Page 95 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

I let out a breath. “Yeah.”

There’s a moment where I think the truth will hit him like it did me. Some lightbulb will go off and he’ll finally be able to piece everything together. But then he laughs.

“What could possibly be funny?” I ask.

“Emily doesn’t have a drinking problem,” Sam says, screwing up his face.

Now it’s my turn to look surprised. “Yes, she does.”

He rolls his eyes. “She’s a party girl, Dave. You know that. Sometimes she parties a bit too hard, but which one of us hasn’t? Do you know how many times I’ve had to babysit your drunk ass after you got wasted? Remember that Fourth of July weekend two years ago?” He chuckles, remembering. “You were a mess.”

“This isn’t like that, Sam,” I say sternly. “She hides it well but today she— Today, she . . .”

“What?” Sam asks. “She what?”

I look over my shoulder, worried someone might hear. “She was wasted and causing a scene at the diner. That’s where I went.”

“Causing a scene?”

I bury my face in my hands. “She was out of her mind. Breaking shit, and I thought if I could just get her home, get her to sober up or fall asleep—” Taking a few deep breaths, I force my heart to slow down its frantic pace. “She fucking accused me of beating her, Sam.”

His brows furrow so low over his eyes they nearly disappear, a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“And right in front of two cops. They tackled me and threw me in the back of their cruiser. You know me, Sam. You know there is nothing that could have kept me from making that recording session. You know it had to be something bad to keep me from being there. I’ve tried to help her, Sam, but she won’t listen, and I don’t know if I can do this with her anymore.”

“Dave, stop,” Sam cuts through my rambling.

“What do you mean—?”

“I mean stop this bullshit, man,” Sam says, standing up.

Ice floods my veins at the look of pure revulsion on his face. This is my friend. My best friend since childhood. Does he not believe me? “Sam?”

“You have some fucking nerve,” he says, pushing my chest. “You concoct this whole story just to break up with my cousin?”

My mouth falls open. “Sam that’s not—I didn’t say that!”

“Her dad’s an alcoholic, you asshole! You really think she’d follow in his footsteps? Use your brain, Dave. You think I don’t see the way you look at other girls?”

“What are you even talking about?”

“No, you know what? You want to fucking break up with Emily? Fine, but don’t make up some bullshit like this.”

That anger rushes back, and I push Sam hard, nearly throwing him off-balance. “Why the fuck would I ditch the demo taping then, huh? You know there’s no way in hell I’d ever miss that. I’m the one who set the whole thing up, remember, asshole?”

“Because you finally figured it out, Noblar,” he says, opening his arms up wide with a menacing smile.

“Figuredwhatout?”

He laughs sardonically. “We always knew we weren’t good enough for the big leagues but you kept pushing until we believed it too,” Sam spits, stalking toward me. “But when it finally came down to the moment, you finally saw the truth, didn’t you? That we’re just a bunch of hacks who can’t play worth a damn and ifyour name ever appeared on something that bad, you could kiss your stupid dreams goodbye.”

“Sam . . .” I say, dumbfounded. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t think any of that!”

“And Emily,” he continues, his voice quiet. “She’ll never be enough for you. Because your dreams are too big for ants like us. I see you always writing and rewriting that fucking list of yours like it’s sacred. Like you’ll actually be some bigshot rockstar one day. But you’ll see,” he says with venom in his voice. “You’re just as big a loser as the rest of us, and you’ll never get out of here.”

He pushes me hard and I stumble back, losing my footing and falling to my ass on the garage's concrete floor. Sam stands over me with an expression I’ve never seen before on his face.

“You’re a fuckingdisease, Noblar. Now get the hell out of here.”

---