. “It hurt you so bad that you’d fuckingmove?”

“Watch it.”

Jason’s voice, deep and gruff, snaps Riley’s attention over my head, and I watch nervously as they stare at each other, the room around us becoming a neon blur.

But Riley heeds the silent warning and rakes a hand through his hair, jaw ticking in irritation as he lowers his tone for me.

“Sunday,” he says quietly, desperately, “it was just a stupid article!”

“Yeah,” I breathe back to him, “but it had a different effect on you than it did on me.”

And, also, the article isn’t the reason why I’d be moving.

The reason is six-foot-four and standing right behind me.

“Listen to me. We can fix this. We’ll make another article if we have to.”

“We?” I ask in confusion, before breathing out a laugh and smiling up at him. “Riley, first of all, the last thing that I want to do is find myself in another headline. It’s blown over now, and I’m grateful for that, but it made me reevaluate the kind of life that I want to live.”

And I thought that my rationale would work to calm him but, if anything, it has the opposite effect. A patron knocks into Riley’s broad shoulders, splashing half a tumbler of whiskey down the back of his designer boots, and Riley whips around in a haze of fury, making the guy stumble in shock and back away.

And then Riley groans, running a hand over his face, before looking down at me with those stunning platinum-album-selling eyes.

“You’re the closest person to me in that city, Sunday,” he says frantically. “Fuck my team, fuck my manager. You’re the only real person that I’ve got!”

“And I’ll still be here,” I say reassuringly, “playing your songs over the speakers, only a phone-call away. And your tour will come near these parts, so it isn’t as though you’ll never see me again.”

We’ve got history, sure, but it’s only the platonic kind, so I have no idea why he’s feeling so invested in our friendship all of a sudden.

Riley shakes his head, all of his carefully constructed charm quickly dissipating, and he shoves his hair back from over his forehead, his cheekbones darkening as he gets more flustered.

“We can fix this,” he says roughly. “I can fix this, Sunday, I swear.”

“Fix this?” I repeat gently. “You don’t need to fix anything, Riley. There’s no problem.”

“I’ve known you for an entire decade, Sunday! And you’re going to throw all of that away?”

I blink up at Riley in shock, grateful for Jason’s arms around my chest, because I place my fingers over his large hands and feel his warmth sinking into me.

Throw it all away?What on earth is he talking about?

“The article was nothing, Sunday, and it was never meant to push you away. Fuck theObserver, and fuck theTimes. They don’t mean anything.This” – he grabs my wrists, making me rear back into Jason’s hard chest – “this means something. I know you fucking feel it.”

“Riley, what the hell are you talking about?” I ask breathlessly, but then my heart suddenly stops as his words finally penetrate my mind, the colour draining from my cheeks as I slowly look up into his eyes.

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