Page 76 of This Side of Beautiful

“No.” I gripped the desk harder.

“If I don’t, then you’re making a decision without them.”

“Fuck you, Del,” I barked, and looked back at the band. From what I could tell, they were now doing a Live. The booth was soundproof, so we couldn’t hear each other.

Del calmly said, “I’m not trying to hurt you or the band. This is business. If the group says no, I’ll send more examples.”

“Then not now. They’re enjoying finding out we have an instant-hit record.”

“You don’t understand. You’re making history. You went number one on an independent song, not backed by any major label. We can’t wait for an undeniable cover. I thought we had time. Thought we would get buzz. Not this… not this.”

I closed my eyes, trying to slow my beating heart and push breath through my constricted lungs.

“It’s going to be okay, Landon. Decide as a group and tell me what you want to do with the cover, okay?”

“And the photos?”

“Regardless of if we use them for the cover or not, the pics will start circulating tomorrow.”

“Shit.”

“They’re amazing, Landon.”

I hung up. Del would never understand why I’d responded with the exact opposite of what he’d probably expected.

I sat at the desk and watched as each saw the text after finishing the Live. All except Cedrick jumped up and down and hugged. He met my concerned gaze. Their loud celebration broke the quiet when they piled out of the booth.

Brian pulled me up to hug me.

Charles teased, “When did you get hot?”

Cedrick stopped at the door and folded his arms. “Now what?”

“I say go with the sexy pic. The women want to see Landon like this.” Santiago grinned wide.

“I actually like the hats,” Brian said as he flopped in the chair behind me.

I stared at Cedrick. “I don’t want any covers to imply I’m separate from The Hollow Bones.”

“This single won’t go on her album or ours. I’m good with either one,” Brian said.

“I like that it looks like you’re coming out of your shell,” Charles added, choosing the sofa across from the engineering board.

“I don’t want any cover that separates me from The Hollow Bones,” I repeated.

Cedrick looked at his phone again. “Do you feel that way because you’re afraid, or is this a business decision?”

I frowned. “What do you mean? Since when do we make decisions that are purely business?”

His head snapped up. “Since we agreed to work with Janae. We did it because it was a good move for The Hollow Bones, and right now, she’s the best decision we’veevermade. If you’re afraid of the attention, that’s not enough reason. What have we been doing for the last fifteen years if we’re not going to see how far we can go? Huh? We created a song that we all agreed was a hit. And based on the response from the world, we were right.”

“All that cover will do is lead to the public seeing me as the leader of The Hollow Bones,” I countered.

He hit his fist. “Which you are. You’re the only one who refuses to see what we all see. We don’t do anything without you. That’s why we were lost when we had to practice without you. YouareThe Hollow Bones. You came up with our sound and our name.” Cedrick stepped closer to me. “Why did you want to call us The Hollow Bones?”

“Birds soar high because of their hollow bones,” I dully stated.

“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now? We have the number one record in the country, and we don’t have to share the money with anybody but Janae. You’re my brother, and I will walk through a fire for you, but we can’t walk in fear anymore.” He picked up his cell and started talking. “We decided we’re going with the shirtless pic… Yep, we’re all on board, even Landon.” He chuckled. “Yep, best decision. Thank you for having the vision for putting us with Janae.”

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