Page 6 of Call and Response

“Is that why you need somebody to hold your hand with you on stage for the first time?”

My mouth dropped open. “Okay… wow. Drag me.”

“I didn’t mean it like—”

“It’s fine,” I insisted, waving him off. “But we’re wasting time. Do we have a deal or not?”

I extended a hand, watching, waiting for him to accept it.

He thought about it, and then…

“Yeah. We have a deal.”

Whew, shit.

Okay.

Okay.

Ihadto go on stage now, because it was affecting someone’s life other than just my own.

Whew.

Okay.

Sink or swim.

Whew.

Okay.

CHAPTERTWO

Noble

You sure about this?

That was the unspoken question in the eyes of every person I had to explain myself to when it suddenly became necessary for me to head out.

Or maybe it was projection.

It was probably projection, because… shit.

Was I sure about this?

Absolutely fucking not.

I was still going to do it, though.

“You’re really taking that hairline on stage?” Royal asked, the first actual question I’d gotten between him and Anika. They were tag-teaming manager duty today, and even though I was just volunteering, they were the obvious people to talk to about leaving.

And they were family.

Anika gave Royal the stink-eye as I ran a hand over my head. I was due for a line-up I’d planned to drop by the shop for next week, but now that my brother had brought it up…

“I bet Troy can squeeze you in for a quick cleanup,” Anika offered in a soothing tone. “And if not, this is the exact kind of situation they make hats for. Shut up, Royal.”

“Why I gotta shut up, I’m looking out.” Royal shrugged. “The blogs will say he on that shit if he pops out looking raggedy.”

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